2250 finds no channels

[Towermax]

Tuner: Hauppage 2250 with Hauppage IR remote
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium, using Windows Media Center
Cable: Comcast with old set-top box
System: i3-3320 on H61 motherboard with 8GB ram. SSD for system disk and hard drive for recordings.

I've had a working HTPC with the above setup for several years. Recently I upgraded the motherboard and CPU, and reinstalled Windows 7.

I've encountered a strange problem during Windows Media Center setup, though. Everything goes fine until it reaches the final channel scan--it finds nothing. During the previous part of setup, when setting up and testing the remote, it finds channels just fine--I can click up and down from channel to channel with the remote or I can manually enter channel numbers on the keyboard and get every channel. But at the end, it says no channels found, and there's nothing.

I installed the Hauppauge WinTV7 and it found one channel--Channel 3, and that's it.

The cable setup hasn't changed: Comcast cable goes directly to the set-top box. The ouput from the box goes to a splitter which sends a signal to the 2250 and another to the TV. The TV gets all the channels, but the Hauppage finds nothing.

Any ideas?

[foxwood]

Your TV doesn't get all the channels - it only gets Channel 3. The STB get's all the channels, and when you change channels on the STB, it sends whenever channel you choose to the TV as Channel 3.

It sounds like you have a blaster set up that's sending the right channel changes out to the STB, but when it gets to the channel scan something goes wrong. I'm guessing that the problem us that the output from the STB is on Analog Channel 3, but WMC is doing a channel scan for Digital signals - what provider did you tell it you were using?

[Towermax]

Your TV doesn't get all the channels - it only gets Channel 3.

Right--I just found it interesting that this only occurs with WinTV7 and not with WMC.

I'm guessing that the problem us that the output from the STB is on Analog Channel 3, but WMC is doing a channel scan for Digital signals - what provider did you tell it you were using?

I set up the analog tuners first and then added the digital. The channels that were found during setup were all on analog. When I added the digital tuners, there was no further testing. I'm wondering if my set top box is providing only analog output. I used to get 30-40 QAM signals also, but I believe Comcast has now encrypted all of them.

The provider is Comcast and Comcast Digital, according to MCE setup.

I'm going to follow up on your idea and run setup again, limit it to analog, and see what happens.

[staknhalo]

You only get digital when the coaxial goes right from the wall to the tuner (if the signal is digital). Going through a STB will only be analogue in WMC. The STB receives the digital signal and outputs analogue.

[Towermax]

OK, re-ran MCE setup and limited it to one analog tuner. Worked perfectly, but no high-def channels, only SD. I installed an old ATI 650 tuner and hooked it to an indoor antenna (many local broadcast towers are within three miles) and got seventeen high-def local channels.

I found out that Comcast recently (July 30) encrypted all channels in our market, and that's apparently the problem. Now I have to talk with them about getting a new STB that will provide the HD channels that we used to get. (You can tell that we don't watch a lot of TV. )

Looks like the digital tuners on my 2250 are worthless as long as this thing is connected to a STB, correct?

Thanks for the help. I had forgotten a lot of this stuff since I set things up several years ago . . .

[foxwood]

I found out that Comcast recently (July 30) encrypted all channels in our market, and that's apparently the problem. Now I have to talk with them about getting a new STB that will provide the HD channels that we used to get. (You can tell that we don't watch a lot of TV. )

If they are going to charge you more for a HD STB, you might be better off getting a cable-card tuner, and avoiding the STB entirely.

[staknhalo]

Yes, the HD tuners are useless if going through a STB. You also will never receive any HD channels if going through a STB. You will have to have the HD STB hooked right to the TV if you want to watch HD. If it goes into the tuner, it will convert down to SD.

[Towermax]

Yes, the HD tuners are useless if going through a STB. You also will never receive any HD channels if going through a STB. You will have to have the HD STB hooked right to the TV if you want to watch HD. If it goes into the tuner, it will convert down to SD.

OK, so with encrypted signals that require a STB, there's absolutely no point in having digital tuners with our current cable, correct? Guess I'll have to research and get a cable-card tuner.

Thanks to everyone for your help.

[staknhalo]

Correct.