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Windows Media Center "Tuner not available" error message
Windows Media Center "Tuner not available" error message
- My TV tuner was working great then all of a sudden it's not. Whenever I try to watch TV, I get "tuner not available. The tuner in currently in use by another application or is not working". There are no other programs running.
Not sure what is going on.1 person got this answerI do too
Answers
Hello, Lannie1234
Check your Device Manager for any problems. Go to Start, type “device manager” in the search box and press enter. Check if any item is unknown or has a yellow Exclamation /!\ next to it.
If so, what is the error?
We look forward to hearing back from you.
David
Microsoft Answers Support Engineer
Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.- Marked As Answer byJohnD - Support EngineerModeratorSunday, June 14, 2009 8:20 PM
All Replies
- Hello lannie1234,
Thank you for using Microsoft Answers forum. I suggest you go to the manufacture of the card and download and install the latest drivers. You can also verify that no other program are running that can get the take control of the card.
Thanks for using the Answers Forum. Please let us know how this works out.
Joseph
Microsoft Answers Support Engineer
Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.- Marked As Answer byJoseph - Support Engineer Friday, June 05, 2009 5:37 AM
- Unmarked As Answer bylannie1234 Tuesday, June 09, 2009 4:23 AM
- I have gone to the manufactures site and installed the latest drivers. The tuner is from Hauppauge - Win tv HVR-1800.
How can i verify or check to see that no other programs are taking control of the card? Hello, Lannie1234
Check your Device Manager for any problems. Go to Start, type “device manager” in the search box and press enter. Check if any item is unknown or has a yellow Exclamation /!\ next to it.
If so, what is the error?
We look forward to hearing back from you.
David
Microsoft Answers Support Engineer
Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.- Marked As Answer byJohnD - Support EngineerModeratorSunday, June 14, 2009 8:20 PM
- I have the same problem! Same tuner too. I just installed the latest drivers and got the same error as lannie1234. I CAN do a digital channel scan and it shows signals. I have NO driver errors according to device manager. I can open my Pinnacle Studio 12 and import analog signal from my vcr with no problems. Seems that I just cant watch TV now with Windows Media Center! Now that the local TV stations have all gone digital, some frequency assignments have changed and WMC won't tune them in during a scan. I get like 15 channels when my set top digital converter box gets over 40 channels on the same antenna! Anyway, what's going on here????
- I have an HP m900t and an OEM ViXS Pure-TV-U 48B0 tuner running Vista Ultimate SP1. Everything worked fine for two years then I started getting this error periodically about two months ago. Sometime it take a day, sometimes a couple of days to show up. I have checked the deivce manager per the instructions above - it shows no errors. I have reinstalled the driver and checked for new driver - no success. How can I tell if there is another program using the tuner? I not runnig any application that would use it (that I know of).
- OK...so I have the same tuner....same system...and same problem.
I too posted to this site how to fix the problem in that Media center no longer works with the digital transition and I got a whole bunch of mumbo jumbo that means nothing.
Here's the scoop....and what they are not telling you. Windows Media Center and Vista will not do what the advertised it to do. It all has to do with the fact that they build computers with the guts to do one thing and not the brains to do another.
My local cable company researched my computer with the Hauppauge - Win tv HVR-1800 tuner card Media Center combo...and what did they find. IT WON'T WORK...if your cable company is broadcasting digital qam. So.....I bought a piece of JUNK.
Good news.....and here is what they are not telling you. Windows 7 will supposedly fix it. So....if you can wait for that to come out and make the transition you might be back in the game.
Someone really ought to make Microsoft accountable for this one. - Whalah:
If your cable co has converted to an SDV network (read: you need to have a set-top box at every TV), then you'll also need one for Media Center.
However, if they don't, and your tuner 'suddenly stopped finding channels', then please re-run TV Setup from scratch.
As for Clear-QAM (unencrypted digital cable) support:
Yes, Win7 has native support. And, you're correct - Vista does not. However, tuner manufacturers employ creative people. Hauppauge does have a Clear-QAM utility for that tuner; you can read about it (and download it) from here.
It'll basically run the digital portion of the card as a 'virtual ATSC tuner', tricking Media Center into tuning Clear-QAM.
Skyhook:
You should re-run TV Setup (rather than "scan for digital signals") from scratch. Should work then.
I'd like to clear up a common misconception, here, too:
the "digital transition" has NOTHING to do with cable!!!!
Most cable networks still send analog signals down the pipe. Those that don't, typically require set-top boxes, as they've switched their network over to SDV (Switched Digital Video.)
Therefore, a Media Center that's connected to cable, unless the provider has transitioned to SDV, will still work. I can prove it: I have two MC boxen (one MCE2k5, one Win7 RC) running on Bright House (TimeWarner), with no issues.
-Chris
[If this post helps to resolve your issue, please click the "Mark as Answer" or "Helpful" button at the top of this message. By marking a post as Answered, or Helpful you help others find the answer faster.] - David, I have the same problem with a m9300t HP computer. The TV tuner is a ViXS PureTV-U 48B0. There is an exclamation mark exactly as you describe in the device manager. The error it give is "This device cannot start. (Code 10)" Please is there any way to resolve this issue? Thanks.
- Before windows 7 mine worked fine. Now I receive the same error i.e. can't find tuner. Dumped existing driver and now can't load a replacement driver. Normally when deleting a driver, windows will pick up the device as "new equipment" however even that's not happening. Does anyone know where I can find a driver that will work with Windows 7 ???.
- Seems like I too have this problem. Everytime I change the channel, Mediacenter hangs with a message that the tuner isn't available.
I noticed that the on screen transport controls indicate the initially displayed channel is recording. If I press the stop button I can change the channel. It didn't work like this 10 days ago.
It seems the tuner is going into record mode to allow the stop/start of a live program viewing. - There are no problems listed. Usually I can troubleshoot most things on my computer but this is just ridiculous!
If this is a compatibility issue between Vista and the cable company, will Windows 7 actually clear it up? I haven't been able to use my tv tuner on my computer for 8 months! It was one of the reasons why I bought this computer.
Does Windows 7 actually have a Media center with a tv tuner?
Frustrated me!
- @ lannie:
When you installed the drivers for your HVR-1800, did you install only the drivers, or did you also install the full Hauppauge package (which includes the WinTV PVR application)? If the latter, that's a big problem - multiple TV/PVR apps (in this case, Media Center + WinTV) will create issues. One ot the other will lose in the "who gets the tuner first" race on startup.
My recommendation to you would be to download the latest drivers from Hauppauge (on this page) - scroll down to the section titled
WinTV-HVR-1800/1850, WinTV-HVR-1250, WinTV-HVR-1500 driver for Windows Media Center. Download the zip file, and extract it somewhere easy-to-remember (such as C:\Hauppauge)
On your Hauppauge CD (that came with the tuner), you'll find a utility called HCWCLEAR.EXE. Run that, and select the option to "remove all Hauppauge software and drivers." Reboot when that's complete.
On restart, watch your Notification Area for the "installing device drivers" popup. Click it, and point it to the directory (e.g. C:\Hauppauge) that you previously extracted the drivers to.
Reboot again after drivers are installed, and re-run TV Setup. If, for some reason, TV Setup fails to run properly, reboot again. This time, run Media Center Setup again (Tasks > Settings > General.) This option will reset all of the MC config files and Registry settings (including TV config) to a 'virgin' state, and should correct the issue.
@ watchuknow: what tuner(s) do you have installed on that system?
@ Tango_Delta: As you're runnning Windows 7, you should re-post your question in one of the Windows 7 forums. I'd suggest the Windows 7 Media folder. ;)
-Chris
[If this post helps to resolve your issue, please click the "Mark as Answer" or "Helpful" button at the top of this message. By marking a post as Answered, or Helpful you help others find the answer faster.]
