MCE does not use TV Tuner Board

[Rhyan]

I have read most threads in here regarding TV software and drivers, etc. Still I could not find an answer to my issue, neither a logical explanation of what is wrong with the MCE.

I have an old, but really robust Pinnacle PCTV Pro TV board with the Connexant BT878 video decoder chip that works perfectly on WinXP sp2. I got new rig with 4gb of RAM, so I need to forget about 32bit os if I want to utilize the complete RAM. I got preview copies of Vista both 32bit and 64bit and got stuck in the following situation:

1. Vista 64bit-No drivers at all for the board, so if I want to use the whole ram I have to say bye to the tuner.
2. Vista 32bit - after setup Windows Update has found drivers for the tuner and it has been correctly installed. Indeed I was supprised because Pinnacle Systems says "End of life product - No support" still, Vista 32bit found the driver. FlyTV2000 software and K!tv utilize the tuner perfectly, I would say the KTV is better. However the MCE says No tuner connected , please check ...bla bla... What is worse - I have only the 3.3gigs of ram recognized.

Do you have any idea why the MCE does not recognize the driver that has been written by Microsoft, and cannot utilize the device?

Should I stick to the 64bit and forget about the archaich tv tuner?

Does it make any sense to run 32bit windows vista, when I can still run 32bit XP with the same success and have no problems with the tuner?

Will be glad to see any comment.

My new rig:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6550
MB: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 v.2
Video: Gainward GF8600GT GLH 256 DDR3 ram
RAM: Kingmax Dual channel DDR2-800 - 4Gb
HDD: Seagate SATA2 320gb

TV Tuner board: Pinnacle PCTV Pro with Conexant BT878 decoder.

[Asky]

I havent tried Vista's Media Center but if i recall there were only a select few Tv Tuners that worked with the Windows Xp Media Center edition.
Maybe the Vista Media Center does not work with your Tv Tuner.Check with Microsoft for a list of Compatible Tv Tuners.

[z3r010]

You've got 4gig of ram now and you will only want more in the future, just get it over with now and bin the tuner

[Rhyan]

  Quote: Originally Posted by Asky

I havent tried Vista's Media Center but if i recall there were only a select few Tv Tuners that worked with the Windows Xp Media Center edition.
Maybe the Vista Media Center does not work with your Tv Tuner.Check with Microsoft for a list of Compatible Tv Tuners.

Well that is exactly what I was wandering. I am pretty sure that WINXP MCE did not support the tuner, still the XP does not have a microsoft-written driver. I suppose that when they have written a driver, it is pretty normal to have the tuner supported.

I was wandering if I can run Vista 64 and a VMWare Winxp SP2 when whatching TV only ... Pretty ackward still, does any one have any idea if this can be done

Seriosly, I am planning to stick to the Winxp SP2 for the time being. Moreover the programs I use are mostly 32bit applications, so it seems reasonable to stick with the 32bit version. Or, I can make a dual boot with XP64...

I just can't decide.