Multiple stations in oxford

[Trouble]

Hi guys

So I know that the stations are moving around for freeview. I pressed the yellow button about 100 times..... I know i need to rescan

Anyway
I scan and after a couple of days I get a selection of multiple stations. That is to say one that works but a mirror listing that does not work

This has gone on for several weeks and I have scanned about 4 or 5 times now. But after a couple of days I get another station

So her I am and I have BBC1 listed 3 times as well as BBC2 and other BBC channels as well. Just BBC channels this time but in the past is was also channel 4 and five

Anyway is it still freeview messing around or something broken. It's almost like mce is making another scan in the night for more channels and getting confused.

Any ideas anyone?

[CyberSimian]

I scan and after a couple of days I get a selection of multiple stations. That is to say one that works but a mirror listing that does not work

I think that this is caused by what is called "opportunistic scanning". Looking at my notes, I see that there are TWO registry settings relating to this, but one may be for Vista and the other for Windows 7 (or both settings may apply to both versions of Windows). I had this problem on my Vista system, and recently set both registry settings to disable opportunistic scanning. It is too early to tell whether this has cured the problem.

These are the registry settings (I have manually split the long lines to avoid silly line breaks; remove the "..."):

Regsitry Key 1
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\...
Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\...
Media Center\Service\BackgroundScanner\PeriodicScanEnabled

If this does not exist, create it as a DWORD and set the value to zero (disabled).

Registry Key 2
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\...
Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\...
Media Center\Service\GLID\DisableActualStreamOpportunisticScanning

If this does not exist, create it as a DWORD and set the value to one.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

[Trouble]

Thanks for that I give it a try
Should be a couple of days before i know

[CyberSimian]

I had this problem on my Vista system, and recently set both registry settings to disable opportunistic scanning.

A new channel appeared on DVB-T Freeview in the UK about ten days ago, namely "Channel 5 + 1", broadcast on channel 44. I checked my EPG in Vista Media Center, and there was no sign of the new channel. I also checked the "Edit Channels" panel in "MC Settings", and there channel 44 was shown as the (no-longer broadcast) "Pick TV+1". Just to confirm that the new channel was available in my region, I retuned my Humax PVR, which did indeed pick up the new channel.

So I think that we can conclude from this that setting both registry keys will disable the opportunistic scanning that was causing problems for some people (including me, occasionally). Whether both keys are required for Vista and Windows 7, or one key is for Vista and the other for Windows 7, remains unclear. But it will do no harm to set both if you want to disable opportunistic scanning (probably).

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

[mark1234]

Did you manually tell it to scan for new channels to get C5+1 listed?

My machine picked it up, but it happened when I had just reinstalled Win7 so I'd not gotten around to killing the background scan, which I have done now.

Note that 7MC is picking up the 7 day in band EPG data for this channel, but there is no 14 day download data for it. I've raised a Connect ticket about this.
https://connect.microsoft.com/site1145/ ... nel-5-1-uk

[CyberSimian]

Did you manually tell it to scan for new channels to get C5+1 listed?

The device that I rescanned was my Humax PVR, which I usually leave powered down (i.e. not in standby), as it is only for "emergency" use, and it consumes 16 watts in standby(!) So I do not know whether it would have picked up C5+1 by itself.

I have not rescanned my Vista HTPC yet. Analog switch off (and re-allocation of the digital MUXes) is due in my region around March next year, so I will not bother to rescan until then (assuming no unexpected problems). At this point I wanted to confirm that opportunistic scanning was disabled, which seems to be the case.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK