Can't watch live TV

[technodevotee]

Some time earlier this year, my HTPC developed a problem where although WMC records any channel that has a signal, I can't watch Live TV (either through the guide or the shortcut on the home screen) unless it is already recording.

I get a blank screen followed by a message saying that there is no signal on that channel.

The workaround I have been using is to start WMC with the command line argument "/mcesuperbar://tv?live=true", which Gary shared in one of his posts.

Once I have done that, I can change channels to the one I actually want to watch.

The downside of this is that I don't always want to open WMC to watch TV and If I do want to watch a channel and forgot to start WMC using the argument, I have to close WMC and re-open it.

Under normal circumstances, I would uninstall and re-install WMC but it is a pain on my system as, if restoring a backup doesn't work for some reason, it is a lot of work due to having multiple satellites.

I have tried everything I can think of and it is starting to look like that may be my only option.

Does anyone have any ideas how to troubleshoot this?

[garyan2]

Maybe the buffer file is corrupted? You can try changing the location of the Recorder Storage and change it back. Or maybe delete the c:\users\public\public recorded tv\temprec folder to force it create a new one. Not sure of implications on either method.

EDIT: It looks like trying to just delete the temprec folder requires SYSTEM level permissions.

[technodevotee]

Thanks.

You might be onto something there.

I seem to remember that there was some sort of problem with that folder - it may have got deleted or moved - and I had to recreate it so maybe it is a permissions issue?

I'll try changing the location as you suggest.

[technodevotee]

Unfortunately, moving the recorder storage to a different drive didn't help.

It was a good call though.

One thing I forgot to mention is that, unless I start WMC with the argument I mentioned "/mcesuperbar://tv?live=true" although I can watch a programme that is recording, I can't change to another channel because I get the no signal message.

I think I may have found the problem: I have four DVB-S2 tuner cards but it seems that only two of them are working because if WMC is already recording 2 channels, additional channels can't be recorded or watched.

I Believe that WMC uses the cords in a different order depending on whether it is recording or watching so my guess is that it tries to use the cards that aren't working first when you try to watch a channel.

However, that doesn't explain why it works when starting WMC using the argument I mentioned "/mcesuperbar://tv?live=true".

[technodevotee]

I have tested the cables that go up to the DiSEqC switches on the back of my dish using my iBRAVEBOX V9 HD satellite finder and can watch TV from all three satellites on all four cables.

So I am pretty confident that the problem is not the LNBs, DiSEqC switches or cables.

Therefore it seems that at least one of the tuner cards has failed. And according to the logs, tuners 1 and 2 work but 3 and 4 aren't working although it seems very unlikely that two out of four single input tuners have failed.

The question now is: how to find out which card it is. Has anyone found a way of identifying which physical tuner is which tuner referenced in WMC?

I was going to try using the Hauppauge software but it looks like a right pain to activate with four tuners.

I guess I could plug them into a different PC and test them individually.

[garyan2]

Would Ctrl-D 411 get you that? At least tell which tuners are working.

Sent from my SM-G781U1 using Tapatalk

[technodevotee]

yes, kind off proves my theory.

If I start WMC normally, 411 Ctrl-D tells me that tuner 3 is in state TVforPlayback and I get a blank screen and no signal when I try to watch Live TV

If I start WMC with "/mcesuperbar://tv?live=true", 411 Ctrl-D tells me that tuner 0 is in state TVforPlayback and I get a picture when I try to watch Live TV

If I record a programme and then watch it, 411 Ctrl-D tells me that tuner 1 is in state TVforRecording and I get a picture.

Interestingly, it says the TmpSBE files are in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\ehome\SharedSBE.

[technodevotee]

I looked at the cards in device information and compared the WMC tuner information in the registry and they seem to be in the same order in device manager as they appear in WMC.

They appear to be in the same order as they are in the motherboards as well because, disconnecting the satellite cable from each tuner in turn, stops them working in the same order.

Unfortunately, that only holds for the two that work.

I have to assume that the two that aren't working were damaged by some external event such as lightening and have ordered two new cards of the same model to replace them.

Watch this space.

[technodevotee]

Update:

I removed the two suspect cards from my HTPC so that I could test them in another PC.

When I click on a channel in the guide, it opens Live TV.

When I put the cards in the other PC, I found that one works and one doesn't.

What?

Nope. Turns out that the tuners I thought were faulty weren't. Why do MS make it so hard to tell which Tuner is which?

Back to one and two working in the HTPC and now to test the others in the other PC.

They don't work in there either.

[technodevotee]

replacement tuners arrived and fitted.

everything is working as it should again.