Windows 8 Tuner Issues Widespread?

[TANKtr0n]

Howdy friends, first time poster, very short-term lurker. Thought I'd share a curiosity with everyone. I've ran into some trouble getting LiveTV working in XBMC w/nPVR on a new Windows 8 build. I have a new AVerTV HD Duet tuner and wasn't sure if my hardware was DOA... Windows 7 x64 had no issues with my ATI Wonder 600 USB tuner in WMC so I thought I'd check that out. I decided to purchase the add-on of Windows Media Center (as I'm using the Pro version that didn't include it) and let W8MC look at the tuners and channels - and guess what? Channels missing and trouble scanning devices including the ATI tuner which previously was golden (sans the occasional stutter and quality issues - hence the new PCIe Duet)! So I look around some more and found that I'm not alone...

See here: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windo...b553aeec20
Additional searches turn up oodles more of similar threads across the Microsoft support sites and various others.

It appears this is an ongoing problem in Windows 8 and isn't limited to my hardware or region. All kinds of tuner devices are having issues in Windows 8! Some have reported issues resolved after changing zip codes or countries/regions in Media Center (sometimes returning sporadically) or applying an unknown update from Microsoft, but from what I can see this is still a widespread issue. The only surefire way for this to not be an issue in W8 from what I gather is to do an in-place upgrade to W8, keeping files and settings with Media Center and tuners already configured.

Could this be the cause of all of the scattered chatter I am seeing across the forum in regards to nPVR giving a black screen during LiveTV play, devices undetected, missing channels, etc., and various other issues in regards to W8 machines? Is this a known issue? Is there a known issues post/page I should be aware of...? Thoughts?

Edit: Proof reading.

[Zeb]

One known issue re: getting live TV working with NPVR is that the "Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder" no longer supports third-party applications under Windows 8. Below is a link to a relatively recent thread with the usual advice. You should be able to get NPVR working with suitable decoders. Assuming "STL" is in the U.S. you only need MPEG2 Video, AC3 (digital) and/or MPEG1 (analog) Audio.

Thoughts? Why "upgrade" a perfectly good Windows 7 machine to Windows 8? Get NPVR working before worrying about XBMC.

http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...-no-video&

[Lao Pan]

Could this be the cause of all of the scattered chatter I am seeing across the forum in regards to nPVR giving a black screen during LiveTV play, devices undetected, missing channels, etc., and various other issues in regards to W8 machines? Is this a known issue? Is there a known issues post/page I should be aware of...? Thoughts?

No I don't think so - on release day I upgraded my Vista HTPC to W8 with a clean install. It found drivers for my Compro Videomate E700 (mentioned in that forum post) & PCTV 290e T2 nano stick. I installed NPVR with patches + SAF6 unlocked, re-entered all my settings etc. and it all worked as expected.

I did download the free Media Centre upgrade but uninstalled it after I found that you could not use the Microsoft Codecs outside of MCE.

[TANKtr0n]

I'm back on W7 and will update later on the tuner status with nPVR...

Sent from the future using my Galaxy X5 (via Tapatalk TimeShift)

[sub]

I'm actually doing the NextPVR development on Win8 these days. I've used stacks of different tuners without noticing any Win8 specific problems. As mentioned above, the Microsoft decoders aren't really usable in 3rd party apps, but other than that NextPVR compatibility with Win8 is good.

[Zeb]

TANKtr0n, I infer from your post #11 in the thread "H264 (Freeview HD) channels scanned but won't play" that you were able to set up your tuner device and scan for channels. It also sounds like you have tried the SAF decoder pack, but you didn't specify whether it was the "unlocked" version. The LAV video decoder included with the "locked" version is reportedly not the best. Perhaps you weren't having tuner problems at all, but rather decoder problems. There's nothing we can do about W8MC tuner problems except brace for more new members here! If you have rolled back to W7, then you can try Microsoft's video decoder.

[TANKtr0n]

I've since rolled back to W7 and my AverTV HD Duet still only shows me maybe half of my channels. I've rewired with RG6 quad shielded direct to the tuner from my drop and see no improvement. I think it's time for an RMA... Or maybe I should try moving the card to a different PCIe slot? Maybe take out one of the graphics cards, could be a power drain issue on the slot?

Sent from the future using my Galaxy X5 (via Tapatalk TimeShift)

[TANKtr0n]

Moving my woes to a more direct and relevant thread. Thanks for the help on this so far.

[Zeb]

Well, at least now we know that the tuner shows you maybe half of your channels. I presume you are talking about U.S. cable channels (STL = St. Louis perhaps?), although I can't seem to find any quote that provides surefire proof of that.

Regarding the channels that you are not being shown: Do you mean that they are not being detected at all when you scan for channels? Are they being reported as encrypted? Or do they appear in your channel list after scanning but you cannot watch them in Live TV? Are they all analog or all QAM? If QAM, are they all HD? In any case, zipping and posting NPVR logs might prove helpful.

[TANKtr0n]

Well, at least now we know that the tuner shows you maybe half of your channels. I presume you are talking about U.S. cable channels (STL = St. Louis perhaps?), although I can't seem to find any quote that provides surefire proof of that.

Regarding the channels that you are not being shown: Do you mean that they are not being detected at all when you scan for channels? Are they being reported as encrypted? Or do they appear in your channel list after scanning but you cannot watch them in Live TV? Are they all analog or all QAM? If QAM, are they all HD? In any case, zipping and posting NPVR logs might prove helpful.

Looks like I'm just a moron and my signal is NTSC and I have an ATSC tuner. Explains it all right there...