MCE Freeview (how to tune in?)- Auckland NZ

[paulsharp1]

Hi there,

I have a satelite that works as I tested it with my friend Freeview settop box.
I have the ERG guide working well thanks to Raven and followers.
I have Vista MCE that records TV via my normal ariel.

What I would like is to be able to pick up the 10 or so Freeview channels.

Once I have plugged in the Satelite cable and scanned the channels I can not pick anythingup.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated

I also add that I am not too technical.


Regards
Paul

Vista Ultimate
WinTV HVR 3000 (Hauppauge)
Q6600 / 4 GB RAM / 1.75 TB disk
GeForce 9600GT / Sony Bravia 42 inch

[bigbob]

Paul,

The issue here is that NZ have chosen the mpeg4 codec for their HDTV whereas the most common (and supported by VMC) codec is mpeg2.

Your hardware i.e. a DVB-T tuner is OK, it is an update by Microsoft to Vista Media Centre that is required to provide support. There are rumours around the MS are working on this, so we are really at their mercy for the time being.

Your options at present are to consider Media Portal or some other like program. I have decided to sit back and wait and have purchased a HD set top box from Dick Smith for NZ$399. By the way this box actually work quite well.

This is very frustrating to say the least, this is the price I pay for moving from Melbourne to Wellington !

Bob

[logifuse]

Do a search for DVBViewer here & you find a thread from a couple of days back that discusses it & has some useful links.

Also, to use satellite in VMC, you need some software that acts as a bridge & convinces VMC that the DVB-S signal is DVB-T.

Justin

[dingbatt]

Hi Paul
If you are not worried about HD then I suggest you get used to tuning satellites by installing the WinTV software that came with your HVR3000. I use a splitter and the dish is permanently powered from a STB so I can't help with options for powering from the HVR3000.
Since WinTV isn't on my system anymore (it conflicted with mediaportal), I'll wing it and try to remember what I did to get Freeview on WinTV....
After installation:
Get the channel manager up by going menu--suite manager
Select the "sources" tab
Select DVB-S in the sources list on the left hand side
In LNB settings I put lo: 107500 hi: 107500 switch:0 (or 11300,11300,0 for the other LNB)
I selected 'manually scan a frequency'
Type in 22500 in the symbol rate window
Can't remember whether I used horiz or vert on the polarity - try both.
In the frequency window I put in the transponder freqs for the D1 sat (one for each scan) (12456000 and 12483000).
Hit SCAN. Change the freq and then scan again.

This is the same post I provided on geekzone at
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp...&topicid=20392

Hope that helps. I know it's not MCE but will at least get you freeview.
Trying to get freeview working on MCE (or VMC) is a real mission requiring a registry hack to fool MCE into thinking DVB-S is DVB-T (available on the hauppauge uk website) and then (in NZ) trying to organise an EPG. So I found it best to get a grounding in something (relatively) simple before tackling MCE.
As indicated in the above posts, MCE does not do freeview HD (via UHF aerial) and to get it working on an HTPC is the subject of numerous posts on a bunch of NZ websites.

Good Luck.

[DrSubby]

Hi Paul

Vista Ultimate
WinTV HVR 3000 (Hauppauge)


i have that rotten 3000 card as well
took me ages to get it running in vista mce sp1
what i did
1 was throw the disk away that came with the 3000 card as they stuff your computer up and need reformatting. wintv is probably the worst program ever made, is like it was released 4 years beofre it was finished
2 dowload the latest "drivers only" 4.1 or 4.2 whatever at the hauppauge sites says works on 64bit for me
3 found some regedit thing that fools mce to think the DVB-S = DVB-T
4 set my region to aussie even though im in nz
5 did the scan in DVB-T (important!! even though i was using DVB-S) and picked up all freeview digital sat channels
works quite well at this stage and recordes tv very clear and sharp
unfortunalty for some reason it changes the order of the channel by itself anytime it wants
eg
1 = tv1
2= tv2
3= tv3
4 = c4
6= tv6

some days when i turn it on
its chnages back to the way they were scanned in
1= tv3
2 = c4
etc

and it adds i think 18 more of the same channel.
so i get
1= tv3
2=tv3
3 = tv3
4 = c4
5= c4

it also seems to add random channels in

this affect schedual recording so you miss your program cause it recoreded the wrong frigin channel

i then tried the hack to do the media guide, must have taken 3 days
nearly got it running
but
no
i think SP1 sorted of runined everything for me
i fixed that by reinstalling vista again

still getting channels shifting around on me

will be quite interested if you can get the DVB-S to scan in and work stable
my above method seem to be the only way to get somehting on the screen in DVB-S

HOWEVER i dont think it is the correct way, but if you want to see DVB-S that the only way i know how

you can also NOT mix DVB-S freeview channels and Prime on terristial at the same time on MCE, but can on WinTV. MCE is a bit of a lemon at the moment


im ready to set it put it all away for a year
and bring it out again later when microsoft fixes NZ
before i get real angry and start smashing things
i suggest you take all the stuff back , and get you money back if you still can


here is the text for the reg file if you want to make
put all the following test in a file called freeview.reg

REGEDIT4


[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\HCW88bda\Parameters]
"DVBS_as_DVBT"=dword:00000001 ; Enable remapping support


[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\HCW88bda\DVBS_as_DVBT]


[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\HCW88bda\DVBS_as_DVBT\177500] ; #5
"dvbs_freq"=dword:BE1040 ; 12456000
"dvbs_polarity"=dword:1 ; 1
"dvbs_srate"=dword:57E4 ; 22500
"nit_onid"=dword:2F ; 47
"nit_tsid"=dword:15 ; 21
"nit_nid"=dword:1 ; 1
"DiSEqC_Port"=dword:0 ; 0
"dvbs_LowOsc"=dword:AC6CA0 ; 11300000
"dvbs_HighOsc"=dword:AC6CA0 ; 11300000
"dvbs_SwitchFreq"=dword:0 ; 0


[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\HCW88bda\DVBS_as_DVBT\184500] ; #6
"dvbs_freq"=dword:BE79B8 ; 12483000
"dvbs_polarity"=dword:1 ; 1
"dvbs_srate"=dword:57E4 ; 22500
"nit_onid"=dword:2F ; 47
"nit_tsid"=dword:16 ; 22
"nit_nid"=dword:1 ; 1
"DiSEqC_Port"=dword:0 ; 0
"dvbs_LowOsc"=dword:AC6CA0 ; 11300000
"dvbs_HighOsc"=dword:AC6CA0 ; 11300000
"dvbs_SwitchFreq"=dword:0 ; 0

[gkar]

Paul,

As another option, you may want to also try this forum -http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp

This may be more appropriate for your needs. This is not to undermine xpmediacentre as I've been a supporter of this forum for some time, now. There are just more NZ users who could assist you.

I can't assist you further as I'm using MCE2005 & DVB-T.

If I've broken any forum rules, I apologise in advance.