Sub-grand WMCE 4: configuring the PC for HDTV
So we're all set on our hardware since we added more RAM, a video card
and an HDTV tuner. I guess it's time to boot this puppy up and hope it works! Remember that our goal was to take a base Windows Media Center PC and add a few components to it for high-definition viewing for under
$1,000. The total bill so far is $947, so we're good there. What else could go wrong now that we're in the home-stretch?
Actually,
something huge and it's what I consider the biggest blunder Microsoft has made with the WMCE operating system. I had to pull a little trick out of my hat to get around it and some of you will justly cry "foul!"
when you see what it is. What is this big elephant in the WMCE PC, you ask? Did you successfully work around it, you want to know?? Read on my fellow high-deffers, read on...
Before I tell you what the gigantic mistake is that Microsoft made here, I will be fair in telling you that WMCE is generally a very slick interface. In fact, I think it's far better than many other Microsoft products available today, and that says something. It's generally easy to use and it plain works; exactly what you would wish for in a piece of software.
Having said that, I'll start up with the configuration steps so you can decide if I'm a little over the top on the issue I ran in to. Remember that I've already installed any required drivers for the video card and the HDTV tuner card. I've also run Windows Update as an extra precaution. I also have an amplified Terk antenna that I was using with my Panasonic HD-tuner box, so I've connected that to the DTV input on the tuner card. Here we go!
After the tasteful Welcome screen, I'm told there are required setup steps and optional setup steps. Clicking next brings you to a Privacy statement and an opt-in to improve Windows Media Center. Choosing to share anonymous information has no impact on your television viewing with WMCE, so this is up to you. The next required step is for Enhanced Playback. Namely: do you want to have MCE connect to the Internet for cover art, music and movie information.
If you have an always-on broadband connection, why not? WMCE will then check your Internet connection automatically.
That's it for the required options, which was a little surprising. Then again,
not everyone buys a Windows Media Center PC for the same reason we did:
HDTV! This brings us to the optional setup steps which include:
- TV Tuners, TV signals and the TV programming guide
- Optimization of your display
- Proper setup of your speakers
While the second and third options are important, we're only going to focus on the first option because it helps us meet our goal of high-def TV on the WMCE machine. Ok, so we start the follow the steps and....wait.....what's this? [HINT: Here comes the problem!]
Apparently Windows Media Center won't configure the tuners because it isn't detecting the presence of an analog, or NTSC tuner in our computer. Um,
that's because we don't care about analog television; we're
building this configuration for high-definition and digital TV! No matter what I said to the computer, it wouldn't budge. No analog tuner,
no television at all!
It turns out that this is a known or design limitation in WMCE and this is where I think Microsoft has made a huge blunder. For one thing, I don't believe that most folks are aware of the limitation. For another, it's a digital world so why limit your digital entertainment by requiring an analog tuner? I
sincerely hope that in the next WMCE update, this limitation is removed.
Regardless of my opinions on the subject, we seem to have an issue. The funny thing is, the ATI HDTV Wonder card includes both an analog and a digital tuner, so what's the deal? After reviewing the support area of ATI's
website, I've realized that this tuner will work for HDTV on a WMCE PC
if certain requirements are met. One of them is (yes, you guessed it)
the PC needs to have it's own analog tuner. Fourteen obscenities later,
I decide to review my options, of which there appear to be two.
Option one is to use some hacked drivers for the HDTV Wonder. The so-called
"Kram" drivers showed some success for people, but quite honestly, I
had a difficult time locating them, so I went with option two. That is,
I decided to temporarily have an analog tuner connected to the WMCE machine. Once the operating system sees the analog tuner hardware, it won't ask for it again. Sneaky, but effective!
From another project, I already had an external USB TV tuner, so I simply plugged it in to the USB port on the WMCE and I was off and running. I
didn't bother to hook up an antenna to the analog tuner; frankly, I
don't want those analog channels anyway. Once WMCE "configured" the analog tuner, it immediately followed by setting up the digital tuner.
You can use either the automatic signal setup or the manual one. I've used both and they work equally well. In the automatic mode, WMCE will scan for a set top, cable, and antenna signal.
Once the signal is configured, WMCE will ask you for your local zip code for guide information. Via your Internet connection, you will always have 14 days of guide information at your fingertips. After the guide listings are loaded, which takes only a few minutes, you're all set to watch some HDTV!
Tune in for our next installment when we put WMCE through the paces for live and recorded high definition television. We'll follow that up with our last (and most exciting)
part this weekend: streaming HDTV via WiFi to our Xbox 360! Yes, we've done it and yes it works! I'm watching 1080i programming on the 360 right now!
Previously: