OT Xbox & Live

Doesn't seem to be any "populated" Xbox newsgroups anymore so asking and
complaining here. Don't like that, to late to complain

Just got my first Xbox, never touched one before. Used, came with
numerous controllers and games etc. It is a "Xbox 360 S" model.
Everything works as expected.

Disappointment #1 - needed a hard disk to play original Xbox games.

Disappointment #2 - needed a "special" hard disk costs way more than
normal, either that or try to hack specific hard disk models.

Disappointment #3 - even with hard disk installed (thankfully trivially
done) more than 1/2 the original Xbox games I've tried don't work.

Disappointment #4 - can't install original games to the hard disk

Disappointment #5 - can't seem to watch any TV, movies or listen to
music without paying, e.g. there's no real free any of that?

So seems to me I might as well disconnect the network cable from it as
it's just a pipeline to give them money with nothing in return. I
couldn't give a hoot about Xbox Live's social features or store.

Sorry MS but $30 for season 3 of Dark Matter (which isn't even over yet
I think) is exploitation when packaging and delivery costs are so
negligent!!! Torrent is faster, cheaper and easier plus I can keep a
copy to watch at any time I like in the future. Make you pricing
favourable to that and I'll puchase but I refuse to be exploited so
someone else can make millions.

I knew there as a reason I preferred Playstations besides more broad
software titles

pjp wrote:
Doesn't seem to be any "populated" Xbox newsgroups anymore so asking and
complaining here. Don't like that, to late to complain

Just got my first Xbox, never touched one before. Used, came with
numerous controllers and games etc. It is a "Xbox 360 S" model.
Everything works as expected.

Disappointment #1 - needed a hard disk to play original Xbox games.

Disappointment #2 - needed a "special" hard disk costs way more than
normal, either that or try to hack specific hard disk models.

Disappointment #3 - even with hard disk installed (thankfully trivially
done) more than 1/2 the original Xbox games I've tried don't work.

Disappointment #4 - can't install original games to the hard disk

Disappointment #5 - can't seem to watch any TV, movies or listen to
music without paying, e.g. there's no real free any of that?

So seems to me I might as well disconnect the network cable from it as
it's just a pipeline to give them money with nothing in return. I
couldn't give a hoot about Xbox Live's social features or store.

Sorry MS but $30 for season 3 of Dark Matter (which isn't even over yet
I think) is exploitation when packaging and delivery costs are so
negligent!!! Torrent is faster, cheaper and easier plus I can keep a
copy to watch at any time I like in the future. Make you pricing
favourable to that and I'll puchase but I refuse to be exploited so
someone else can make millions.

I knew there as a reason I preferred Playstations besides more broad
software titles

As a hardware guy, I can state with some authority that:

"A piece of hardware, without software/content, is just a boat anchor"

I bought a Tv tuner card about a week ago. OEM version. Figured
the "missing IR Blaster" was the "Retail" component. Well, it
was worse than that. the application to view video was missing.

I fire up Win7 Pro, try to use WMC, *no guide data*. Internet sez
to type in random zipcode values, to try to get guide data. It appears
Microsoft switched guide data suppliers. While AFAIK, the Microsoft
server distributes the guide data, it keeps dying.

And apparently, without Guide Data, WMC is too stupid to just
do a channel scan and identify working channels. All I wanted
to do as a first step, is prove the card wasn't broken, in a sort
enough time so my ability to return it was not compromised.

I eventually got the little ****er running on Linux. First
I did some mumbo-jumbo, card not detected. *No Error Message*.
I had installed a .fw file a day before. The .fw file got
erased somehow (no, I didn't erase it). Re-installed .fw file
(which comes from a different place than the software!),
ran w_scan from the w-scan package, and voila, channels
detected. Loaded up VLC, bam, live video. (VLC makes you
enter the frequency of the channel on the TV set to view.)

So yet another lesson learned by me, about how crappy
the TV Tuner industry is, and what boat anchors these
products are, when the CD (in the box!), has nothing
useful on it. A virtual Frisbee. I think the CD is put
in the box, so it will be pictured on Newegg, and
you'll *assume* there is software.

Who knows how long I'll have to wait for guide data.
Apparently the "weaning" technique Microsoft is using,
turning the Guide Data on and off, has caused some users
to pony up $25/year for third party Guide Data. So their
strategy is sadly working.

Paul

In article , lid says...

pjp wrote:
Doesn't seem to be any "populated" Xbox newsgroups anymore so asking and
complaining here. Don't like that, to late to complain

Just got my first Xbox, never touched one before. Used, came with
numerous controllers and games etc. It is a "Xbox 360 S" model.
Everything works as expected.

Disappointment #1 - needed a hard disk to play original Xbox games.

Disappointment #2 - needed a "special" hard disk costs way more than
normal, either that or try to hack specific hard disk models.

Disappointment #3 - even with hard disk installed (thankfully trivially
done) more than 1/2 the original Xbox games I've tried don't work.

Disappointment #4 - can't install original games to the hard disk

Disappointment #5 - can't seem to watch any TV, movies or listen to
music without paying, e.g. there's no real free any of that?

So seems to me I might as well disconnect the network cable from it as
it's just a pipeline to give them money with nothing in return. I
couldn't give a hoot about Xbox Live's social features or store.

Sorry MS but $30 for season 3 of Dark Matter (which isn't even over yet
I think) is exploitation when packaging and delivery costs are so
negligent!!! Torrent is faster, cheaper and easier plus I can keep a
copy to watch at any time I like in the future. Make you pricing
favourable to that and I'll puchase but I refuse to be exploited so
someone else can make millions.

I knew there as a reason I preferred Playstations besides more broad
software titles

As a hardware guy, I can state with some authority that:

"A piece of hardware, without software/content, is just a boat anchor"

I bought a Tv tuner card about a week ago. OEM version. Figured
the "missing IR Blaster" was the "Retail" component. Well, it
was worse than that. the application to view video was missing.

I fire up Win7 Pro, try to use WMC, *no guide data*. Internet sez
to type in random zipcode values, to try to get guide data. It appears
Microsoft switched guide data suppliers. While AFAIK, the Microsoft
server distributes the guide data, it keeps dying.

And apparently, without Guide Data, WMC is too stupid to just

Funny, I also just went thru that with a Hauppage USB TV Tuner. No disks
as it came 2nd hand.

First problem was even going to manufacturers website to find that
without the original disk that came with unit they want you to pay for
the software even though I suspect it only uses their hardware. I did
download the iso for their software and then found a hack to get around
it wanting to see original disk or enter a code to install.

That softare (WinTV ver 7) did do a channel scan and found all the over
the air signals I expected to get.

I then tried WMC to no avail noting it seemed to only search using the
analog tuner when attenna selected. Some research and I found a hack
that patched WMC so it would check the ATSC tuner for over the air
signal which I guess is something it doesn't normally do!!! Why when in
Canada it's the only over the air tv you'll find I have no idea? I then
also applied a patch that told it to use a Canadian TV Guide. Once these
two things done, restarted WMC and rescanned for channels and it found
what I expected it to find and tv works as expected.

So one pc and thankfully my main pc both Happages WinTV and WMC work
fine. WMC seems to do a better job recording but I can't complain at all
with the resulting HD definition recorded file with no stuttering or
anything else objectionable from either software. This is using a Dual
Core 3Gz pc with 4 Gb ram running Win7 Home Premium and saving to an SSD
drive.

On a laptop going thru exact same procedure and WMC gives an error after
channel scan. No amount of Googling produces anything that helped. I've
given up trying. On a netbook it worked same as my main pc. On an older
P4 running XP instead of Win7 I got same result as with the laptop.
WinTV Happage's software works fine on all pcs.

Bottom line is WMC works great when it works but when it doesn't you're
**** out of luck fixing it. I'm batting %50.

pjp wrote:
In article , lid says...
pjp wrote:
Doesn't seem to be any "populated" Xbox newsgroups anymore so asking and
complaining here. Don't like that, to late to complain

Just got my first Xbox, never touched one before. Used, came with
numerous controllers and games etc. It is a "Xbox 360 S" model.
Everything works as expected.

Disappointment #1 - needed a hard disk to play original Xbox games.

Disappointment #2 - needed a "special" hard disk costs way more than
normal, either that or try to hack specific hard disk models.

Disappointment #3 - even with hard disk installed (thankfully trivially
done) more than 1/2 the original Xbox games I've tried don't work.

Disappointment #4 - can't install original games to the hard disk

Disappointment #5 - can't seem to watch any TV, movies or listen to
music without paying, e.g. there's no real free any of that?

So seems to me I might as well disconnect the network cable from it as
it's just a pipeline to give them money with nothing in return. I
couldn't give a hoot about Xbox Live's social features or store.

Sorry MS but $30 for season 3 of Dark Matter (which isn't even over yet
I think) is exploitation when packaging and delivery costs are so
negligent!!! Torrent is faster, cheaper and easier plus I can keep a
copy to watch at any time I like in the future. Make you pricing
favourable to that and I'll puchase but I refuse to be exploited so
someone else can make millions.

I knew there as a reason I preferred Playstations besides more broad
software titles
As a hardware guy, I can state with some authority that:

"A piece of hardware, without software/content, is just a boat anchor"

I bought a Tv tuner card about a week ago. OEM version. Figured
the "missing IR Blaster" was the "Retail" component. Well, it
was worse than that. the application to view video was missing.

I fire up Win7 Pro, try to use WMC, *no guide data*. Internet sez
to type in random zipcode values, to try to get guide data. It appears
Microsoft switched guide data suppliers. While AFAIK, the Microsoft
server distributes the guide data, it keeps dying.

And apparently, without Guide Data, WMC is too stupid to just

Funny, I also just went thru that with a Hauppage USB TV Tuner. No disks
as it came 2nd hand.

First problem was even going to manufacturers website to find that
without the original disk that came with unit they want you to pay for
the software even though I suspect it only uses their hardware. I did
download the iso for their software and then found a hack to get around
it wanting to see original disk or enter a code to install.

That softare (WinTV ver 7) did do a channel scan and found all the over
the air signals I expected to get.

I then tried WMC to no avail noting it seemed to only search using the
analog tuner when attenna selected. Some research and I found a hack
that patched WMC so it would check the ATSC tuner for over the air
signal which I guess is something it doesn't normally do!!! Why when in
Canada it's the only over the air tv you'll find I have no idea? I then
also applied a patch that told it to use a Canadian TV Guide. Once these
two things done, restarted WMC and rescanned for channels and it found
what I expected it to find and tv works as expected.

So one pc and thankfully my main pc both Happages WinTV and WMC work
fine. WMC seems to do a better job recording but I can't complain at all
with the resulting HD definition recorded file with no stuttering or
anything else objectionable from either software. This is using a Dual
Core 3Gz pc with 4 Gb ram running Win7 Home Premium and saving to an SSD
drive.

On a laptop going thru exact same procedure and WMC gives an error after
channel scan. No amount of Googling produces anything that helped. I've
given up trying. On a netbook it worked same as my main pc. On an older
P4 running XP instead of Win7 I got same result as with the laptop.
WinTV Happage's software works fine on all pcs.

Bottom line is WMC works great when it works but when it doesn't you're
**** out of luck fixing it. I'm batting %50.

"I found a hack that patched WMC so it would check the
ATSC tuner for over the air signal"

That's exactly what I'm looking for.

I've managed to get /dev/dvb/* to show up in Linux,
and then I could use VLC and tune stuff by frequency.
Using w_scan gives the frequencies, which you type
into VLC for Linux.

But on Win7, the part I'm having trouble with is:

1) No evidence in Device Manager that all hardware is "exposed".
Say the demodulator sits on an I2C bus on 7164.
Does the driver auto-magically see all the resources
on the card ? As no hardware utility can see the
stuff.

2) The claims I was finding, was that "oh, if your Guide Data
is good, it'll automatically scan DTV and select the
appropriate hardware option". But that doesn't seem
to be the case.

3) Win VLC doesn't seem to see the DTV part. And I've been chasing
drivers all evening, thinking that must be it.

Which leaves your mention of a hack, as a "last resort".

I don't see anything on the Hauppauge site, in their
support articles, mentioning what a bitch it is to
scan DTV :-) You think that would be right in the
advertisement - "Hybrid tuner, a son of a bitch
to get working on DTV".

Card is HVR-2255, OS is Win7 Pro. Fed via OTA rabbit ears,
amp and splitter. An STB gets the other half of the splitter
signal (I needed that so I could prove a signal was present).
I run the rabbit ears on the other side of the house, so
the computer room electrical noise doesn't get picked up.

Paul

In article , lid says...

pjp wrote:
In article , lid says...
pjp wrote:
Doesn't seem to be any "populated" Xbox newsgroups anymore so asking and
complaining here. Don't like that, to late to complain

Just got my first Xbox, never touched one before. Used, came with
numerous controllers and games etc. It is a "Xbox 360 S" model.
Everything works as expected.

Disappointment #1 - needed a hard disk to play original Xbox games.

Disappointment #2 - needed a "special" hard disk costs way more than
normal, either that or try to hack specific hard disk models.

Disappointment #3 - even with hard disk installed (thankfully trivially
done) more than 1/2 the original Xbox games I've tried don't work.

Disappointment #4 - can't install original games to the hard disk

Disappointment #5 - can't seem to watch any TV, movies or listen to
music without paying, e.g. there's no real free any of that?

So seems to me I might as well disconnect the network cable from it as
it's just a pipeline to give them money with nothing in return. I
couldn't give a hoot about Xbox Live's social features or store.

Sorry MS but $30 for season 3 of Dark Matter (which isn't even over yet
I think) is exploitation when packaging and delivery costs are so
negligent!!! Torrent is faster, cheaper and easier plus I can keep a
copy to watch at any time I like in the future. Make you pricing
favourable to that and I'll puchase but I refuse to be exploited so
someone else can make millions.

I knew there as a reason I preferred Playstations besides more broad
software titles
As a hardware guy, I can state with some authority that:

"A piece of hardware, without software/content, is just a boat anchor"

I bought a Tv tuner card about a week ago. OEM version. Figured
the "missing IR Blaster" was the "Retail" component. Well, it
was worse than that. the application to view video was missing.

I fire up Win7 Pro, try to use WMC, *no guide data*. Internet sez
to type in random zipcode values, to try to get guide data. It appears
Microsoft switched guide data suppliers. While AFAIK, the Microsoft
server distributes the guide data, it keeps dying.


You don't mention country you're in. Canada, USA or ? I know nothing
about DTC and until I had problems nothing about NTSC either I assume
if I ever want to record from older equipment uses compsite video I'll
first have to run it thru a modulator to get an ATSC analog channel 3
and rescan so it finds old Channel 3 and proceed from there. Both WinTV
and WMC seem to discard channels it knows even when you tell it to when
simply rescanning for "new" channels. That's seem to be chancy once/if
everything is working.

I run mine off an attenna in my attic with a 30Db booster attached to
it. Mind you I'm 100Km from stations so I always figured I'm kinda lucky
to get anything. Only reason I believe it works so well is because I'm
on high ground, people in valley below get nada Occasionally one of
the channels drops out for a bit. Think it's from airport lies almost
inline to station and something they startup causes it under right
weather conditions. I use a one into four splitter to feed three digital
tuners for analog tvs plus this usb tv tuner card.

I don't know what to tell you about what to try. The hacks I mentioned
don't seem all that pertinenet to you. My model is a Happauge 950Q btw.

In message , pjp
writes:
[]
You don't mention country you're in. Canada, USA or ? I know nothing
about DTC and until I had problems nothing about NTSC either I assume
if I ever want to record from older equipment uses compsite video I'll
first have to run it thru a modulator to get an ATSC analog channel 3
and rescan so it finds old Channel 3 and proceed from there. Both WinTV
and WMC seem to discard channels it knows even when you tell it to when
simply rescanning for "new" channels. That's seem to be chancy once/if
everything is working.
[]
Older TV cards/sticks that _have_ an analogue tuner _usually_ (not
always) have a baseband input socket on them (maybe less so in the case
of the sticks). More modern ones, from the digital age, often don't have
any analogue circuitry at all (well, baseband video; obviously the tuner
is analogue in some sense), so even using a modulator won't help.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

To give you some indication, opinion polls suggest that people who
passionately hate or love country [music] are utterly indifferent to Marmite.
- Eddie Mair, Radio Times 11-17 February 2012

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message , pjp
writes:
[]
You don't mention country you're in. Canada, USA or ? I know nothing
about DTC and until I had problems nothing about NTSC either I assume
if I ever want to record from older equipment uses compsite video I'll
first have to run it thru a modulator to get an ATSC analog channel 3
and rescan so it finds old Channel 3 and proceed from there. Both WinTV
and WMC seem to discard channels it knows even when you tell it to when
simply rescanning for "new" channels. That's seem to be chancy once/if
everything is working.
[]
Older TV cards/sticks that _have_ an analogue tuner _usually_ (not
always) have a baseband input socket on them (maybe less so in the case
of the sticks). More modern ones, from the digital age, often don't have
any analogue circuitry at all (well, baseband video; obviously the tuner
is analogue in some sense), so even using a modulator won't help.

Well, this is a Hybrid card, with a little of everything.

In Canada, we no longer have Analog NTSC. And Media Center insists
on scanning the analog anyway.

https://s28.postimg.org/s7vjr8nb1/Hybrid.jpg

For over the air, we have ATSC (8VSB etc). Canada has taken a step
backwards, by dismantling a lot of transmitters and repeaters. This
means that Digital TV is only available in major population centers
or near the US border. When you look at how many "regional" configurations
there are, there aren't many that need to be supported. Of course the
way they figure out Guide Data would make your eyes water, but
that's a different issue.

This is supposed to be a fix for my problem, but this file is six
years old, and what are the odds this still works ?

?xml version="1.0" ?
MXF
Assembly name="ehshell"
NameSpace name="ServiceBus.UIFramework"
Type name="TvSignalSetupParams" /
/NameSpace
/Assembly
TvSignalSetupParams uid="tvss-ca"
dvbtSupported="false"
atscSupported="true" --- What I need for DTV OTA antenna usage
qamSupported="true"
autoSetupLikelyAntennaChannels="5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 ,13"
autoSetupLikelyCableChannels="14,15,16,17,18,19,20 "
autoSetupPositiveChannelThreshold="3"
autoSetupRFChannels="3,4,2"
autoSetupSupported="true"
autoSetupLikelyAtscChannels="34,35,36,43,31,39,38, 32,41,
27,19,51,44,42,30,28"
rfChannels="2,3,4"
autoSetupLikelyQamChannels="69,71,75,78,81,84,87,9 0,93,
96,99,102,105,108,111,114,117,120"
tvRatingSystem="US" /
/MXF

I expect right now, as a default config for WMC,
it probably has atscSupported set to False, even though
the damn tuner card is a Hybrid with everything except
a CableCard (for encrypted QAM).

I don't like to fling config files at the thing, unless
I'm reasonably confident they won't make things worse.
Like, if I could *edit* an existing file and just turn
on that one boolean, I would be happy. However, the
three MXF files I can find on C: are *encrypted*. And
likely have to do with the Guide Data and protecting
the Guide Data from "cannibals".

Paul

Paul wrote:

And that's all it took.

******* EnableATSCandQAM.mxf *******
?xml version="1.0" ?
MXF
Assembly name="ehshell"
NameSpace name="ServiceBus.UIFramework"
Type name="TvSignalSetupParams" /
/NameSpace
/Assembly
TvSignalSetupParams uid="tvss-ca" dvbtSupported="false" atscSupported="true" qamSupported="true" autoSetupLikelyAntennaChannels="5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 ,13" autoSetupLikelyCableChannels="14,15,16,17,18,19,20 " autoSetupPositiveChannelThreshold="3" autoSetupRFChannels="3,4,2" autoSetupSupported="true" autoSetupLikelyAtscChannels="34,35,36,43,31,39,38, 32,41,27,19,51,44,42,30,28" rfChannels="2,3,4" autoSetupLikelyQamChannels="69,71,75,78,81,84,87,9 0,93,96,99,102,105,108,111,114,117,120" tvRatingSystem="US" /
/MXF
******* EnableATSCandQAM.mxf *******

%windir%\ehome\loadmxf -i MXF\EnableATSCandQAM.mxf

Magically, the next time I ran WMC and its setup, I had the
right "flavor" of tuner (DTV) show up. Everything worked
properly after that (even if I don't understand "10-foot
display interfaces" all that well).

https://s28.postimg.org/j1d93yi2l/setup.jpg

So that's enough to get a Canadian onto OTA TV reception
(which is only the digital-ATSC-type now, no NTSC analog).
That file should also help a Clear-QAM user
(cable TV digital, unencrypted type).

*******

The situation on OTA here is pretty dire. A *government* operated
TV station (TVO) announced recently they were shutting down OTA
and "only broadcasting on cable TV". But strangely, the signal
is still present on my rabbit ears antenna. And I found this:

"TVO had previously announced a plan to decommission the transmitters,
which would have resulted in an annual savings of $1 million
required by TVO to meet its current financial targets."

"That resulted in the government’s decision to flow an additional
$1 million to TVO to ensure we can continue to operate the
transmitters."

So apparently that solves the problem this year.

In another part of the country, you can see how the transition
from analog (black circles) to digital (blue circles), now
deprives the country of good coverage. The CBC used to be the
broadcaster of last resort, in that if you live in the woods
and stick up an antenna, the joke was "you'll always get
CBC, even if you don't want it". But even that is no longer
true. Vast areas of the country, won't have digital signals
at all (but their population density is pretty low too). I
picked this map, because it had the starkest contrast.

http://www.cbc.radio-canada.ca/_file...4-tve-patl.pdf

One of my broadcasters in the city here, shut down their
regular transmitter and put up a *3kW* UHF transmitter. Now, if you
remember the breathtaking amounts of power some analog stations
used to use (250kW), you can probably see how I cannot receive a thing
like that. I think the antenna is on top of an office building
or something. You can see that's a good usage of a broadcaster
license. A kind of "place-holder".

Paul

In article ,
says...

In message , pjp
writes:
[]
You don't mention country you're in. Canada, USA or ? I know nothing
about DTC and until I had problems nothing about NTSC either I assume
if I ever want to record from older equipment uses compsite video I'll
first have to run it thru a modulator to get an ATSC analog channel 3
and rescan so it finds old Channel 3 and proceed from there. Both WinTV
and WMC seem to discard channels it knows even when you tell it to when
simply rescanning for "new" channels. That's seem to be chancy once/if
everything is working.
[]
Older TV cards/sticks that _have_ an analogue tuner _usually_ (not
always) have a baseband input socket on them (maybe less so in the case
of the sticks). More modern ones, from the digital age, often don't have
any analogue circuitry at all (well, baseband video; obviously the tuner
is analogue in some sense), so even using a modulator won't help.

I would have thought any card receives old analog channel 3 would see
anything sent via a tv modulater making channel 3? These Happauge USB
tuners seem to have basically everything (multipule tuners) just nothing
to deal with encrypted stuff (no surprise there).

In message , pjp
writes:
In article ,
says...

In message , pjp
writes:
[]
if I ever want to record from older equipment uses compsite video I'll
first have to run it thru a modulator to get an ATSC analog channel 3
[]
Older TV cards/sticks that _have_ an analogue tuner _usually_ (not
always) have a baseband input socket on them (maybe less so in the case
[]
I would have thought any card receives old analog channel 3 would see
anything sent via a tv modulater making channel 3? These Happauge USB
tuners seem to have basically everything (multipule tuners) just nothing
to deal with encrypted stuff (no surprise there).

My point was that, for cards at least (USB sticks maybe didn't have
room) that handled analogue TV transmissions, they usually had a
baseband input as well: often both composite (yellow-insulator phono
plug) and S-video (bit like a PS/2 keyboard or mouse connector). In
other words, no need to use a TV modulator, just for the card to
demodulate it again.

(Incidentally, I presume from the way you're talking that "channel 3" is
[was] the default for modulators in NTSC-land; in UK [and I think the
rest of EU], it was channel 36, originally because that area wasn't used
for broadcasting, since the frequencies were used for something else - I
forget whether radio astronomy or ATC radar, I think the latter.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

You'll need to have this fish in your ear. (First series, fit the first.)

In article , lid says...
TvSignalSetupParams uid="tvss-ca" dvbtSupported="false" atscSupported="true" qamSupported="true"


I assume you changed the line

TvSignalSetupParams uid="tvss-ca" dvbtSupported="false"
atscSupported="true" qamSupported="true"

to dvbtSupported to "true"?

And what exactly is that in given I don't have a

%windir%\ehome\loadmxf -i MXF\EnableATSCandQAM.mxf

When they went digital here (Halifax) I had to go out and buy three
digital to analog converters. I get three channels (four actually but
one's a duplicate) CBC, ATV and Global. Only other option I have is sat.
and I refuse to ever deal with them (again) until I can buy JUST the
channels I want and at a reasonable cost. As I tell them, otherwise I
don't mind waiting a few hours after somethings broadcast to watch it by
downloading it.

In article ,
says...

In message , pjp
writes:
In article ,
says...

In message , pjp
writes:
[]
if I ever want to record from older equipment uses compsite video I'll
first have to run it thru a modulator to get an ATSC analog channel 3
[]
Older TV cards/sticks that _have_ an analogue tuner _usually_ (not
always) have a baseband input socket on them (maybe less so in the case
[]
I would have thought any card receives old analog channel 3 would see
anything sent via a tv modulater making channel 3? These Happauge USB
tuners seem to have basically everything (multipule tuners) just nothing
to deal with encrypted stuff (no surprise there).

My point was that, for cards at least (USB sticks maybe didn't have
room) that handled analogue TV transmissions, they usually had a
baseband input as well: often both composite (yellow-insulator phono
plug) and S-video (bit like a PS/2 keyboard or mouse connector). In
other words, no need to use a TV modulator, just for the card to
demodulate it again.

(Incidentally, I presume from the way you're talking that "channel 3" is
[was] the default for modulators in NTSC-land; in UK [and I think the
rest of EU], it was channel 36, originally because that area wasn't used
for broadcasting, since the frequencies were used for something else - I
forget whether radio astronomy or ATC radar, I think the latter.)

I have a couple of older TV Tuner cards have direct compsite and SVGA
inputs. Problem is they are not supported in WMC nor do they tune in any
digital channels just analog which don't exist where I live anymore,
N.S. Canada.

You are correct (I think in that yes here almost everything that puts
out an old analog channel was switchable between channel 3 $ channel 4,
vcrs, dvd player, gane consoles, you name it. Think I seen one or two it
was channels 2 & 3 but that was uncommon.

In my part of the country anything past channel 13 was never used, e.g.
Halifax, N.S never has had any UHF channels which is what 14 to 69 where
called. I also know you need a different attenna to pick up UHF properly
over the "regular" channels 2-13 we normally received.

In message , pjp
writes:
[]
In message , pjp
writes:
[]
if I ever want to record from older equipment uses compsite video I'll
first have to run it thru a modulator to get an ATSC analog channel 3
[]
I have a couple of older TV Tuner cards have direct compsite and SVGA
inputs. Problem is they are not supported in WMC nor do they tune in any
digital channels just analog which don't exist where I live anymore,
N.S. Canada.

If you have material/equipment that puts out analogue video, probably
worth getting a standalone video capture device; they were common a few
years ago, in a range of qualities, though I suspect they're getting
harder to find now, but you should still be able to find _some_thing.
(And W7-compatible.) Given that the source material's probably not
_that_ high a quality, the capture hardware is probably up to the job;
they're often let down by the bundled software, but it usually includes
at least raw capture, so you can do that then edit in something else
later.

You are correct (I think in that yes here almost everything that puts
out an old analog channel was switchable between channel 3 $ channel 4,
vcrs, dvd player, gane consoles, you name it. Think I seen one or two it
was channels 2 & 3 but that was uncommon.

In my part of the country anything past channel 13 was never used, e.g.
Halifax, N.S never has had any UHF channels which is what 14 to 69 where
called. I also know you need a different attenna to pick up UHF properly
over the "regular" channels 2-13 we normally received.

Yes, VHF signals were around 50 to around 300 MHz (with regional
variations), being 6 down to 1 metre; UHF 300 to 900 (again with
regional variations), so 1 down to 1/3 metre. The active elements of an
aerial are about half a wavelength, so aerials for low VHF are about 3
metres, whereas those for UHF are a few inches. (You place the elements
at right angles to the direction to the transmitter, though the support
rod that carries them points to the transmitter.) UHF ones being
smaller, you can add more elements (10 to 20 is common; VHF ones tended
to be between 1 and 5 elements). [More elements gives more gain
(directivity).]
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

"... four Oscars, and two further nominations ... On these criteria, he's
Britain's most successful film director." Powell or Pressburger? no; Richard
Attenborough? no; Nick Park!

pjp wrote:
In article , lid says...
TvSignalSetupParams uid="tvss-ca" dvbtSupported="false" atscSupported="true" qamSupported="true"


I assume you changed the line

TvSignalSetupParams uid="tvss-ca" dvbtSupported="false"
atscSupported="true" qamSupported="true"

to dvbtSupported to "true"?

And what exactly is that in given I don't have a

%windir%\ehome\loadmxf -i MXF\EnableATSCandQAM.mxf

When they went digital here (Halifax) I had to go out and buy three
digital to analog converters. I get three channels (four actually but
one's a duplicate) CBC, ATV and Global. Only other option I have is sat.
and I refuse to ever deal with them (again) until I can buy JUST the
channels I want and at a reasonable cost. As I tell them, otherwise I
don't mind waiting a few hours after somethings broadcast to watch it by
downloading it.

According to this, DVB-T is European. All I did was make sure the
"ones listed on the box", were set to True :-) The Analog doesn't seem
to have a flag, and I can only guess the RFchannels entry was
sort of an admission of analog. While I could include analog CH3 coming
from the STB, I normally run the STB into a composite input, elsewhere.
The STB has RF and composite (=BaseBand).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVB-T

This is my multi-media empire.

Rabbit
Ears Zinwell PC#1
Antenna -- 20dB amp ---- two-way-splitter ----- STB --- WinTV_BT878 --- DScaler
50 | BB
ft | PC#2
+---------------- HVR-2255 ------ Windows
Media
Center
One of the benefits of Rabbit Ears, is they aren't too directional.
My stations come in on more than one compass point, which
means using a rotator if the antenna has a small beamwidth.

Paul

pjp wrote:
In article ,
says...
In message , pjp
writes:
In article ,
says...
In message , pjp
writes:
[]
if I ever want to record from older equipment uses compsite video I'll
first have to run it thru a modulator to get an ATSC analog channel 3
[]
Older TV cards/sticks that _have_ an analogue tuner _usually_ (not
always) have a baseband input socket on them (maybe less so in the case
[]
I would have thought any card receives old analog channel 3 would see
anything sent via a tv modulater making channel 3? These Happauge USB
tuners seem to have basically everything (multipule tuners) just nothing
to deal with encrypted stuff (no surprise there).
My point was that, for cards at least (USB sticks maybe didn't have
room) that handled analogue TV transmissions, they usually had a
baseband input as well: often both composite (yellow-insulator phono
plug) and S-video (bit like a PS/2 keyboard or mouse connector). In
other words, no need to use a TV modulator, just for the card to
demodulate it again.

(Incidentally, I presume from the way you're talking that "channel 3" is
[was] the default for modulators in NTSC-land; in UK [and I think the
rest of EU], it was channel 36, originally because that area wasn't used
for broadcasting, since the frequencies were used for something else - I
forget whether radio astronomy or ATC radar, I think the latter.)

I have a couple of older TV Tuner cards have direct compsite and SVGA
inputs. Problem is they are not supported in WMC nor do they tune in any
digital channels just analog which don't exist where I live anymore,
N.S. Canada.

You are correct (I think in that yes here almost everything that puts
out an old analog channel was switchable between channel 3 $ channel 4,
vcrs, dvd player, gane consoles, you name it. Think I seen one or two it
was channels 2 & 3 but that was uncommon.

In my part of the country anything past channel 13 was never used, e.g.
Halifax, N.S never has had any UHF channels which is what 14 to 69 where
called. I also know you need a different attenna to pick up UHF properly
over the "regular" channels 2-13 we normally received.

TheSource has antennas.

This one is dual band, so picks up VHF and UHF. The price
has gone up on these since I first priced one (due to
Canadian currency fluctuation). It actually takes some effort,
to make a good dual band antenna. It's not as simple as it looks.

Channel Master CM 4228HD

https://www.thesource.ca/en-ca/tvs-a...enna/p/1519124

Someone simulated that in 4NEC2, and CH9 VHF, the lobe is "inverted"
and shoots out the back of the antenna. Translated into English, that
means the antenna cannot really do a good job on Channel 9. So the
predicted VHF performance isn't completely wonderful.

But that does give coverage on both bands and has some gain. You
have to be careful to find the 4NEC2 analysis, and see whether
that duff channel is used in your area. I'm just going from
memory, that it's Channel 9.

*******

I think the Canadian government lost a golden opportunity. They
could have scratched VHF entirely, and put all the digital TV
on UHF. This would have simplified antenna design, and meant
home owners could buy cheaper antennas.

*******

Some of the antennas are conceptually flawed. You cannot (effectively)
mix the signals from two antennas pointing in different directions,
with any sort of guarantee on phasing. I found a review, too.

https://www.thesource.ca/en-ca/tvs-a...na/p/108027141

https://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=2288

"the HDB8X is a competitive 8-Bay Bow Tie when used in its
"flat panel" configuration but is nearly useless for
leveraging its advertised multi-direction feature.
"

Which means the antenna is fine, if you align both panels
in a common plane of operation. But at my site here, you
could not expect to point the two halves at different
compass points and get "amazing gain", as the two halves
will have some degree of destructive interference.

Before I could buy the HDB8X, I'd need to see the VHF
performance. I expect in N.S., there's probably a good
deal of VHF for TV, rather than UHF. They did that, so
the original transmitters could be used by some of the
cheapskate stations. The channel width is still 6MHz, but
the modulation is going to be different.

The industry wanted around $500 million, to retrofit
brand new transmitters for DTV. The government provided... $0.
And what you get, is what you paid for. Not all
the stations could justify doing the job properly.

The government provided no money for TV stations
and did not provide coupons for digital STBs. If
you wanted an STB, at the time they were around $80 here.
That's how you'd get a digital signal into a legacy TV set.
The government was sending some kind of message, but
I don't know what that message was intended to say.

You can see in this article, they're nibbling away at TV frequencies.
I wasn't aware it was this bad, until just reading this article now.
Shocked I am, but not surprised.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra_high_frequency

1983: 806-890 MHz (UHF channels 70–83) taken away from TV
primarily for analog mobile telephony

2009: 698-806 MHz (UHF channels 52–69) was removed from TV
(DTV) making it available for other uses.

2017: 614–698 MHz: Mobile broadband shared with TV channels 38–51
auctioned in April 2017. TV stations will
relocate by 2020.

So maybe it won't be that long, until they have "snacked"
all the way down to VHF. And the stations betting on
VHF, were actually right all along.

Paul