No item "Activate Digital Cable"

Discussion of getting WMC to work on Windows 10 (unsupported)
wgf_bean

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No item "Activate Digital Cable"

#1

Post by wgf_bean » Tue Nov 26, 2019 5:41 pm

I just installed WMC on a new Win 10 machine.

I have these Ethernet attached tuners:
(1) SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime (for cable reception, 3 tuners)
(2) SiliconDust HDHomeRun Dual (for OTA reception, 2 tuners each, 4 total)

I downloaded and ran the HDHomeRun Setup. It sees all 7 tuners.

Inside WMC I ran the "Set Up TV Signal" and it configured the HDHomeRun Dual. It didn't find the HDHomeRun Prime and there is also no menu item that I'm used to seeing for "Activate Digital Cable".

I have two Win 7 machines on this same home network that are running WMC fine and see all 7 tuners.

What step have I missed?

SpencerC

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#2

Post by SpencerC » Tue Nov 26, 2019 6:46 pm

What version on Win10 are you running? Only older versions recognize cable card tuners.

technodevotee

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#3

Post by technodevotee » Tue Nov 26, 2019 6:53 pm

You didn't say what version of WMC you are using either.

wgf_bean

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#4

Post by wgf_bean » Tue Nov 26, 2019 7:22 pm

It's brand new and working through all the latest updates. It's working on 1903 now...

technodevotee

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#5

Post by technodevotee » Tue Nov 26, 2019 7:33 pm

I'm sure it would be helpful to other readers of this forum if, once the dust has settled, you could provide details of the build number of Windows you have, the version of WMC you are using, what software you installed and what steps you took to get it working.

There seems to be a lot of people here and on MDL who are struggling with SiliconDust and Ceton products in Windows 10.

There also seems to be a lot of urban myths relating to them.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of people explaining what works and what doesn't work.

Thanks.

mwpeterson

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#6

Post by mwpeterson » Tue Nov 26, 2019 7:36 pm

Microsoft broke cablecards in WMC in Windows 10 when they introduced Playready 3.0. The last version of Windows 10 that works with cablecards was 1511. Specifically 10586.589.

wgf_bean

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#7

Post by wgf_bean » Tue Nov 26, 2019 7:59 pm

technodevotee wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 7:33 pm I'm sure it would be helpful to other readers of this forum if, once the dust has settled, you could provide details of the build number of Windows you have, the version of WMC you are using, what software you installed and what steps you took to get it working.

There seems to be a lot of people here and on MDL who are struggling with SiliconDust and Ceton products in Windows 10.

There also seems to be a lot of urban myths relating to them.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of people explaining what works and what doesn't work.

Thanks.
Win 10: Version 1903 (OS Build 18362.476)
WMC: WMC-V13_x64 (Downloaded Nov 26, 2019 from the link you provided. https://technodevotee.co.uk/WMC-Downloads.htm

When Windows finished updating to 1903 I had to uninstall then re-install WMC otherwise it wouldn't launch. It works fine for OTA tuners, but not the cable tuner.

mwpeterson wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 7:36 pm Microsoft broke cablecards in WMC in Windows 10 when they introduced Playready 3.0. The last version of Windows 10 that works with cablecards was 1511. Specifically 10586.589.
Hmm. If that's true then you're telling me there's nothing I can do. So no one has gotten cable card tuners to work with Win 10 version 1903?

SpencerC

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#8

Post by SpencerC » Tue Nov 26, 2019 8:21 pm

If you want to use a cable card tuner you need to go back to an older version of Win10, version 1511 is the latest known version to work. Then you will need to disable windows from getting updated automatically. Disabling the windows update service is not sufficient. I had my service disabled and got updated anyway. I gave up on WMC at this point and use the HDHomeRun tuner/dvr. It sucks, but it works.

wgf_bean

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#9

Post by wgf_bean » Tue Nov 26, 2019 8:22 pm

Hmm. Now I'm getting the dreaded "All TV tuners are currently in use." message. In fact I don't think I've been able view a channel now that I have 1903 installed.

I tried powering down both of my OTA tuners and restarting them. Still complains, yet if I go to "Scan for More Channels" it happily scans which means there are tuners available. Bizzare.

wgf_bean

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#10

Post by wgf_bean » Tue Nov 26, 2019 8:29 pm

SpencerC wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 8:21 pm If you want to use a cable card tuner you need to go back to an older version of Win10, version 1511 is the latest known version to work. Then you will need to disable windows from getting updated automatically. Disabling the windows update service is not sufficient. I had my service disabled and got updated anyway. I gave up on WMC at this point and use the HDHomeRun tuner/dvr. It sucks, but it works.
I don't think I can go back to an older version. Even if I could it's pointless for me. I wanted to be able to have the latest version of Windows. I already have an old version (Win 7) on 2 machines.

Using HDHomeRun tuner/dvr would not work for me. The reason I use WMC is because I want the wtv files it creates. I can keep and edit them and even convert to mkv files.

technodevotee

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#11

Post by technodevotee » Tue Nov 26, 2019 8:44 pm

wgf_bean wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 8:22 pm Hmm. Now I'm getting the dreaded "All TV tuners are currently in use." message. In fact I don't think I've been able view a channel now that I have 1903 installed.

I tried powering down both of my OTA tuners and restarting them. Still complains, yet if I go to "Scan for More Channels" it happily scans which means there are tuners available. Bizzare.
Have you read known issues.txt and used replace_dlls.cmd?

I think you might have to accept a half way house WRT Wiindows 10 - at least you'll be able to watch and record from OTA although unfortunately, you'll only be able to watch recordings made from cable on the other PCs over the network or by copying them.

I believe that is what other people do.

wgf_bean

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#12

Post by wgf_bean » Wed Nov 27, 2019 2:06 pm

technodevotee wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 8:44 pm Have you read known issues.txt and used replace_dlls.cmd?
My bad. No.

Ok, so I've used replace_dll.cmd and yes that fixed it. Thanks!

When this ran it moved two files presumably to back up the dlls. Where did it move/back them to?

technodevotee

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#13

Post by technodevotee » Wed Nov 27, 2019 4:06 pm

It leaves them in \windows\system32 but renames them to something like msvidctl.6.5.18362.1.dll, just in case you ever need to put them back.

Windows seems to ignore them so I've got a bunch of different versions on some of my PCs.

patrick0525

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#14

Post by patrick0525 » Sat Dec 21, 2019 2:35 pm

Installed a fresh copy W10 1909 build 18363.535 and installed vmc 64 bit and ran replace_dll.cmd. Still cannot find SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime (for cable reception, 3 tuners) with FIOS tuner card. Any suggestions?

technodevotee

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#15

Post by technodevotee » Sat Dec 21, 2019 2:50 pm

As far as I know cable hasn't worked in WMC in Windows 10 since version 1511.
Last edited by technodevotee on Sat Dec 21, 2019 5:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

choliscott

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#16

Post by choliscott » Sat Dec 21, 2019 3:44 pm

wgf_bean wrote:
SpencerC wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 8:21 pm If you want to use a cable card tuner you need to go back to an older version of Win10, version 1511 is the latest known version to work. Then you will need to disable windows from getting updated automatically. Disabling the windows update service is not sufficient. I had my service disabled and got updated anyway. I gave up on WMC at this point and use the HDHomeRun tuner/dvr. It sucks, but it works.
I don't think I can go back to an older version. Even if I could it's pointless for me. I wanted to be able to have the latest version of Windows. I already have an old version (Win 7) on 2 machines.

Using HDHomeRun tuner/dvr would not work for me. The reason I use WMC is because I want the wtv files it creates. I can keep and edit them and even convert to mkv files.
You can edit the file Silicondust DVR creates

wgf_bean

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#17

Post by wgf_bean » Fri Jan 10, 2020 10:37 pm

I noticed another interesting thing about the WMC-V13_x64 install on my Win10 machine. If I scan for new channels it finds both the UHF and VHF channels. This is not the case if you are using the current WMC on Win7, where it only finds the UHF channels. But it gets more interesting than this...

On the Win7 machine I have to manually enter the VHF TV stations. Their RF channels are 2, 7, and 12. Of these RF channels 7 and 12 work, but not RF 2. I know I'm entering them correctly. On the Win10 machine which uses WMC-V13_x64, all 3 of these are found automatically when scanning for new channels - even RF 2!!!

This is bizarre. I can receive RF 2 on the Win10 machine but not the Win7 machine. The hardware tuner is the same one on my home network.

So I'm wondering is there a file(s) on the Win10 machine I could copy to the Win7 machine to fix the problem. I'm thinking something in the ehome directory.

Anyone know which file(s) are responsible for this?

technodevotee

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#18

Post by technodevotee » Sat Jan 11, 2020 7:57 am

As far as I can tell, the tuning data is downloaded from MS servers and imported straight into the database. I've tried to find the settings on a number of PC but the only place I've ever seen tuning information is in the database.

The only file I've ever found that might have a bearing on it is called something like tuning overrides.

There's a few tools to allow manipulation of the database but most of them seem to be unsupported now and no longer work properly.

Gary's EPG123 has a function to add channels so he must have a much better knowledge of how channel tuning works than me but I reckon he's probably got his hands full at the moment with all the 'switchers'.

Maybe you could send him a PM?

wgf_bean

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#19

Post by wgf_bean » Sat Jan 11, 2020 4:39 pm

The issue is worse than simply entering the correct channel info to fix non VHF scanned channels. For RF channel 2 it doesn't seem to work. This isn't a database issue. Sounds like a code issue.

Is there a way to install your WMC package onto a Win 7 machine that already has the pre-installed WMC?

technodevotee

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#20

Post by technodevotee » Sat Jan 11, 2020 8:03 pm

Yeah, it could be almost anything but then again I don't know much about how WMC tunes TV channels, hence my suggestion to ask Gary.

I went a bit off topic mentioning the database tools but the point I was trying to make is that there's not much info or support out there any more.

I think a lot of people who knew about WMC have moved onto other things.

I don't think it would be possible to install WMC V8x or V13 on Windows 7 because it is based on stuff from Windows 8.

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