In the clear (QAM, that is) with Windows 7
Back last August, I wrote in this blog about some of the improvements to Windows Media Center in Windows 7. Since then, I’ve had much more time to configure and work with the application, and I have to say that one of the best things about it is the native support for clear QAM (unencrypted HD) channels.
When we were running Vista Media Center, we often agonized over our choices: we could watch high definition versions of our favorite programs – House, CSI, Law & Order – on the Time Warner DVR or we could watch them in standard definition in Media Center. The picture quality on the DVR was beautiful, but the interface so horrible as to be painful to use. It’s clunky and slow and navigating to what you want takes forever. Sometimes it “forgets” its programming, and doesn’t record the series that you’ve set it to record, so you have to check it every day to be sure it’s still planning to record that evening’s shows. Fast forwarding through commercials is difficult because you can either do it excruciatingly slowly – or so fast that you’ll inevitably overshoot the resumption of the show and have to go back. Worst of all, it will often just jump back to the beginning of a program in the middle for no reason, with no one’s hands near the remote. Then you have to fast forward through everything you’ve already watched to get back to where you were. Sometimes it would do this several times during a one hour program, leaving me wanting to tear out my hair.
The other alternative, SD in Media Center, was delightful from a navigation and operational standpoint. Media Center always recorded what it was supposed to, when it was supposed to. Setting it to record or finding your recorded programs is simple and easy. The interface, on our quad core machine with 3 GB of RAM, is snappy. Fast forwarding through commercials at 30 second intervals is easy and accurate. The only problem was the lousy picture when compared to the ultra sharp look of HD.
Windows 7 solves the dilemma. Unlike Vista, it supports QAM tuners, so as long as your tuner card is a digital, hybrid or combo card, you can watch and record in HD those digital channels that your cable company provides without encryption. By law, they have to do this with the broadcast networks – NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox – and most also include PBS and some local channels. In our area, Time Warner provides thirteen QAM channels.
I expected to have some hassle factor involved in setting up QAM, based on what I’d read. Some folks were saying they had to edit the registry to get Win7 to detect QAM channels. The HP machine has a Hauppauge HVR-1600 that came with it and a second 1600 that I installed. The OEM version of this card is analog and ATSC (over the air) only, but the retail boxed version is a combo tuner with both analog and ATSC/QAM connectors, as you can see below.
You need to use a splitter so you can run separate lengths of cable from the wall to all of the tuner connectors you’re using (you don’t go through the set-top box). The difference between a combo tuner and a hybrid is that the hybrid has a single cable connector for both the analog and QAM, whereas the combo has two separate connectors. What this means is that with a hybrid tuner, you can watch or record only one program, analog or QAM, at a time. With a combo, you can watch/record one analog and one QAM at the same time. Here’s what the HVR-1600 combo tuner looks like:
When I first ran the setup of the TV signal, Windows 7 immediately recognized the two analog tuners, but no QAM. The first thing I tried was going to the Hauppauge web site and downloading and installing the latest drivers for the 1600. Sure enough, after a reboot, I ran the TV signal setup again and it found two analog tuners and one QAM. I’ve ordered a second retail 1600 and am going to put it in next weekend, so then we’ll have two QAM tuners. In the meantime, we have QAM tuners on the kitchen computer (TouchSmart) and one of my desktops, so we can still record three HD programs at the same time. Then we just set the Recorded TV library on the main Media Center PC to point to the folders on those other computers so those programs show up in its Media Center interface and we can watch any of them on the 65 inch Aquos TV to which it’s attached.
After the tuners are detected, you’ll be asked first to set up your analog tuner(s) and then to set up your QAM tuners. You select the cable company for each. There will be a separate listing that says something like “Time Warner Digital” that you choose for the QAM tuner. Then it will take quite a bit of time to detect the additional channels. Some people mentioned having to add their QAM channels manually, but I didn’t have to do that; all of mine were detected.
Now in the Guide, as shown below, the digital channels show up with sub-channel numbers (8.1, 8.2, 11.1, etc.). HD programming is flagged with the “HD” box.
The great thing about clear QAM is that you don’t even have to subscribe to digital cable to get it. You can get the clear QAM channels in spectacular HD even if you only have basic cable and no set-top box. If all of the programs you like are on the major networks, you may be able to cut your cable bills by going back to basic cable and dumping your cable company’s DVR.
Of course, cable companies aren’t eager to tell you about this and you won’t find a word about clear QAM on most of their web sites or in their literature and support documents. In fact, some cable company personnel have been known to tell customers that they can’t get HD without the cable box and digital subscription. That’s true of encrypted HD, but not true of the networks which the FCC requires they transmit unencrypted.
I’m thrilled with Windows 7’s QAM support and the great HD recordings that I’m getting with it. This is a huge step forward for Windows Media Center and one that will make my TV watching experience tons better.
- Debra Littlejohn Shinder, MVP
deb@shinder.net www.debshinder.com
Jim on November 02, 2009 at 02:51 PM
Deb,
Thanks for this information. Like you mention in your article, I've gotten so much misinformation from my cable company (Mediacom). They advertise free HD, but then tell you that you have to subscribe to digital cable and use their set top box/DVR. I upgraded my HP Pavilion dv4 laptop to Win 7 Pro over the weekend, so I'll try scanning for QAM stations tonight.
Jim
sdram on November 03, 2009 at 05:08 AM
The Windows 7 is getting the world in its hand.I believe you will find many suggestions and many problems to resolve for the Windows Media center.
David Brown on November 05, 2009 at 05:04 AM
I tried setting my Window 7 Media Center up several times between updates of my Hauppauge driver software. It detected both Dual Analog AND Dual QAM tuners. It then proceeds to look for additional channels. It always came back failing to find my clear QAM channels. I finally discovered that if you go into the GUIDE setup, not the TUNER setup, you can manually add the Clear QAM channels... 73.2, 106.1, etc. ALSO, you can associate an SD channel's guide information that mirrors that particular channel. Finally, I have SD and HD in my Media Center Channel Guide and can select and record either. This procedure needs to be more visible... I liked to never figured it out. I hope it helps others who are missing out.
Ren on November 05, 2009 at 08:53 AM
This stuff was available with windows vista tv pack and a small tweak to the registry for Hauppauge cards.
Also, before that it was already available with the HDHomerun tuner. An excellent device with superb customer support.
I also would like to tell you that the signal strength on the cable is pretty important for HD stuff. If people have issues they might want to invest in a booster (35 on amazon) and install it where the signal comes into the house.
There is a 4 tuner cable card device coming out in Q1 2010, made by ceton. All you would need is 1 multistream cable card and it can receive ALL you HD channels your cable company offers. It will even do SDV.
This will make windows media center 7 the best dvr out there, hands down.
Kim on November 05, 2009 at 03:19 PM
What about DirecTV? Can the output from a DirecTV dish be plugged into Win7 Media Center?
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