DT signal not found for one local station

[Robert DePriest]

I have an HP Media pc with dual ViXS PureTV-U48B0 tuner, and I have it configured in Media Center for ATSC only. All of the local on-air digital stations are received well, except the local PBS. The Media Center does not detect any signal for that PBS station no matter how I position my digital antenna. If I connect a tv directly to the same antenna feed, the tv detects a strong signal for the PBS station and receives broadcasts fine. I have the most up-to-date driver for the tuner card in the pc.

I saw a note on HP's site that Media Center may not work with some more recent DT compression formats. When I downloaded MediaPortal and installed it on the same PC, it detected the PBS station perfectly, but one of the other local DT stations that Media Center played well was not detected at all, plus Media Portal is not as user friendly. Any suggestions to try and get that PBS station working under Media Center?

 

[Pilgrimm]

I am having a similar experience with my Hauppauge TV tuner, using Windows Media Center on Vista Home Premium 32bit. I was originally able to receive all channels but have since lost access to my local station - both the analog and digital signals. I am able to receive these channels on my TV without issue.

I'm curious if you've made any progress on this issue that you'd be willing to share.

 

[Robert DePriest]

So far I have not found a solution. On my pc digital tuner I still receive all of the local stations except the one PBS station.

 

[Pilgrimm]

Yesterday I applied all available Windows updates except Vista SP3 - no change. I then downloaded and installed Hauppauge's WinTV v.6, which allowed me to receive and view all channels as expected. That eliminates hardware and antenna as the culprits and points to WMC, which is a big bummer because I really, really like WMC. I'd be thrilled if someone would tell me I'm just configuring it wrong, but I've tried many different settings (as have you) to no avail.

 

[Pilgrimm]

After learning LOTS from generous blogger Peter Near, I followed the recommendations found here: http://thegreenbutton.com/blogs/pnear/archive/2006/09/12/202708.aspx

I am thrilled to report that I have resolved my missing-channel issue using these basic steps:

1. I went to AntennaWeb and found a list of the channels I should be receiving and noted their RF Channel number.
2. I edited my astcchannel.xml file and deleted the line pertaining to my missing channel. As the author indicated, the RF channel number was incorrect. (In Vista, the file was located at c:\programdata\microsoft\eHome\EPG\prefs). I saved the edited file.
3. I then went into Media Center and added my missing channel manually, using the RF channel number found in step 1.

I hope these work for you too and will keep an eye on this post to see if you had success. Good luck! And many thanks to Peter Near for sharing his hard-earned knowledge!

 

[Robert DePriest]

I sent an email to the local station explaining my problem, and they replied with some key information. I was finally able to correct the problem. Apparently for this channel, the autoscan function in Media Ctr does not get the correct frequency assignment for this channel (I assume that info comes in from the epg or similar download behind the scenes with an autoscan). The station staff told me what frequency setting to use, and now I get the signal perfectly by adding the channel manually with the correct frequency in Media Ctr.