Thread: Windows Media Center Vista + 102g

Hey guys, I'm working on my new setup and I had a couple questions. I had an "idea" today, just wanted to bounce it off you guys. I currently have a Twinhan 102g card in my tower PC, and was considering using it as a media center. I also have an XBOX 360. I've been successfully to stream DiVX movies from my PC to my 360 using the Windows Media Center. Has anyone used the WMC to tune their 102g (or other DVB-S) card and stream it to a WMC Extender device, specifically a 360? I figured this would be awesome if it would work. WMC isn't a MUST, I guess I could use another media center-isk application, but I specifically need it to work with my 360. Thanks!

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Windows Vista WMC is known not to excel in that task (if at all) - read
Vista WMC Help

, though it can hardly be considered an explanation of actual WMC functions. The reasons for this are not necessarily MS policies related, but overall situation with FTA support in NA. However, Windows 7 MC is expected to support well both DVB-S and DVB-S2 Sat cards. There're reports in German forums of WMC 7 current builds working well with both standards. Do you want to try?

Hmm...wasn't aware of that update. I just installed Windows 7 32-Bit RC (can't find compatible 64-bit drivers for my 102g...if I get another DVB soon I can wipe it out and install 64-bit...no big deal to me) and I'll give it a shot and let you know! Thanks!


Update: Okay, got it installed. Installed the drivers for my card and everything, and ran the WMC setup. SUPER easy. It automatically detected my DVB card, allow me to set it up. It allows me to pick a satellite, and my LNB frequency, and then if you like it can scan for signals in it's database of known TPs (you can also go in and scan keyed in TPs and SR). I don't have it hooked to my satellite right now (pouring the concrete for my BUD today hopefully), but when I get it going I'll post an update. For all of you PC card users, I highly recommend giving this a shot with Windows 7. Heck, the 7 RC is still free for download through August 20th (so hurry!), so you've got nothing to lose. It also has an EPG downloader, so hopefully for the "known" networks on DVB, you should be able to have a guide and schedule and record. Seems like an awesome idea, we'll see how it works out.

Good news! Did you have TV Pack 2008 included with your Windows 7 download, or get it separately? I think, it has been quite polished and rolled into WMC 7 by now. You might be interested to learn that
Windows 7 RTM

has already been released and can probably be found on the web (with matching checksum). Can you try also DVB-S2 performance in WMC 7 and let us know?

For those interested in setting up an ATSC & QAM Tuner in WMC 7 RTM - here are the
Instructions


. This
guy


looks like a good contact for any pain expression, FTA PC warriors are still experiencing.

No, didn't know that. But I'll "check my sources" when I get home and see if I can snag it somewhere. I'm not sure what the "TV pack" is, I just installed my 32-bit RC ISO. It downloaded some packages from the internet, it was kind of vague what it was installing, only thing I caught on to was the EPG. I just ordered the TBS 6920 PCI-e card, and I will let you know how the S2 performance in.

TV Pack 2008 was for Windows Vista only.

Most (if not all) features for that pack were included in Windows 7 Media Center.

Thanks for clearing that up meinename. I did some searching, I did find references to the TV Pack for Vista, nothing for 7. So I installed the 7 RTM last night. Not much has changed obviously. I did notice it installed drivers for my 102g automatically, something it did not do in the Beta or RC. I installed the latest ones from Twinhan anyway. It set everything up automatically. I ordered my TBS 6920 from Ebay yesterday, I'll probably get it next week. I hope to have my dish up and running by then.

I will say 7 has impressed me so far, I've been using it for a few months everyday. I've been a Mac and Linux guy for 6 years. Ubuntu is incredibly easy to install and configure now, as well is Mac OSX. It seems like Microsoft did their homework this time. It looks like WMC seamlessly configures our DVB tuners and integrates it with everything. I'm definitely looking forward to this. If it works like I hope it does, I'll slap an ATSC tuner card in my PC as well, and have both OTA and FTA pouring in.

How are you guys legally using Windows 7 RTM when it won't be out until October 22nd, 2009?