Digital transition causing grief for Windows Media Center users
By Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Jun 14th 2009 1:14PM
posted Jun 14th 2009 1:14PM
posted Jun 14th 2009 1:14PM
The percentage of sales people that recommend Samsung HDTVs.
Salespeople are also becoming less likely to recommend LCD sets over plasma sets, which goes against the industry trend.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
Unbelieveable that MS didn't get this right, and still have not fixed it. I guess it is not that suprising since in chicago WGN hasn't had correct PSIP data in the guide for years, and requires hack to get it working. This has been reported in detail on the green button, but no fix. I actually considered getting my parents set up with MCE as their primary TV source. Glad I didn't.
Seriously, you can't believe Microsoft screwed something up? Were you around for Vista at all? Although I believe it 100%, it still is quite pathetic. Same thing for Tivo. Both companies should've had this figured out since they have a large, or in Tivo's share, entire investment to television viewers. I would chime in about my Elgato tuner on my Mac, but right now I'm on cable. In the final I'll be back on OTA and can share then how the scanning goes, but in the past, it's gone perfectly fine, provided I have the correct antenna.
-Brian
Also, after having much experience hacking the guide trying to get WGN working, and subchannels, I knew what to do. Unlikely grandma would get it working.
In Win7, you can manually add the channels and join the channel to the guide data, but it doesn't stick. Further, in LA at least, the channels affected are not just the channels, moving to VHF.
And to think I honestly thought I was ready for the transition. Microsoft told me so! http://tinyurl.com/nf643v
Do feel bad Windows Media Center folks. TiVo managed about the same success rate. In my market only four of the seven main OTA channels work as of today. In school a 57 is considered an F, so that's what I'm giving TiVo for this.
These transition frequencies have been known for over a year. I know there are alot of markets, but this is not rocket science.
Sorry, that last comment was suppose to start with "don't".
smh....what is MS waiting on? I mean this is ludicrous.
Yup, I experience the problem right now. No windows update, went to WMC website, no mention of the problem. Thank you, Microsoft.
Sorry, that last comment was supposed to end with "F' you, Microsoft."
Are you sure you are using a digital TV tuner? Mine works fine! You have to make sure your TV tuner says "analog/digital tuner" like mine.
Pay for cable cheapo..
Yep, my TiVo's got the wrong info too.
I'm looking for one of ben's great howtos to get my HDota back on track.
They should have had everything done and tested by Feb. They were given a reprieve of a couple of months and they STILL screwed it up.
I was frustrated about this for about 10 minutes then figured it out. Its happened before in my area so all I had to do was track down the thread that helped me out before.
The local NBC affiliate in Boston, MA didn't even get it right. They still have the wrong frequency posted on their site. It took me a few hours to figure out why I couldn't get Channel 7.
Oh c'mon Ben....it's Microsoft, it's Media Center, it something they had literally years to plan for, what could possibly go wrong?
Oh, and I also liked that Update right at the last second too...what it couldn't go in with SP2 a week earlier? So let's put it out there right before the big transition that's good change control and risk analysis there...I waited until today before I even attempted to install that and I don't even use ATSC (Cablecards and an HD Homerun for ClearQAM here).
And they wonder why people don't trip over themselves buying these things...I'd hate to be a Media Center integrator right about now...probably a lot of pissed off people who spent big money to be "ready" and then get tripped over something completely stupid and avoidable like the guide data being wrong. Wow. It will be interesting to hear Ian's and Dr. Flick's show this week.
I've always wondered why Microsoft didn't at least give you the option of using the "in-band" guide in ATSC...yes I know the ATSC guide data doesn't go far enough into the future to be really usable in a "DVR" but it would work as a backup in case, you know, the out-of-band guide is FUBAR'ed. But that wouldn't happen, would it...
I must be confused, all I did was rescan my channels in WMC and all of ATSC channels are working properly. I even picked up two additional channels from a nearby city. What exactly is WMC doing wrong?
What a waste of a Saturday! I woke up all excited about the dtv conversion. I rescanned with my windows media center and lost all but one major channel in the area. I spent hours troubleshooting, two trips to RadioShack, purchased a new antenna, erected the antenna, followed by still more hours pondering and troubleshooting. However after sleeping over the problem, I realized it had to be WINDOWS MEDIA CENTER! I mean there NO major reception problems in the area! It appears as others have written: Any channel that changed frequency was not updated by Microsoft. Its a good thing I rely most on Cable, or I would have missed the NBA Finals!
I spent some time before I searched the net to find out what was going on. I hope its fixed soon.
I posted this on AVSForum for the VMC channel fix;
Until Microsoft updates the correct channel lineup change, here's the simplest fix;
1. Write down the channels you aren't getting that you were before the shutoff.
2. Go to http://tvfool.com/ and put in your zip at the ">> Click HERE
Message got clipped, goto;
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=16642905#post16642905
Anyone know how to get listing info for sub channels? I would like to record some of the stuff on the PBS station for my daughter but the childrens is all sub stations.
Yeah, I noticed that too. Possible oversight? The subchannels tend to show weather, or for PBS, alternate programming. It's a little annoying I can't tune to them, unless this workaround lets you program those in as well....
I spent Friday evening switching out my old tuner card for a new Hauppauge tuner card. I fired up the computer and after a quick scan in WinTV, all of the digital channels showed up fine. Then the problems started... I went into Media Center, walked thru the setup of a new tuner and only about half of my digital channels received a signal. I spent hours over the weekend thinking I had messed up my system only to find out that Microsoft screwed up; not me... Come on Microsoft, GET IT FIXED TODAY...
Don't blame Microsoft for this problem.
After all, they already have your money, so what do they care? It's much too complex for them.
The poor low paid engineers that made the converter boxes that sell for $60 or less, were able to figure out what to do, but the brilliant MS people just don't give a ****.
Also, guide data for W7 users is not updating. See here: http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/368336.aspx
On my end, against my earlier post, the problem appears to be magically fixed. Did Microsoft perform a stealth fix?
Yea it looks like its fixed now. MS went in and set up the guide and when the guide updated so did your stations.... Thanks MS. Now if my tivo would work...
I still cannot get KCBS-2 in Southern California. The rest of the main stream channels appear to work. Is there any way of reporting the missing channel to a source that can get it fixed?
I am just setting up my password. I'll delete this if it allows me to
Some stations are not at full power right now. That might be one of them. You can go to guide and hit add missing stations if you know where the station is located now.
I still don't have access to KCBS-TV 2 in Los Angeles. They are still transmitting UHF but on a different frequency than Microsoft is apparently mapping them to. KCBS is the "CBS Flagship" station in LA and I doubt they are a "low frequency" station.
I am running Windows Media Center on XP. Is their a file I can edit with the right channel frequency until Microsoft can get this right? Please advise.
Thank you.
I still have a problem with the flagship CBS station in Los Angeles (KCBS-2). As configured in the XP Media Center Guide. However, I found an interesting work around:
1. Add a dummy "missing DTV channel" with the frequency KCBS moved to (43)
2. Name the dummy channel anything.
3. Scan digital signal strength (KCBS gets "no signal", Dummy channel is full green bars.
4. Go to the Guide and try to watch the dummy channel. Nothing shows up.
5. Select KCBS-2 .... boom .. it is there.
Of course, as soon as I restart Media Center, it is gone and I have to repeat these five steps each time. Come on Microsoft, get this fixed!