Signal strength has all bars, but gets "no TV signal" when try to watch

[SunnyR]

I am in the San Francisco area. Lately I have not been getting signals for major channels - NBC (11), ABC (7), and some others. On researching, I realized some major broadcast antennae tower was replaced. So I rescanned all channels.

This fixed all channel reception, EXCEPT channel 7.1 (ABC) and 7.2.

Oddly, the signal strength for channel 7.1 and 7.2 shows all 4 bars. (It was 1 bar before the rescan.) Yet when I actually go watch that channel, I get the "no TV signal" error message. I am mystified. I have never experienced this seeming conflict/inconsistency before. (The other channels that I was not receiving before are all OK now, i.e. signal strength back to 4 bars, and I can watch.)

(Note -
At one point, I seem to remember some issue with virtual vs real channel number for ABC. I don't remember if it had to do with getting my guide listing right, or if I had to do some assignment tweaking with the tuner software itself. (I use HomeRun dual tuner.) Could this have something to do with my issue?)

Do I have to "set up signal" all over? I'd prefer not because I believe I lose all my scheduled recording settings.

Could someone suggest what I can try? Thanks!

[Space]

WMC does not have the ability to find VHF channels, so you need to add any VHF channel manually. The guide data downloaded from Microsoft used to have this information, but since that is no longer available, VHF channels cannot be found.

See here:
http://epg123.garyan2.net/tools/

[SunnyR]

UPDATE.

OK. I got it now. But it may be of interest for those who care to read below, for what happened before this update.

Essentially, I rescan within the TUNER software.

Then Space, you are right, I need to add the channel in WMC. I made the mistake of entering the WRONG "real" frequency. Now that I associate ABC 7.1 (virtual) with 12 (real frequency), WMC is all straightened out. Now I have to properly associate this newly added 7.1 with the proper guide info. This I know how to do.

I have to add the NBC, and some other channels as well, and associate them with the correct real frequency, based on what my HomeRun tuner's newly scanned in real frequency. (And get the guide info properly set up with these new channels.)

Have to go do all of that, and will report back. But I do believe the solution is clear.

Thanks for the help!



___________________________
This was written BEFORE the update above.
Hi Space,
I tried that, but it didn't do anything. The newly added 7.1 doesn't have any signal either.

And let me update a new kink in the situation.

So I went into my HomeRun tuner "Setup" software, and was able to see the virtual vs real channel line up. I was also able to see watch an actual channel from there. When I watched 7.1, I actually got some Asian channel (real channel# was 7.3) It's not ABC at all! (But note that within WMC, 7.1 wasn't available - it wasn't even playing a different channel.)

I decided to do a Rescan within HomeRun. After that, within HomeRun, 7.1 showed a different real channel (12.3). And when I watched it via the tuner software, ABC runs!

So then I went back to WMC, and did a rescan of the channels - hoping that WMC would "sync up" with the tuner... (or something like that.)

Well, no go! Not only does WMC's 7.1 still was showing TV signal not available, 11.1 (NBC) which was "fixed" before I did the tuner rescan now does not work anymore. (No signal again.) (It worked after I did the very first WMC rescan signal.)

So the short of it is that my tuner is now definitely receiving signals for those "lost" channels. (Lost from broadcast antennae replacement.) BUT WMC is not "picking up" those channels, even after a WMC rescan.

Is there something I should do in either WMC, or EPG so that what's picked up by the tuner is actually recognized and played within WMC?

Thanks!

[dmagerl]

Rabbitears.info shows ch7 as being broadcast on 2 channels 12 & 35. Chances are you can receive one but not the other frequency and that has WMC confused.

Open the guide and right click the channel and then Edit channel/Edit sources. There's a list of sources. There should be an entry for each tuner and each frequency. You need to disable the sources for the frequency you cant receive. You need to do this for each subchannel, i.e, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 etc.

[Space]

From looking at San Francisco on antennaweb.org, it looks like both the ABC and NBC channels are VHF, so it makes sense that neither of them are found when doing a scan in WMC. VHF channels are any channel where the physical/real channel is 2 through 13.

It appears that ABC (digital/logical channel 7.1) is physical/real channel 12 and NBC (digital/logical channel 11.1) is physical/real channel 13. Are these the values you used when "adding" the channel to WMC?

[SunnyR]

Yes. These are the new virtual to real channel mappings that my TUNER got when I rescanned there.

After I did that, I can then add channel 7 (virtual) on WMC and assigned it as 12 (real). Before I rescanned in the tuner, things were confused at the tuner level as well. (channel 7 virtual was linked with 7 (real), etc.)

[SunnyR]

From looking at San Francisco on antennaweb.org, it looks like both the ABC and NBC channels are VHF, so it makes sense that neither of them are found when doing a scan in WMC. VHF channels are any channel where the physical/real channel is 2 through 13.

Oddly, there are other real channels outside of 2-13 that I also was not getting.
E.g. KOFY-DT 20.1 = RF channel 28. That was also "gone" until the rescan.

I have to look at other rarely watched channel on the tuner and see what else might need to be re-added to WMC.