I posted a more detailed tutorial last night. You can find it here:
http://thegreenbutton.com/blogs/pnear/archive/2009/01/22/329807.aspx

I'm sorry for being incredibly naive, but I live in Vancouver and I've already set up the 3 (and only 3) HD OTA stations with your hack, Peter. Guide works great and I can record everything I want to.
Other than some extra flexiblilty in recording HD preferred etc...what is the real advantage here.
I don't want to go out and spend money on an HDHOMERUN only for limited reasons.
Are you saying that your hack will NO longer work in WIndows 7 (or tvpack) is that the only reason. I don't plan on upgrading anyway for a long time.

sorry for the ignorance.

Yes, Peter's original hack doesn't work with TV Pack or Win7 and the new hack ONLY works with the HDHR.

Well, I decided to step into the age of free OTA HD, and I went and purchased a Channel Master 4228 and the HDhomerun. I decided to mount the antenna in my attic, and it is 2 inches too big to fit. Doh.

I'm currently using HDHomeRun w/ Vista x64 Ultimate w/o the TVPack 2008. I use the Buffalo zip code trick (I'm from the GTA) to get my tv listing. I only watch OTA. Is there any advantage/disadvantage for me to install the TVPack? I'm just wondering if the upgrade is worth the trouble. Any comments?

Thanks.
There is a huge problem with using Windows 7 WMC + OTA with the Buffalo Zip code trick. You can't add listings to the Canadian channels manually. I accidentally got guide data on my Canadian channels by deleting the main epg file (due to it getting corrupted) and going through the live tv setup again (using the american zip code, and setting the signal manually to antenna)

This is very cool stuff, thanks Peter! Any idea if there could be anything like this in the pipe for other dual tuners such as the DViCO FusionHDTV7 Dual Express or Hauppauge HVR-2250? As much as I like the HDHomerun, I like more recent tuners and spending less on hardware more.

No, this is a driver hack and so far I haven't been able to attract the attention of any other tuner manufacturers.

bah - it will be a warm winter in Winnipeg before we get OTA here...

Looks like I will be sticking with my hack until the DISH Network Draco secret project saves us all...

Hi, seems you guys are all getting ATSC in Canada with W7MC. Just wondering if you've accomplished this with the HDHomerun workaround, or if you've discovered some other method? I'm interested in switching my HTPC to W7, but losing ATSC is a deal-breaker for me, and I'm not particularly inclined to purchase an HDHomerun just for this feature, and was interested in alternative approaches. Any help you could offer would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Here's one that I haven't found time to adequately test yet, but I thought it would be promising.

1. Set up your MC as if you are in the US
2. Sign up for SchedulesDirect ($20) to get Canadian listing data
3. Set up an XMLTV downloader to regularly fetch XMLTV files from SchedulesDirect to your PC
4. Install Big Screen EPG to insert the XMLTV data into the MC guide

You can find info on BSEPG here: http://thedigitallifestyle.com/cs/blogs/ian/archive/2009/02/09/big-screen-epg-3rd-party-epg-tool-for-windows-7-coming-soon.aspx

It seems like alot of hoops to jump through, but it should be a viable alternative. The developer (Niall) may consider adding direct connectivity to SchedulesDirect in the future, but for now he's targeting Australian EPG services.

Pete

There are rumours on TGB that with build 7057, which has been leaked on the web, "Canadian issues have been fixed". Does this mean that you can select Canada for ATSC?

edit - I may have jumped the gun. Apparently selecting Canada in Win7 MC caused it to crash, or at least it did on certain builds.

Thanks Peter and Wayne for you help. I'll definitely look at the Schedules Direct method. Windows 7 is important for my setup because I have two ATSC tuners (an ATI 650 PCI and an Hauppauge HVR-1600) with wildly different reception capabilities, and would like to assign particular tuners to specific ATSC channels, a functionality I believe exists in W7.

That should work, yes. Please share with us your results, and if you need any help getting access to the BSEPG beta let me know and I can ask Niall on your behalf.

Hi all,

Is anyone else having a problem with SunTV-HD? (sorry, don't have HDHomerun, but curious to hear if its just my setup)

My TV receives it fine, but for the last month or so I get a ton of stuttering in 7MC, depending on the source video (show vs. commercial), almost to the point it feels like 15fps.

It will be fine for about 3 secs, then stutter for 8-15 secs, then ok. I think its related to the amount of action/panning in the shot.

Anyone else having this issue in 7MC? Its the only channel that has this issue for me. I get a very strong signal, maybe too strong for 7MC?

thanks

I've just posted an early version of a new tutorial on how to get ATSC working in Canada with Windows 7. This hack works with all ATSC tuners that are supported by Media Center, and it works with the latest builds of Windows 7.

Basically, you set up Media Center as if you live in the United States and then use 3rd party tools to import the Canadian guide data back into the system.

Detailed instructions here:
http://thegreenbutton.com/blogs/pnear/archive/2009/04/05/349473.aspx

Well done Peter. Hopefully MS won't break this in the final release of Win7.

Peter - I've used your xp/vista hacks for a few years now. Thanks for all the help! I'm thinking of finally getting an attic antenna so I can get the US-based HDTV too (I live in Toronto and get all the Toronto HD channels with a small ATI antenna). I also have a hauppauge pvr-500 that doesn't work well with 64-bit and lots of RAM.

Does anyone have suggestions for a good dual analogue tuner for 64-bit windows 7 with > 4GB of RAM?

Sorry, I just arrived from Barrie via the Short Bus and had a question.

I'm an IT guy by nature but have yet to make a serious dive into HTPC. I currently have my PS3 streaming all my media from my file server but this is obviously not an all in 1 solution.

I'm reading about the options and Windows Media Center VS Sage and the questions is: Is there any reason why I would wait for Windows 7 or possibly use the hacks to make it work with Bell or does Sage do everything that Windows 7 can now without the need of patches, hacks and going for dual citizenship ;-) ?

I see allot of effort being made to make Windows work so I'm thinking there must some advantage I just don't see...


Update..

Err think I may have just found my answer. Just browsed the "The Green Button" for the first time and it seems heavily slanted toward Microsoft.

See I told you I just arrived via the short bus. Will leave this post here at any rate. If anyone has something to add please do so! I actually just installed Windows 7 on my brand new OCZ Vertex so I could set this up to test and with the hard drive space left on my new $270 hard drive I can probably record atleast 45 minutes of HD!

I am a former user of MCE who has now switched to the Sage camp. (If you want to read my long-winded story of searching for the perfect HTPC see here:http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=104747)

If you don't care about HD then go with Win7. If you care about HD then whether Win7 is the least bit interesting will depend on whether the HD-PVR works with Win7 without a ridiculous amount of hacking. For some reason MS insists on making it very difficult for Candians to get HD into Windows Media Center, even with OTA HD for which there should be no issues.

Win7/Vista have a much nicer looking UI than does Sage. One of the barriers that prevents people from switching is if they have a lot of money tied up in hardware such as extenders - either standalone or the Xbox360. Sage is a lot more customizable and "open" than Win7 is but it is a bit more work to setup. Sage has one thing that Win7 will never have and that is no DRM. The DRM on Windows Media Center has not been that bad but when it does crop up it is really freaking annoying! Sage also uses standard file formats like MPEG-2 and H.264 whereas MS uses somewhat proprietary formats.

If you are looking for a multiroom setup then the best architecture is one main HTPC and then hardware extenders in the rest of the house. Sage has extenders (all prices US$) that are $200 - for Win7/Vista you can use an Xbox 360 ($200 and up) but they are very noisy. Linksys makes standalone extenders that cost about $160 but you can almost always find them with rebates of $50 or more. Microsoft for some reason also refuses to release software clients for MCE (known as Softsled) while Sage does have such a client. I have a Windows Home Server in my basement hooked up to four TV tuners to record content. I have four Sage HD-200 extenders throughout my house plus one PC based Sage client.

TheGreenButton is the place ot go for info on MCE, Sage has its own forum site as well but I don't think we are supposed to link to other forums from this site

I haven't used Sage much beyond some testing as a demo system. If I were going to start it all again, I'd probably start with a Sage demo. Sage wins the feature/function war but I'd want to give it the family test to see if my wife and kids can figure it out. MC has always excelled at a very intuitive and non-tech friendly UI, and MC pioneered the concept of a PVR extender.
If the usability test passes, then I'd invest in a few extenders. At $200 a pop, you're unlikely to switch once you invest in one platform or the other. Familiarity amongst my family plus an investment in MC extenders are the two things that keep me from restarting. But I'm mighty close to throwing in the towel on Media Center.

Two things I'm waiting on with Win7 that may change my mind:
- possibility of HD from cable with the HDPVR (likely)
- possibility of Internet TV in Canada (unlikely)

Pete