Recommended Tuner for WMC on Win10

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

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Recommended Tuner for WMC on Win10

#1

Post by glamberson » Fri Mar 18, 2022 12:59 pm

Hi,

I finally had it and blew up my WMC 8.1 system after one more stupid permissions change from a Microsoft update that I didn't want to fix.

Now I'm happy to ditch DRM content and simply use the public domain WMC version available to manage basic content from my cable provider. To do this I need to replace my tuner(s), which previously was a Ceton InfiniTV 6 Eth which I can no longer install due to the demise of Ceton's support website. (Specifically, the driver installer can no longer get an "no updates available" message when looking for newer firmware which means it won't proceed and install my drivers and registry entires.)

So my question is simple: Can someone recommend a good, cheap, easy network tuner that's not 15 years old that works well and reliably with this WMC version? I'm not trying to ditch cable or anything.

Any suggestions will be most appreciated. Thanks!

prsa01

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#2

Post by prsa01 » Fri Mar 18, 2022 3:30 pm

If you believe going to win10 for wmc will be less problematic, I would start reading some threads in this sub-forum. The Most recent system update that caused a few issues that were almost immediately and easily solved were the first such issues on win7 (can't specifically speak to win8). Read a few threads here and you will see that it is a common occurrence on win10. There are also a number of things that don't work on win10. You mentioned DRM, but there are others as well.

You also mention cable and network tuner. I don't know of any cable tuner working with win10 and not sure there ever was a network cable tuner. The hdhomeruns will work as OTA tuners but you need old drivers to work w/WMC.

Not saying you shouldn't move to win10 w/wmc. I'm considering doing it myself. Just make sure you do it understanding the issues.

The closest thing to a trouble free wmc setup is still on win7.

choliscott

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#3

Post by choliscott » Sat Mar 19, 2022 1:52 am

If you don't care about DRM, why don't you move to Emby. I use that with CetonProxy to detect the Ceton infinitv6 eth.

Bryn

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#4

Post by Bryn » Sat Mar 19, 2022 1:45 pm

prsa01 wrote: Fri Mar 18, 2022 3:30 pm The hdhomeruns will work as OTA tuners but you need old drivers to work w/WMC.
I wasn't aware of this, I'm having major issues with a new win10 build and the homerun latest drivers. Standard definition TV is rubbish, hd is fine. I wonder if drivers are the issue?

Do you know which driver version is the best to use?

Thanks
Bryn

prsa01

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#5

Post by prsa01 » Sat Mar 19, 2022 1:53 pm

That doesn't sound like the driver issue that I know about. Maybe the newer drivers work on win10 (I'm on win7). The driver issues I'm aware of keep WMC from finding the tuners at all.

There is a recent thread that specifies a working driver and may even provide a link.

Someone on win10 may be able to give you a better answer.

glamberson

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#6

Post by glamberson » Sun Mar 20, 2022 3:19 pm

Hi, Thanks for the replies. I'm certainly interested in any possibilities, and I haven't even looked at or learned of Emby before, so I'll definitely look at that.

I have been a WMC lover for almost 20 years, my first system being built in 2002 or 2003. Unlike most people (apparently), my favorite part about it has been its curation of show I like to watch, automatically recording new episodes or seasons whenever they come available with no action by me once flagged/set up. I haven't been trying to ditch cable really, as it isn't a realistic option for my household including a grand lady edging towards her 100th birthday with verve in addition to a senior citizen special needs sister.

My WMC on 8.1 was really just fine. I simply got sick of dealing with Microsoft messing it up. I could rebuild it if I wanted, but I don't. I upgraded the system it's on to Win10 for other uses, and I can still watch every channel on my cable via the Spectrum watch website. I just can't schedule, record, or manage my cable viewing as I had before. This really doesn't matter to me all that much in this age of streaming services galore, but since I'm going to continue to have a $250 cable bill every month, I'd go to the effort of configuring it and dealing with new headaches on Win10 if it were indeed possible. So in that vein, I'm still interested in a network tuner for this setup (I don't want a pcie card in this system for other reasons).

Bryn

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#7

Post by Bryn » Mon Mar 21, 2022 9:31 am

prsa01 wrote: Sat Mar 19, 2022 1:53 pm That doesn't sound like the driver issue that I know about. Maybe the newer drivers work on win10 (I'm on win7). The driver issues I'm aware of keep WMC from finding the tuners at all.

There is a recent thread that specifies a working driver and may even provide a link.

Someone on win10 may be able to give you a better answer.
Thanks for your reply, it was a long shot that might be causing my issues

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