Vista - Windows Media Center / TV Tuner Issues

Hey guys, I was wondering if you could help me out. I have an HP m9000t desktop that is running on vista home premium service pack 1. Ever since I got this PC my TV tuner has not been working properly. I have a ATSC-NTSC TV tuner with PVR, FM tuner installed.

So basically this is my issue. I purchased a 4 prong splitter to split my cable input to my pc and cable box. My provider is time warner cable. After setting up my TV Signal in Windows Media Center it seems to be setup correctly until I try to watch live TV.

The channels are all messed up. It seems like I only have about 20 channels, some are local channels and some are cable channels but nothing matches correctly.

I also tried connecting my cable out from my cable box directly into my PC. This works better than a direct connection from the splitter but it only shows what I am watching on my cable box, so if i change the channel on my cable box it changes on my pc. And if I change the cannel on my PC everything is scrambled, so it has to be on chan 3.

Can this just be an issue with my provider? Do I need a "setup box"? If so how much are they and will it definiely solve my issue?

Thanks.

Anyone out there?

I can't tell you that I understand everything about MC and TV tuner settings but if I remember correctly when I hooked mine up I had to change a setting to analog somewhere. The settings are not automatically correct when you run the setup wizard. I wish I could remember exactly what I had to change so I could just tell you exactly what to do. Its just been months ago since I tackled the problem. I want to believe I had to change it from digital to analog. I don't understand why my signal didn't work just exepting the wizards settings. Try running the setup wizard and manualy changing the imput signal settings. It might work, if not you can easily change it back. My cable is running direct to the TV coaxial input from a splitter. The splitter goes to my cable modem and my TV tuner. I get channels 2-69. In the rest of the house I get channels in the 100's but thats through a cable settop box. GOOD LUCK.

Unfortunately it sounds like your ATSC/NTSC Tuner is working just as it should. What you are getting now are the NTSC channels plus any UnEncrypted QAM channels (Locals in HD if you have installed the TV Pack.). If you want to view Digital Cable Channels on a pc you would need a CableCARD ready tuner pre-built into the pc. Unfortunately they are not available from purchase easily but you can find some online but they will cost a bit more and you have to be sure you can activate on your Cable Providers service.

When you set up Media Center it will only retain settings for 1 type of signal, lets say you want to set it up for over the air digital. It will only show and receive those channels if you want to watch over the air analog you will need to reconfigure your setup and will lose digital channel selections.

I hope this come across clear enough but you can only set it up for 1 type of signal at a time (for now). Media Center will only set up for 1 type of tuner at a time. Visat Home Premium.