MCE2005 and Kworld DVB-T 100 TV Card

[alcu]

Hi all,

Wonder if you can help - I'm pulling my hair out here.

I've got a clean install of MCE2005 (fully updated from Windows Update) - everything works fine except it can't find any TV services when I run the TV setup (I live in the UK).

I'm using KWorld DVB-T 100 (PCI) tv cards - 2 of them. These feature on Microsofts list of "made for MCE" hardware and I have the latest drivers from the Kworld website. I'm running a Biostar motherboard, Athlon XP 2600 and Radeon 9800pro with 512 RAM. I've got Direct X 9.0c.

I'm completely at a loss for what to look for now - the tv signal in the area is good (I get max signal on my set-top digital box) so it can't be this. Device manager reports that the TV cards are working properly but MCE just won't find any TV services. How do I test if my TV cards are working properly? (I can;t use the DVBPlus software that comes with the card because it won't work with MCE). Aaarrgggh!

Is there anything I'm not doing or a little tweak I've missed? How do I know that MCE is checking for channels on the right frequency for the UK? Any help at all gratefully received!

Thanks! Paul

[alcu]

I meant to say - when I downloaded the drivers and tried to use the setup exe to install them, Setup said it couldn;t find any TV cards. But Windows did sense them and the "Install New Hardware" wizard comes up - then I was able to specify the location of the drivers and they get installed.

Wierd that the setup program couldn;t see the TV cards though.

Has anyone else had any trouble gettting a TV service on MCE? What did you do?

[nitroshift]

I'm using KWorld DVB-T 100 (PCI) tv cards - 2 of them.

both of them at the same time? that's a no-no. try pulling one out and see if that makes any difference.

[alcu]

Thanks! I'll try that and see what happens.

[alcu]

I tried it with just one card and have had partial success - it now does a scan and finds all the freeview services! Fantastic! But......

New Problem: when I goto My TV and try to watch Live TV I get an error saying "Video Decoder either malfunctioned or not installed."

Does anyone know what this means? I've installed all drivers from Kworld - do I need anything else?

Any help gratefully received!

Thanks, Paul

Edited June 14, 2006 by alcu

[nitroshift]

you also need some sort of codec. try ffdshow.

[alcu]

Thanks, I'll try that tonight.

So does MCE not come with the correct Codecs for watching TV?

[nitroshift]

So does MCE not come with the correct Codecs for watching TV?

different countries, different video encoding. i am using nvidia purevideo decoder and does wonders but for that you will need at least a nv43 video chipset on your graphics card.

[box2k2]

MCE does not come with a MPEG2 decoder. I believe it is some licensing issue. The best of the bunch appears to be nVidias PureVideo, which you can run on almot any graphics card, but obviosly works best on nVidias own.

Some TV cards won't work in a dual setup. This is usally a driver limitation, but could be hardware. Contact Kworld and ask them if they support dual card setups.

For any further advice get over to:

www.thegreenbutton.com - American based & NTSC

www.xpmediacentre.com.au - Austrailian, but PAL, so generally more relevent than the american stuff.

If you want tuners that work I've got these three running in my MCE box 24/7/365

2x Compro T200 -PCI

1x Kworld 355u -USB

[alcu]

Thanks for the help guys - really appreciate it.

Tried ffdshow and it didn't work so downloaded the Nvidia Purevideo trial and now it works.

Dual tuner setup is my next step! Might leave it a while before I do that though!