EASY Instructions for Adding Extra Tuners to VMC Update - Page 5

philzgr8 · **18th November 2008, 11:32 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by dwebkombi

THis is a great thread, I only needed to read the first post, works great

It took me less than 5 minutes to instal and get my 3rd tuner working. It is a DTV1000 working in perfect harmony with my HVR2200.

thanks guys

No problem. Glad it helped you out.

pmunger · **24th November 2008, 01:24 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by philzgr8

4 Tuner Config
-------------------------Tuner 1----Tuner 2----Tuner 3----Tuner 4
Record Order----------3------------2-----------1-----------0
Record Pref------------0------------0xffffffff----0xffffffff---0xffffffff
Watch Order-----------0------------1-----------2-----------3
Watch Pref ------------0xffffffff-----0-----------0-----------0

Phil

Dear Community,
I am confused about RecordPrefered being enabled on multiple tuners. According to Peter Rossers Microsoft blog it should only be set on the last tuner.
Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

Thanks

logifuse · **24th November 2008, 01:50 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by pmunger

Dear Community,
I am confused about RecordPrefered being enabled on multiple tuners. According to Peter Rossers Microsoft blog it should only be set on the last tuner.
Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

Thanks

What we found (through a massive amount of testing) is that MCE often ignores the tuner priority orders, so what was happening was that sometimes the "live" tuner (which is the last in the recording order) was being used for the second recording, meaning that if you started watching live TV you would use one of the other tuners.

That was fine until the recording that was using the live tuner stopped, because MCE/VMC would get confused thinking that it should be using the "live" tuner & live TV would just stop.

When you consider that the registry entries are designed for 2 tuners, you realise that the WatchPreferred/RecordPreferred entries are actually important. To stop the above scenario from happening, you set each tuner with what it's main task should be, that way the live tuner will only ever be used for a scheduled recording if all the other tuners are in use - exactly what would happen in a 2 tuner setup.

Sorry, difficult one to explain - you're going to have to have faith.

Justin

pmunger · **24th November 2008, 02:55 PM**

Thank you for the comprehensive answer. I have always set up as per Peters blog, and not had this problem. I guess this is cause we don't watch much live TV.

I will give it a go anyway.

Cheers

logifuse · **24th November 2008, 03:13 PM**

Yeah, you'll only notice it with live TV. Like you, I don't watch much live TV, but it happened a couple of times during live pause & I lost the buffer & the show, so that's why I set out to work out why it was happening.

Fundamentally, recordings have priority over live TV, & it seems that the first thing the recording service checks when looking for a free tuner is the RecordPreferred entry. If only 1 tuner has that entry, then the next tuner is chosen (seemingly) at random. With all other tuners apart from the live TV tuner having that entry, the live TV tuner will always be the last resort.

Justin

markc3012 · **27th November 2008, 09:02 AM**

As Great a guide the setup for the tuners is on page one of this thread.
It doesnt really say what the lead up adding the entries is.

Re; Do we need a cable splitter for the aerial cable to run to both tuners?

After adding the other tuner do we need to install the software again, or does the PC auto detect?

Is it possible to add the steps prior (in plain english) leading up to the adding of the registry entries??

I am sure other users would find this helpful, as well as me who has never made a change to my registry yet. But I am a willing learner!!

My reason for asking.... I am adding a second HVR-2200 to my HTPC.

logifuse · **27th November 2008, 09:36 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by markc3012

Re; Do we need a cable splitter for the aerial cable to run to both tuners?

That one is very much dependent on individual circumstances - different tuners, signal strengths/quality, too many variables to be definitive. Obviously you need to feed the new tuner(s) an antenna signal, but how you go about that depends on your setup/circumstances.

Quote:

After adding the other tuner do we need to install the software again, or does the PC auto detect?

That's a good point - I wrote my bit along the lines of installing all 4 tuners at the same time, but I have added 2 to an initial standard install before, so I could cover that for you. I'll talk to Philzgr8 about adding a little section, but basically, the procedure is this:

Power down the PC & physically install the extra tuner(s).

Boot up & install the drivers - if it's the same as your other tuners, the same drivers should be installed automatically.

Once the drivers have been installed, go in to VMC, but do nothing. Wait for a prompt about the new tuners being detected & asking you to set them up. Choose NOT to set them up.

Exit out of VMC.

Use the Tuner Config tool to enable & name the extra tuners.

Make the registry changes as per the guide.

Reboot & you're away.

Justin

markc3012 · **27th November 2008, 09:57 AM**

Step by Step instructions previous to the comprehensive instructions would be good for a person who is unsure of the lead up to what is currently listed..

I am running Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit....Is this up to the job???
Maybe a list of OS as well for people considering this in a new build..
I am still not sure??

logifuse · **27th November 2008, 10:03 AM**

More good points.

MCE 2005, Vista or Vista SP1 are all fine.

The entries for TV Pack 2008 & Windows 7 are different (I think they're easier, but I'm yet to test more than 4 tuners which is supported natively, so I don't know if 5+ will work), so these tweaks don't apply.

Justin