Ok, is there any way in Windows 7 MC to dedicate a tuner to live tv ONLY. I have 2 x Hauppage 2250 tuners, of which I have combined my analog discovered channels with their digital channel counterparts (to keep my wife happy as the channel numbers stay the same and me happy as the clear QAM channels include HD). However, the problem is this seems to confuse MC and it doesn't prompt that its about to change the channel to record a show it just does it, and this is driving me crazy! I love Windows 7 and the MC functionality, but this is quite the annoyance. If I could just dedicate one of my 4 tuners to live tv, my problems would be solved. Does anyone know of such a utility like the old Media Center Tuner Priority program that was once offered for older versions of MC?
Thanks!
The short answer is: No, you cannot dedicate a tuner to live TV.
The longer answer is that you can alter tuner priority on a channel by channel basis within the channel editor, but those settings apply to both recordings and live TV. There are many, many threads on TGB complaining about the tuner assignment logic used.
Win7 Ultimate RTM x86 | AMD64X2 3600+ | 3Gb Ram | 4Tb HDD | ATI4650 | Hauppauge PVR150 - Virgin Media cable | Peak dual DVB-T - Freeview | Pig ugly big black case | Xbox 360 wired extender | Samsung Omnia 7
You can change the digital channel numbers without combineing with analog. All you have to do is clear out the .1 from the channel number.
I think your real problem though is that MC isn't prompting you to change the channel. Not sure why it would be doing that.
I'm wondering if I split the analog and digital channels back out, if it will start prompting to change channels again. I really wish MS would do something about how tuners are utilized
Well, I reconfigured my Media Center to only use the Digital Tuners and Media Center still doesn't ask before changing channels for recording, it just does it. Has anyone else seen this behavior? I saw this when I was running the Win 7 RC, but figured RTM would fix. It seems to only do this behavior for digital channels and not analog... Very frustrating!
Is there not a way to edit the registry to set the preferred viewing and recording order for the individual tuners? I know there was something up until Vista (non TV pack). If Windows 7 is the same, can you not set the preferred viewing order to be the opposite of the recording order? So if you have tuners A, B, C and D you would set the recording order to be A=1, B=2, C=3 and D=4. the viewing order would be A=4, B=3, C=2 and D=1. Recording programs would begin from tuner A down and viewing a live program would start from tuner D. This way the OP would only face a problem if the 3 highest recording tuners were in use and the system needed to start recording a 4th program. Just a thought...
mm60Is there not a way to edit the registry to set the preferred viewing and recording order for the individual tuners? I know there was something up until Vista (non TV pack). If Windows 7 is the same, can you not set the preferred viewing order to be the opposite of the recording order? So if you have tuners A, B, C and D you would set the recording order to be A=1, B=2, C=3 and D=4. the viewing order would be A=4, B=3, C=2 and D=1. Recording programs would begin from tuner A down and viewing a live program would start from tuner D. This way the OP would only face a problem if the 3 highest recording tuners were in use and the system needed to start recording a 4th program. Just a thought...
gones01 Well, I reconfigured my Media Center to only use the Digital Tuners and Media Center still doesn't ask before changing channels for recording, it just does it. Has anyone else seen this behavior? I saw this when I was running the Win 7 RC, but figured RTM would fix. It seems to only do this behavior for digital channels and not analog... Very frustrating!
Actually it sounds lke your having the same issue I am having http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/t/84625.aspx
I think it is a bug in the turner priority, never had this issue prior to Windows 7 Media Center.
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How to Convert TV Series DVDs & Blu-rays to WTV
I have the same problem. Like you, I have two HVR-2250's in one system. I'm using Windows 7 64-bit. I think I can describe the problem in slightly more detail.
When I'm watching live TV and 7MC starts recording on another channel, the channel I'm watching disappears and I see the channel where the recording just started. The info screen still shows the program info for the live program I had been watching, though I'm seeing the channel that just started recording. Though the program info shows the live program I was watching, which is not recording, it still has the red dot as if it's recording.
It has always done this and it's driving me crazy too!
I wonder if this problem only happens when there are two HVR-2250's in one system?
Forgive my ignorance, but I've never had more than one tuner plugged into MCE. However, as soon as that Ceton rolls out, I'm right there with you. That said, help me to understand... If I plug in one of those 4-stream bad boy Ceton tuners into my pc, and I am watching live tv, will MCE automatically pick an inactive tuner for a recording, or will it follow the tuner order?
More specifically, if I am watching live tv on tuner 1, and it is scheduled to record a show, will it bump me off live tv, or will it move down the line to the first available tuner?
plastic101Forgive my ignorance, but I've never had more than one tuner plugged into MCE. However, as soon as that Ceton rolls out, I'm right there with you. That said, help me to understand... If I plug in one of those 4-stream bad boy Ceton tuners into my pc, and I am watching live tv, will MCE automatically pick an inactive tuner for a recording, or will it follow the tuner order? More specifically, if I am watching live tv on tuner 1, and it is scheduled to record a show, will it bump me off live tv, or will it move down the line to the first available tuner?
I get bumped as I described in my thread, Reproducibly Senseless DVR Behavior, which I wrote on 12/5/2009. I just followed the exact instructions I gave, and it behaved exactly the same way tonight, 2/7/10. As I mentioned in that thread, I have two HD HomeRuns, which gives me four tuners, all of which I use for Clear QAM. I've previously described only what I observed watching the TV itself, which, of course, is what's important. That said, your question about "picking an inactive tuner" got me wondering about Media Center's tuner utilization strategy. Watching the front panel LEDs on the HDHRs, when Windows 7 Media Center begins the recording, it does indeed usurp the tuner active for Live TV instead of using one of the three other available tuners. It is only after I manually change the channel that it utilizes a second tuner for Live TV. (Of course, all 4 tuners are assigned as sources for the channels in question and always were.)
So, it bumps you off your live tv channel, changes the channel, and begins recording until you change the channel - then it switches to an unused tuner to continue the recording?
plastic101 More specifically, if I am watching live tv on tuner 1, and it is scheduled to record a show, will it bump me off live tv, or will it move down the line to the first available tuner?
it works as expected for me. no bump occurs. my live TV continues while the recording starts on another tuner. i'm currently using two Hauppauge 2250 tuners.
plastic101So, it bumps you off your live tv channel, changes the channel, and begins recording until you change the channel - then it switches to an unused tuner to continue the recording?
Yep. Actually, I would guess for the last part, when I manually change the channel, it switches to an unused tuner for Live TV, while the recording continues unabated on the tuner MC previously usurped from Live TV. But the end result is the same, and the tuner utilization is totally botched.
Got it. That kinda sucks. Hopefully with these Ceton cards hitting the streets soon, MS will get this multi tuner functionality all dialed in.