HD Channels

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

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HD Channels

#1

Post by tripstation » Thu Jul 02, 2020 3:18 pm

HI,
When I try to watch an HD channel I get no signal.
I have a HD Hauppage Sat card and it works with WinTV.
This is the message I get.

No TV Signal.
There is currently no TV signal detected for this channel. The channel may be temporarily off
air or you may need to adjust or reconnect your TV antenna.

technodevotee

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#2

Post by technodevotee » Thu Jul 02, 2020 3:52 pm

Which version is it you have?

If it is one of the older ones like the WinTV Nova-HD 2 that I have in one of my old PCs, there are registry entries that tell the driver which channels are DVB-S2 and which are DVB-S.

I once made the mistake of letting Windows install its own driver for the cards when I did an upgrade and all the the HD channels except for Channel 4 stopped working in WMC even though the registry entries were present and correct.

Once I installed the drivers off the Hauppauge website, it started working again.

tripstation

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#3

Post by tripstation » Thu Jul 02, 2020 6:06 pm

Hi,
Yes it's one of the old Nova ones.
I have the latest wmc installed.
What's the reg key setting to tell the card?

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technodevotee

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#4

Post by technodevotee » Thu Jul 02, 2020 6:33 pm

The version of WMC doesn't make any difference because the issue is a lack of ability to switch between DVB-S and DVB-S2 on one tuner.

I posted about the issues I've had on MDL and on here and did a search for them. I think these should be enough to give you a head start but you are welcome to come back to me if you need more help.

Code: Select all

https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/discussion-patch-wmc-to-run-on-windows-10-final-possible-alternatives.61061/page-178#post-1203726

https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/discussion-patch-wmc-to-run-on-windows-10-final-possible-alternatives.61061/page-180#post-1203978

https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/discussion-patch-wmc-to-run-on-windows-10-final-possible-alternatives.61061/page-180#post-1204000

https://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/viewtopic.php?p=129464#p129464
The Hauppauge software works because it can switch modes.

Channel 4 HD works because it it is DVB-S not DVB-S2.
Last edited by technodevotee on Thu Jul 02, 2020 10:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

tripstation

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#5

Post by tripstation » Thu Jul 02, 2020 6:40 pm

Is it possible for it to just run the dvb-s2 hd channels then and not run the sd ones at all?

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technodevotee

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#6

Post by technodevotee » Thu Jul 02, 2020 6:53 pm

Well you could just not bother tuning the SD channels but you need a registry entry on each transponder to set the card to DVB-S2.

You'd also be missing out on a lot of channels. I mean there's only a dozen or so HD channels on ASTRA 2 if you discount regional variations and the other 150ish(?) are all SD.

Similar story on ASTRA 1 and Hotbird really - maybe a few more HD channels but some of the are regional variations as well.

tripstation

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#7

Post by tripstation » Thu Jul 02, 2020 7:01 pm

Hi,
I have two cards.
Couldn't I just have one set to HD and the other to SD if they can't toggle?

technodevotee

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#8

Post by technodevotee » Thu Jul 02, 2020 8:21 pm

No, because WMC doesn't even know that the card can receive High Definition let alone switch to it. It sets the frequency, polarity and symbol rate then decodes whatever signal it is given.

The default for the card is Standard Definition and the driver needs the registry entries to set the Standard, Modulation and FEC for the transponders with HD content.

It seems to be a bit of a fudge to me - one that causes issues in WMC for me because I have three satellites set up and some of the transponders have the same frequency but some are SD and others are HD. Because there is one registry entry per frequency I have to choose which channels I actually want to watch and miss out on the others.
Last edited by technodevotee on Thu Jul 02, 2020 8:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

tripstation

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#9

Post by tripstation » Thu Jul 02, 2020 8:27 pm

So it is possible to set the card to decode HD channels in WMC with a registry setting?
Can you give me an example for say BBC1 HD?

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#10

Post by technodevotee » Thu Jul 02, 2020 9:45 pm

By coincidence, the registry information I posted in viewtopic.php?p=129464#p129464 is the one for the transponder that carries, among others, BBC1 HD.

viz:

Code: Select all

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\hcw88bda\DVBS_Params\10847000]
"unique_key"="28.2E ASTRA 2, EUROBIRD 1"
"symbol_rate"=dword:015ef3c0
"modulation"=dword:0000001b
"fec_inner"=dword:00000003
"polarization"=dword:00000002
"pilot"=dword:00000000
"rolloff"=dword:ffffffff
"broadcast_type"="DVB-S2"
The first thing to note is that there is one registry setting required per transponder carrying HD content and it affects the driver so it affects all cards.

The other thing to note is, as I mentioned, you need to use the Hauppauge driver otherwise it will ignore the registry settings and attempt to configure Standard Definition.

Finally, you still need to tune in the channels by manually scanning the appropriate transponders.

For your example of BBC1 HD, it would be 10847000, 23000 Symbol rate, Vertical Polarisation.

Unfortunately, the setting tool I mentioned that creates the registry entries by downloading information from the internet was hopelessly out of date when I tried it last and I had to create my own registry settings then scan each transponder.

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