I'm trying to set up live TV on Media Center (Vista Ultimate).
I have Comcast cable (Seattle) which uses NTSC in both digital and analog. They say they will continue broadcasting analog for 3 more years, even though the US standard is changing to digital-only soon.
I have the Leadtek WinFast TV2000 XP Expert (certified for Vista). It says it for analog only.
When trying to show Live TV, I get the following message from Media Center: "Loss of Signal. Windows Media Center has stopped caputing data due to low data rates in the TV signal. Thjis may be a temporary situation. If this persists, make sure the cable for the TV signal is conneced properly, restart the computer, and then try tuning to a channel."
Any ideas? Could this be because of a weak analog signal? Do I need to buy a digital tuner?
I've tried mutliple cables, and tried connecting directly to the wall outlet. Same message. Through my standard configuration, I will also have my TV on the cable. Should I split to the computer BEFORE the cable box, or split to the cluster AFTER the cable box?
Two possibilities: First and foremost, a PC tuner card is a lot touchier about signal quality (and, signal level) than a TV is. If you have a lot of splitters in your house (between the drop entrance) and the PC, and/or 'shady-quality' cabling anywhere in there, and/or low-quality no-name spitter(s), it will result in the error message that you're seeing. Media Center is simply stating the obvious: the signal level that's making it to the card isn't high enough for it to reliably tune it. Best test: move the PC (and, everything that goes with it) into the basement (temporarily), and connect it directly to the drop entrance. If it works, problem is with your in-home cabling. If it still doesn't, it's either a very poor signal coming down from the pole, or.... Second: if your in-house coax is done right (no splitter-feeding splitter-feeding splitter BS), well, that card, ah, isn't of the highest quality. IMHO.
<<Should I split to the computer BEFORE the cable box, or split to the cluster AFTER the cable box?>> Before. After the cable box, and you'll need to set up Media Center to use a set-top box, and MC will have control over that STB. (BTW, coax is a really crappy way to connect a Media Center to a STB - the picture quality sucks. Composite video is a bit better, s-video is best possible.)
<<Do I need to buy a digital tuner?>> Only if you want to tune over-the-air HD signals, or any Clear-QAM (unencrypted digital cable) signals that your cable co is sending down the line; Clear-QAM only works (within Media Center) with a few tuners, whose manufacturers have written special drivers to get around the lack of native Clear-QAM support. A digital tuner can't tune analog (which your cable co is still sending down.)
HTH, Chris[If this post helps to resolve your issue, please click the "Mark as Answer" or "Helpful" button at the top of this message. By marking a post as Answered, or Helpful you help others find the answer faster.]
