Due to several important areas of Vista having updates and the recent updating of tuner drivers, I thought I'd take the time to explain how I got 4 digital tuners working reasonably flawlessly. Others have written about this before but there have been several minor steps not accounted for.
First up, make sure you have hardware and an initial configuration that will not hinder the process of more than 2 tuners functioning well. e.g.
- Use a fast machine (e.g. Pentium D 3 Ghz Dual Core - with Viiv technology)
- Install at least 2 G of RAM
- Use tuners of the same make and drivers (e.g. Hauppauge Nova-DT Dual DVB-T Tuners + IR) and update the drivers to the latest available for your region (thanks to Dinks for this reminder point)
- Update drivers for your graphics card e.g. ATI and don't assume the auto Microsoft driver check telling you your machie's driver is up-to-date because the manufacturer's website will have the latest. I find it is also more reliable to install driver update by running the manufacturer's dedicated driver install file.
1. Install the tuner cards as per manufacturer's instructions.
2. Download the MCE Tuner Extender fix utility from
http://mce.ramonvanbruggen.nl/index....files&Itemid=8 . Don't run it yet.
3. Setup the tv signal in VMC on 2 tuners by following the VMC scanning process for services – make sure you delete all existing ones before rescanning if you are using an existing setup. Most importantly, ensure mcupdate does not reset your registry settings later (or during the setup below) whilst you also establish a working EPG and get the tuning scans set. Follow these instructions if you're not sure:
http://www.xpmediacentre.com.au/comm...or-14-fix.html
4. Run the MCE Tuner Extender fix utility. Make sure each tuner has a unique name. You will know the active tuners by the enabling button being highlighted after you provide a tuner name that is unique. Make sure you also check the 'Enabled for mce' tick box. Click the enabling button for each tuner so that the registry settings set and you recieve the confirmation that the tuner is enabled in turn.
5. Now that might be the end of the matter. All your tuners may work, and the utility would have you believe it is finished, however, you may encounter problems such as phantom tuners showing in the MCE Extender Utility tuner listing, the extra tuners failing to work manually and/or with the EPG, you may encounter conflict messages that seem corrupted (e.g. asking you to select 2 programs to record when you should be able to record all three etc...). This is where the registery will need editing.
6. Before doing anything with the registry, you should establish a restore point. If you stuff something up (e.g. accidentally edit the wrong registry key or delete a key that should not be deleted, you can restore your system to a point before you started editing the registry.
Create a restore point by going to the Control Panel>Backup and Restore Centre and select the "Create a Restore Point" in the left pane. Run the process and call your restore point something like "Working System Prior to Tuner Registry EditDATE".
7. Now we can do the registry. Exit VMC and open the Run command. Vista doesn't show the Run command automatically. To show it in the Start menu, rightclick Start>Properties>Start menu>Customise>Run Command.
8. Enter "net stop ehrecvr" in the run command and hit Enter. Now enter "regedit" in the run command and hit Enter to bring up the registry.
9. Find the registry keys for your tuners. They will most likely be under:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Media Centre\Service\Video\TunersKey
10. Delete any phantom tuner key entries which should not be there (e.g. if you have 4 tuners and have 6 tuner key listings, carefully decide which 2 tuner keys are redundant). There will be some signs to look for. The phantom entries may not have "UserDefNames" or may have duplicate names, they may not have a full watch and preferred order listing under userSettings.
11. In UserSettings key for each tuner, there must be a unique name in "UserDefName". The original 2 tuners picked up by VMC might already be named something like Tuner Antenna A and Tuner Antenna B. Leave these as named and use the same naming text order to name the other tuners Tuner C and Tuner D ... or simply name them Tuner 1, Tuner 2, Tuner 3 etc...
12. For each tuner key, click the UserSettings key and set the DWORD values as follows (case sensitive, all values in hexadecimal):
EnabledForMCE = 0xffffffff
UseSTB = 0
13. Now, whilst in each tuner's UserSettings key in order, configure each tuner's RecordOrder, RecordPreferred, WatchOrder and WatchPreferred order by using the following standard procedure applicable whether you have 4 tuners or more:
If this is the FIRST tuner:
RecordOrder = 0
RecordPrefered = 0xffffffff
WatchOrder = number of tuners - 1, e.g. for 4 tuners set this to 3
WatchPrefered = 0
If this is the LAST tuner:
RecordOrder = number of tuners - 1, e.g. for 4 tuners set this to 3
RecordPrefered = 0
WatchOrder = 0
WatchPrefered = 0xffffffff
If this is a tuner between the first and last (e.g. tuners 2 and 3):
RecordOrder = whatever you put for the last tuner + 1
RecordPrefered = 0
WatchOrder = whatever you put for the last tuner - 1
WatchPrefered = 0
TO SUMMARIZE (for 4 tuners):
----------------------- Tuner 1 ----- Tuner 2 ----- Tuner 3 ----- Tuner 4
RecordOrder = ---------- 0 ------------ 1 ------------ 2 ------------ 3
RecordPreferred= -- 0xffffffff --------- 0 ------------ 0 ------------ 0
WatchOrder = ----------- 3 ------------ 2 ------------ 1 ------------ 0
WatchPreferred = ------- 0 ------------ 0 ------------ 0 -------- 0xffffffff
14. Exit the registry editor and restart your machine. Start VMC and hopefully, THAT'S IT! If you still can't get the extra tuners to function without conflict, revisit the registry by following steps 7 - 13 or check troubleshooting below.
TROUBLESHOOTING:
* Please note that if you install driver updates, you forgot to install the Microsoft KB updates to suppress opportunistic scanning or you rescan for services, you may need to reset the registry settings above. You could avoid this by making a backup of the tuners GUID for reinstalling later.
* If unexpected situations occur (e.g. confusing error messages, VMC telling you there are less tuners available than what you know you have, vista putting back 'phantom' tuners in the registry ... etc ...) it could be due to you removing the wrong tuner registry keys. Correct this situation by:
- Starting at point 8 and 9 above
- Delete all tuner registry keys (not the head primary Tuner 'directory' or the vrec 'directory'), exit the registry and restart your machine. Vista will pick up your tuners again and assign them fresh tuner keys in the registry.
- Start VMC, go to TV setup, select that you want to use an EPG guide and scan for services. Assign the TV guide to channels and exit VMC. This time we won't use the MCExtender utility but just edit/add registry values.
- Revisit point 8 and 9 above. You should only have the tuner keys assigned by Vista (4 if you have 4 physical tuners e.g. 2 x dual cards).
- Follow point 11 above, but if there is no UserDefName entry, click Edit and add a String value with the title 'UserDefName' and its REG_SZ value must be the unique name of the tuner. Follow the naming pattern originally used by Vista to name the first 2 tuners (e.g. if the first 2 tuners were given UserDefNames Digital Antenna A / B then for Tuner 3 give it the UserDefName of Digital Antenna C and so on for Tuner 4.
- Finish with points 12, 13 and 14 above. Take care with point 13 so that you maintain the same order for tuners 1 and 2 as assigned by Vista and order tuners 3 and 4 following a similar pattern. That is, I noticed Vista assigned the registry keys for the first 2 tuners where Tuner 2 (Dev 1 Path 1) was in the top position followed by tuner 1 (Dev 1 Path 0), so I gave the 3rd Tuner listing (Dev 2 Path 0) to Tuner 3 and the 4th (Dev 2 Path 1) to Tuner 4.
-I have noticed a situation where even though you configure 4 tuners, Vista will install an upate, restart and then tell you there is a new tuner. I have also tested a situation where you replace a faulty tuner with another of like brand and model also having VMC assign new keys. It will provide registry keys automatically and you may find you have 6 tuner resgistry entries. My advice here is to revisit the VMC Tuner Extender app and activate those new tuners (check the box to make them used by VMC) and from past experience, I've noticed the watch and record order sets automatically as if you have 6 tuners and the setup will work well even though you really have 4 physical tuners. I've spent several months operating my machine with 4 dedicated registry tuner keys and more recently, a couple of months running the machine with 6 tuner registry keys - all the time having only 4 pysical tuners. This was my curiosity at work testing Murphy's Law and possible combinations! In both cases, things worked OK over an extended period of many weeks.
- If you find stuttering happening on a second, third or fourth same time recording, it could mean you are not getting enough antenna signal strenth to your tuners when more are called upon simultaneously. Make sure you share the tuners via a professional splitter direct from the wall socket which has its own line direct to your antenna. Also make sure you are using certified Australian tuners with Australian drivers and not imported clones. If recording and/or signal problems persist, it's probably due to a faulty tuner.
AFTER 4 MONTHS OF USE - I can now confidently report that this system setup works well. I can go for several weeks without a system restart (usually only ever required when MS updates happen). Remember, I use hibernation after 5 minutes of inactivity and this results in complete and flawless power-down and auto-startups for recordings.
Sticky it is!