M17 TV Tuner not TV Tuning

So... I (Finally?) decided to try out the TV tuner in the M17 (Yes I ordered it, it is installed, it's an Avermedia card). I took my big white coax from the wall, connected it to the adapter (which, incidentally, they forgot to send me the frist time) and got Windows Media Center (ick) going. I set up the connection manually as Cable, since for some reason every time I had it do it automatically, it detected a "digital antenna". When I start up "Live TV," I get nothing but snow on every channel. I do not have a digital cable box, just regular run-of-the-mill cables through the wall from Comcast. No matter what I do, I can't get picture, and I know that the cable has signal because it works on the TV I pulled it out of.

Anyone?

 

have you tried letting the automatic setup run (regardless of the "digital antenna" thing) and see what happens?

 

Trying Now

 

Okay, I tried this... It detects 22 channels, and the only one that actually works is the spanish channel, and it says it's channel 1691. I get channels 1-100 so I can't imagine it's right.... and I don't like "El Campeon." Incidentally, last night I checked a few things my self.... reseated the card and confirmed the wires are attached.

 

First off is the Tuner an ATSC? If not you will need the box from your cable company, otherwise yes you have the 22 channels but they are scattered all around the bandwidth of the cable. In other words where you thought channel 6 was is now channel 906 or something like that.

All the Cables (Comcast and Cablevision) have jumped the gun on the Digital switch. Even though the broadcast of analog ends Feb. 19, 2009. cable was given an additional 3 years past that to make the change. Comcast and Cablevision decided to do it now.

What this means is that they want all of you who just have the cable coming out of the wall and going directly to your TV (if it is not HD ready or ATSC equiped) to get a box. It is supposed to be free (if you do not have ANY other device hooked to one of their boxes if not you pay).

It sounds like your TV is ATSC equipped and your tuner in the AW is not. As a result you will need a box.

 

Yes it's ATSC. Shouldn't matter, I'm not pulling it over the air, I'm pulling it from actual pay cable... but yeah, it's an ATSC Hybrid Tuner. Says so in all the documentation.

Link to Alienware's Specs on it

 

ATSC isnt just over the air cable is sending it as well.

You have a premium service or just basic without the box? Or does your TV have a card slot for the cable company's dongle key? I have a feeling that you may still need that box for the AW to pick up the channels correctly.

Take it to a someone you know who does have a box and hook it up there.

 

No box. It's basic, basic, basic. No dongles. No cards.
It's a cable that comes out of the wall and goes into my TV. I pulled it out of the TV and put it into my computer. Like I said before, the TV's just work. There is no conversion going on. I just got off the phone with Comcast, I'm NTSC and staying that way. They confirmed I don't need a CableCARD either.

 

http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/articles/2007/02/atsc_cable_qam_tuners_-_cablecard_or_atsc_ready.php

Go here it has some interesting things you need to do.

 

And,

For the hell of it, I ran to the store and got a USB tuner just to see if I could make it work on my other computer.

It does. The only thing I needed to do was lock in the channels manually a-la-wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_cable_television_frequencies and everything works fine. Now. How do I do that on Vista's Media Center? It lets me edit, add, and remove channels, but not fine tune them. I would gladly take the 10 minutes to make those channels work.

I'm not on ATSC, so knock it of with the cablecard stuff.

 

Im having a problem with mine to. i think my dongle is damaged. i get snow. and thats it. I got a weak signal from my dish box but i had to manipulate the dongle to get it to work. I know its not the cable im using because i tested it. I guess i have to call alienware on monday and get a new one shipped out.

 

Same issue here. Cable comes out of wall, goes into either new 32" lcd TV OR old boxy crappy TV, works just fine. Cable goes into M17 with or without their dongle (love that word), just gets snow. Period. Media center says "no signal was detected" when auto configuring. I even uninstalled/ reinstalled the tuner, went hunting for the most recent drivers, and tried connecting it directly to the three foot coaxial that actually enters my house. Only thing I can think of that I have yet to try is attempting this at a different house, or maybe off of a different cable companies signal. Any other ideas? This is my ONLY complaint on the M17 thus far...

 

You have to hunt for the channels, read the link. Its a pain but the box you are suppsed to get from the cable company is free (lowest tier basic) would save you that hunt.

 

There is no box from my cable company. The only "Box" available is the DIGITAL CABLE box, where they up your signal to ATSC. Once again, I've confirmed with comcast that I am standard NTSC. There are no dongles, or boxes, I can get from them for "lowest basic" cable.

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aW_3.BE.a40k&refer=us

http://uk.reuters.com/article/technologyNewsMolt/idUKTRE4BF7I420081217

http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/brierdudley/2008/12/08/some_faqs_on_comcast_digital_s.html

http://www.king5.com/localnews/cons...UBTIMES_comcast-cabel-switch-JM.42181bf3.html

 

"If you have an older analog TV, and you have Comcast’s most basic package, you won't have to change a thing when it comes to watching channels two through 29."

wanna tell me where channels 2-29 are?

Also, find me an article that says "Fort Lauderdale," not Seattle or the UK.

Repeating, for the umpteenth time, there are no digital boxes being offered from comcast, in my area, at this time.

P.S. my 12 year old analong TV still works.

 

what does AW say?

 

Alienware is sending me a new tuner card. Incidentally, I finally went out to bestbuy, bought a usb tuner, connected it to my old pc ( don't want any driver issues on this one, says it's made for vista 32 not x64 ), and it was working just fine.

So... Soloman, please pretend for just a minute that I am not totally retarted, I ask questions, I do research. And I despite my ubergeek notebook, I have basic cable. Which, according to your articles from Illonois, England, and Washington.... should work just fine with an analog tuner anyway.

 

So you missed the question addressing MS Medai and Comcast?

Please Comcast is Comcast no matter what state you are in and the uK reference is addressing an issue in the US.

There are issues on Comcasts end that they are ignoring and not addressing. The links above are addressing anyone who has problems with their tuner card or PCI Card. Comcast will tell you anything to make a sale. It is affecting all subscribers of Comcast no matter where you live.

I titally agree that you should be able to plug your cable into your pc (directly out of the wall) and have it work from day one. But the variables involved with this are many and there are too many companies sticking their noses into it causing all sorts of problems.

 

I have Dish network and still am not able to pick up anything. so it may be the dongles for these cards, or the cards themselves.

 

Media Center has problems if thats what you are using, just from looking at the Comcast/MS issues there are a number of things that need to be fixed and its not just Comcast alone.