Yet another black screen with WMC + nvidia live TV only

[mlrtime]

I just started having a consistent problem where any time I switch to Live TV the screen turns off and audio stops. I'm not able to get out of the black screen unless I close WMC and restart, sometimes I need to restart the PC but I think that is because I don't wait for the video to come back.

The tuners work fine and I can actually record live tv and watch a "live" show by recording it and watching the recorded version, I just can't use the guide to watch live tv.

XBMC works fine on the pc and all other functions work except live tv.

This is Windows 7 + WMC
Ceton USB with latest drivers and firmware
Nvidia 430 GT with 327.23 drivers

I've tried different versions of nvidia drivers and none fix the problem.

Any ideas on what I can try?

[tzr916]

When the it happens-
Press guide, or info, or menu, or pause, or change channels up/down on wmc remote, what happens? Does WMC respond? Does you see the guide, info, menu, progress bar, channels change?
If you use a mouse to reduce the windows out of full screen then go back to full screen, does live Tv show up?

[mlrtime]

When the it happens-
Press guide, or info, or menu, or pause, or change channels up/down on wmc remote, what happens? Does WMC respond? Does you see the guide, info, menu, progress bar, channels change?
If you use a mouse to reduce the windows out of full screen then go back to full screen, does live Tv show up?

The menu buttons work however it does not immediately fix the problem. I'm also able to alt-f4 wmc which will sometimes show the desktop. So I know the system isn't freezing.

If I reduce the window it still stays black until I quit wmc or restart the pc. Quitting wmc doesn't always fix the problem either.

[tzr916]

Trying to gather more details... So when you go to live Tv, the screen goes black and no audio. If you then press Info will the correct information about that channel and program pop up on the screen? If you change channels up/down does the screen indicate that you have changed channels with the new channel/program info? If you press guide and select another channel does the screen indicate that you have changed channels with the new channel/program info? If you let it sit on black screen long enough will a WMC blue error screen pop up? What does it say?

[mlrtime]

Trying to gather more details... So when you go to live Tv, the screen goes black and no audio. If you then press Info will the correct information about that channel and program pop up on the screen? If you change channels up/down does the screen indicate that you have changed channels with the new channel/program info? If you press guide and select another channel does the screen indicate that you have changed channels with the new channel/program info? If you let it sit on black screen long enough will a WMC blue error screen pop up? What does it say?

Correct, black and no audio.
Pressing info does nothing (video or audio)
Changing channels shows nothing
Guide shows nothing
I never see a blue error screen.

The only way to get a picture is to close wmc or to put it in a window. I have vnc installed so I can remote into the machine to recover. This only happens with Live TV.

Also, I'm not even able to play live tv in a window, screen goes black. But I can see the picture through the vnc viewer.

Thanks for your help!

[tzr916]

...I'm not even able to play live tv in a window, screen goes black...
But I can see the picture through the vnc viewer.

When you go to live Tv in windowed mode, are you saying the WMC windowed area is black or the whole dekstop/screen goes black?

In VNC you can see video playing in the wmc window? or you see the desktop and the wmc window is black?

[mlrtime]

...I'm not even able to play live tv in a window, screen goes black...
But I can see the picture through the vnc viewer.

When you go to live Tv in windowed mode, are you saying the WMC windowed area is black or the whole dekstop/screen goes black?

In VNC you can see video playing in the wmc window? or you see the desktop and the wmc window is black?

If I try live tv in full screen I get a black window, I then put wmc in window mode and the screen stays black although I can see the video through vnc viewer.

If I start in windowed mode and try live tv, I can see video in vnc and the screen still goes black. Hitting stop stops the video but the screen stays black until i quit wmc.

If the screen is black I can't see anything at all, in fact I don't think it is a black screen, it is probably just no output.

Thanks

[tzr916]

WTF, that's crazy.

Reboot the Tv & AVR (if using one)- find the power cord(s), unplug them from the wall, wait three minutes, plug the power cords back in. Power them back on. Reboot the PC- shut down windows, find the PC power cord, unplug it from the wall, count to five, plug it back in. Power the PC back on. Test...

What model is your Tv?
Is it hdmi connection?
How long are the hdmi cables?
Is it primary monitor of htpc and are there secondary monitors?
Is it going through an AVR? What model?

Before the screen goes black (normal operation), press INFO on your Tv remote. What does the Tv report that it is getting as a signal? like "1080p HDMI 1" or what ever

After the Tv screen goes black, press INFO on your Tv remote. Does the Tv report that it is still getting the same signal?

After the Tv screen goes black, try unplugging the hdmi cord from the htpc then plug it back in. What happens?

After the Tv screen goes black, try changing inputs on the Tv/AVR, then back to the HTPC input. What happens?