MCE 2005 Dual Tuner Problems

[marshahu]

My new rig recently had a Hauppage WinTV PVR-150MCE analogue TV Tuner attached. Following advice from this forum I was told that I could add any other TV Tuner in addition to what I currently had - it was impossible to add another identical PCI tuner because I am out of slots in my motherboard. So I got the Hauppage WinTV Nova-T DVB USB2.0 Stick - it fits in the USB port, provides me with DVB TV and doesnt have an excess unwanted remote control as I already have an MCE remote that came with the PVR-150MCE.

Now in MCE 2005 I cannot seem to record one channel while watching another. It keeps coming up with the message "Media Center is currently recording X do you want to stop recording and change channel?" - (well no I fucking dont!! I want to change channel and KEEP recording going, why not do what I bloody well want and look for the other second tuner!!!) Why oh why doesn't Media Center use both the TV Tuners to its full potential?? I thought Media Center 2005 could utilize both tuners so I could watch one channel while recording another regardless of what type of tuner they are.

Tried using up to date drivers, uninstalling and resintalling (The HCWCLEAR utility removes drivers for BOTH TV tuners so I have a double task when I only set out to have the task of resintalling one tuner!) to no avail. HELP!!! 8O

 

[marshahu]

Media Center 2005 clearly brags about the fact that it can handle two tuners in the manual. The addition of Rollup 2 enables me to add up to four - although it seems its easier said than done.

Tomshardware recently reviewed an HP Media Center PC which had two TV Tuners - one was a standard affair Hauppauge while the other was an ATi HDTV tuner - how does that managed to work within Media Center 2005? yet I cannot seem to simply switch between two tuners of the SAME BRAND (both Hauppage, both using MCE drivers) within the Media Center 2005 program. The idea is meant to be simplicity not having to open two different interfaces where the average luddite would be baffled shitless!!

So how can I make this work - I cannot find any Hauppage Dual Tuners which are both DVB - plus I simply cannot budget anymore - So making do with what I have, how can I solve this problem and get Media Center to simply run with 2 Hauppauge Tuners, be it that one is Analogue, PCI with Video Inputs and the other is a USB 2.0 DVB with just an Aerial. I would get two PCI Freeview Tuner cards but I do not have enough PCI slots in my PC!!

HELP!!!

 

[marshahu]

Media Center 2005 clearly brags about the fact that it can handle two tuners in the manual. The addition of Rollup 2 enables me to add up to four - although it seems its easier said than done.

Tomshardware recently reviewed an HP Media Center PC which had two TV Tuners - one was a standard affair Hauppauge while the other was an ATi HDTV tuner - how does that managed to work within Media Center 2005? yet I cannot seem to simply switch between two tuners of the SAME BRAND (both Hauppage, both using MCE drivers) within the Media Center 2005 program. The idea is meant to be simplicity not having to open two different interfaces where the average luddite would be baffled shitless!!

So how can I make this work - I cannot find any Hauppage Dual Tuners which are both DVB - plus I simply cannot budget anymore - So making do with what I have, how can I solve this problem and get Media Center to simply run with 2 Hauppauge Tuners, be it that one is Analogue, PCI with Video Inputs and the other is a USB 2.0 DVB with just an Aerial. I would get two PCI Freeview Tuner cards but I do not have enough PCI slots in my PC!!

HELP!!!

 

[smelly_feet]

I thought with Rollup2 MCE can handle two (identical) analogue tuners + 1 HDTV. If using two tuners, I think you need two identical ones running off the same driver.

My brother is using two ATI TV wonder Elite. Seems to work fine - but when recording two simultaneously, can't do much else with the computer that requires a lot of HD usage.

I've been searching to see if 4 tuners is possible to no avail.

Anyways, anything more than two tuners will really tax the system. Thats a lot of data written to the Harddrive. I thing you would run the risk of dropped frames with more than two tuners.

Perhaps one day if DivX hardware encoding tuners are invented this will be possible - that would reduce the data transfer to the HD by around 3-4 times.

cheers

 

[Pain]

I don't know what your problem might be, but I assume it's related to the USB device.

I can tell you to not listen to the people who say it will only work with one tuner at a time. MCE will work with 2 tuners (4 with rollup 2, I think). I first had a dual tuner card installed, which to the OS is just 2 tuner cards. I finds one tuner when loading, then it finds another identical tuner and loads it. Same driver, no conflicts.

I then added a digital tuner card, and now I am using 3 tuners....2 analog, 1 digital.

The only thing I can tell you is to look at possible USB problems. You also might want to find a MCE forum. I have one bookmarked someone and will post a link if I find it again.

Here's the MCE site.