Knowing how many avid Media Center users there are here at Digital Home Canada, I wanted to let everyone know that the latest hacks for Windows 7 Media Center are now published. It's been a heck of a battle, one that has been fought on many fronts and I'm happy to announce that Canadian high definition in Media Center is working better than ever before!
The highlights:
- I've packaged and tested a new hack (easiest hack yet!) that enables ATSC and QAM in Canada with Windows 7 Media Center. This has been tested by myself and a handful of others on x86 and x64 versions of the RTM release. Thanks for your help!
- Included in the hack is a single-click batch file that add US OTA listings to your Media Center, providing subchannel support and enabling the HD preferences in Media Center recording logic.
-Pete
Edit by Dr.Dave March 9, 2014: The Microsoft links are no longer available. Here is a direct link to Peter Near's blog:
My belief is that there was a business decision made a long time ago which related to some specific licensing or other similar issue that is unique to Canada.
Address the issue at significant cost/risk, or simply nullify the issue by disabling the capability in this country. They appear to have chosen the latter, and with a general lack of investment in Media Center globally I highly doubt that this business decision is likely to change.
Next, navigate to Tasks, Settings, TV, Guide, About Guide Listings and take note of the 8-9 digit ID number.
Has anyone been able to find this 9 digit ID number in Windows 7 Media Center for a listing which is completely ATSC OTA ? It doesn't have an item "About Guide Listings", and none of the other options display any 9 digit numbers.
When I setup another system wth USA, then Antenna with zipcode 13662 I was able to get the guide ID according to Peter's instructions fine to help me create a custom setup option.
Yes, it looks to me like this is a better way, starting with the USA zip, then add the Canadian listings to it. Not going to do much with it until after Sept 1.
This morning, I noticed that my guide data was not updating beyond Aug 23, so I decided to erase the data bases and start again using Pete's "new" beta versions. The only error I got was that it couldn't create the ATSCImportToronto file from the schedtask command because the file was already present.
I do not see the "About Guide Listings" on the menu until AFTER I finish the process of editing the channel listings. And even then, all it displays is the Guide End Date, but no 8/9 digit number for the Toronto listings (I'm using M5E 1E6 as the postal code). The listings do include the Buffalo channels that I had before, and it must be new data because the TVO digital listings have been added to what I had before I cleared the databases. (an aside: TVO is off the air on 19 today, they are supposed to broadcast digital starting tomorrow). However, it does not show CKVR in Barrie, although it's showing digital listings in the Toronto Star TV listings from zap2it.
So I am wondering if this is normal behavior for the process if I only have ATSC OTA. To me, this sounds logical because I can't get the guide listings until after Media Center sets up the TV signal and fetches the guide, based on my antenna setting and the postal code.
Does anyone else have an OTA-only setup, and might know how to get the guide 8/9 digit number for the Canadian City listings ?
For ATSC-only, it's probably better to set up your system as if you were in the US.
When doing the TV setup, select United States as your region and the zip code closest to you. I use 14174, you might want to try something a bit more east like 14028 but I don't know if it will change much for you.
If you're missing some channels, you'll need to grab those from Canadian cable listings as the Canadian Media Center guide for antenna doesn't include any digital channels.
Find a cable system guide that contains the channels you are missing. You can use Zap2It to find something in your area from Rogers or the like, or maybe a Barrie postal code to get CKVR-DT listings. Go through the process of figuring out the Guide ID for that postal code, then use the new option #9 in my hack to add that guide ID to your database.
Thanks, Pete, but "there's the rub". I can't figure out how to display the guide ID for any canadian postal codes. That seems to be a prerequisite before I even go looking for a zip code in the U.S. (I was planning to use 14222 because it's the closest zip to Canada). After I get the Canadian Guide ID available, I'm sure I can follow the process from there to get the listings from the U.S. and "merge" them. I'm beginning to think that this is an impossible task without a rogers set top box, but I keep hoping that somebody has done it before and knows what the guide ID might be, or how I could find it.
Thanks, Pete, but "there's the rub". I can't figure out how to display the guide ID for any canadian postal codes. That seems to be a prerequisite before I even go looking for a zip code in the U.S. (I was planning to use 14222 because it's the closest zip to Canada). After I get the Canadian Guide ID available, I'm sure I can follow the process from there to get the listings from the U.S. and "merge" them. I'm beginning to think that this is an impossible task without a rogers set top box, but I keep hoping that somebody has done it before and knows what the guide ID might be, or how I could find it.
Might be a little late now but I mannaged to get some Guide ID's. I too was having trouble. I think the key is WMC needs to grab/update the guide before you will get ID's. I wasn't able to get the ID's, went and had dinner and went to look again and they were there. No rogers box, not even setup for cable.
Anyhow this is all the info that was in my About Guide, how and why all those IDs got in here I have no idea (its a little messy, sorry I didn't need most of the info):
Code:
oshawa - rogers cable - ID:28496703
oshawa - rogers cable- Digital - ID:28501840
antenna - ID:28511719
canada (east) - shaw digital - ID:28528206
Canada (east) - Bell TV - Digital - ID:28528216
Canada (west) - Bell TV - Digital - ID:28528220
canada (west) clasic - shaw direct (digital) - ID:28528244
canada (east) advanced - shaw direct (digital) - ID:220486330
canada (west) advanced - shaw direct (digital) - ID:220486331
Alberta & BC - telus TV - digitial - ID:222029669
USA, DIRECTV - ID:28481654
USA, DISH - ID:28507039
USA, AFN Satellite - ID:43389360
USA, Sky Angel - ID:165425029
USA, Globecast World TV - ID:199080034
you'd need to select Canada, Cable or Satellite (not Antenna !!!), your canadian postal code then finish the setup. Then you should see the guide ID. I think i've done it once if i recall correctly, but that was a long time ago.
Question: if I were to use a VPN service or something similar, could I keep my current 7mc setup as is with no impact on the guide downloads ?
I have it set as Canada (satellite) + Antenna (Canada) and use both of Peter's hacks for enabling ATSC in Canada and the multiples listings one (custom, using a US zip code near Ottawa:13662).
If you go to zap2it and use "change my location" link to point to 14174, you will see the listing that is used for that zip. It is also the listing used as a default for Pete's batch files, with the Guide ID number 189852674. If that's all you do, without getting any listings from any Canadian Guide listings, you will have all of the Buffalo stations that are in the above listing marked as XXXXDT. CICA (TVO 19) and CKVR are also listed, but not in DT, even though TVO has been broadcasting in DT since Thursday.
For what is left of August, we may as well wait until after the official conversion date, then see if CKVR will still reach this area, and if zap2it will convert the TVO listings to Digital. For that time, I plan to use the old start-time/end time if need be to record anything on TVO.
Meanwhile, I have edited the ATSCImportToronto.XML file to delete the registry hack lines and just leave the key on the U.S. for now.
Eventually, I'm hoping that 189852674/ZIP14174 will be updated to include TVO 19, and CKVR 10, and I won't have to keep zapping the registry. Of course, if you are using cable/satellite listings instead of OTA for Canadian stations, you'll have to keep the original XML.
Is anyone in the GTA having any issues receiving global 41.1 in media centre? When I do a digital signal strength check I have a good signal but I get an error message if I try to view 41.1 in the guide. It was working fine yesterday and my signal strength is normal on all my other tuners for that station. I think there is something in the stream that windows doesn't like.
It depends what you're doing. If you're using Pete Near's procedures to update the guides to merge data from the U.S. and Canada, the easiest way to "force" a guide update is to let it run the task scheduled at 5:00 every morning. If you've modified anything in the "ATSCImportCity.xml" file, you'll have to delete the ATSCImport task from the task scheduler and re-run USGuide.bat....Jack
Is there an MCE 2005 thread? I'm in an "endless loop" where MC says I must have an analog station, but won't let me add one because it say's I've go no tuners (meaning no analog tuners I think). Re installation is high on my list of options.
does anyone have a cable set top box and a satellite set top box working with wmc7? if so, what are the correct steps in setting up?
I cannot differenciate between them. I have two 1600's and 2 2250's. I am currently using the two 1600's for svideo coming from the set top box's. I would like to see this work before I invest in the collosus.
thanks
Edit: it appears that i have to remove the second tuner from the satellite, and manually add all the cable channels. is there an easier way? I would have to edit hundreads, and then add hundreds.
I have guide editor and guide tool, but do not see an easier way.
CTV-DT Toronto doesn't work either in MCE2005 after manually adding it on RF9, however, the signal meter shows RF9 at 100% (six bars). I'm guessing it's the same PSIP problem Global had...probably take them a few days to sort it out.
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