In the Indian market I find lots of TV tuners cards with ‘Vista Certified Logo’ tagged on their box packs.If a common user seeing that logo buys the card and tries to run it under Media Center he will find it won’t working-getting the following error:-No tuner card is found.
It should be kept in mind that Vista Certified logos here means that these so called tv-tuner cards will run on Vista but with their applications,like Pinnacle Media Center but not with Vista Media Center.
To run under Vista Media Center or to get the tuner card detected in Vista Media Center you need a specific hardware based MPEG-2 card.This is lacking mostly in ordinary cards.
So if you wish to enjoy Vista Media Center then here is a list of a few totally Vista Media Center ready TV tuner cards.
FusionHDTV7
Hauppauge WinTV HVR-1600
Hauppauge WinTV HVR-1700
Hauppauge WinTV HVR-4000
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 150 Model 26xxx
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 150MCE Model 26xxx
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 250 Model 32/48xxx
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR Roslyn Model 28xxx
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR Baldwin (Half Height) Model 30xxx
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150MCE l.p. (Baldwin2 Half Height) Model 25xxx
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 250MCE Model 32xxx
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 350 Model 48xxx
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 500MCE Model 23xxx
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR Freestyle Model 32/48xxx
Hauppauge WinTV USB2.0 Stick
Hauppauge Nova-T/MCE
AverMedia M150 AVerTV PVR
AverMedia M179 AVerTV PVR
Emuzed Maui II PCI PVR
Emuzed Maui III PCI PVR ATI
E-Home Wonder
nVidia MCE TV PCI
nVidia MCE TV PCI DAUL Tuner
Provideo Multimedia PV-258
Leadtek WinFast DTV 1800 H Media Center Edition
Compro VideoMate Vista E900F Dual D/A PCIe
Compro VideoMate Vista E850F Hybrid D/A PCIe
Compro VideoMate Vista E800F
Provideo Multimedia PV-259
PCTV MCE Companion
PCTV Tuner Kit for Windows Vista
PCTV Hybrid Tuner Kit for Windows Vista
[And the also following Pinnacle products are supposed to work after installation of PCTV installer for Windows Media Center:-
- PCTV 100i
- PCTV Analog (Pro) PCI (110i)
- PCTV (Pro) PCI (110i)
- PCTV 300i
- PCTV Hybrid Pro PCI (310i)
- PCTV Hybrid Pro Stick (320e)*
- PCTV Hybrid Pro Stick (330e)
- PCTV HD Pro Stick (800e)
- PCTV Dual Hybrid Pro PCIe (3010iX)
- PCTV 7010iX (for DVB-T and analogue TV)
- Dazzle*TV PCI (110i)
- Dazzle*TV Hybrid Stick (320e)*
Notes:
- Please note that standard Pinnacle PCTV remote controls are not supported by the Windows Media Center application. An original Windows Media Center remote kit for Vista users is available separately.
* PCTV Hybrid Pro Stick (320e) and Dazzle*TV Hybrid Stick (320e): DVB-T reception only. Analogue TV reception in Windows Media Center is not supported for these products. Please use Pinnacle TVCenter for analogue TV reception.]
Ref:-
Kindly check the latest models available in manufacturer’s websites before buying.
Hi, very nice information. Where did you find that the Hauppauge WinTV HVR-1600 works with VISTA MCE? I could not find this information.. alot of Hauppauge tuners have the MC tag, this one does not.
By: aussieh on November 22, 2008
at 1:49 am
http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hvr1600.html
http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hvr1600mc.html
I don’t get it.. what’s the difference?
By: aussieh on November 22, 2008
at 2:00 am
Thanks for your feedback.
Regarding your 1st question:-This is directly from FAQ:-
Can I use the WinTV-HVR-1600 with Media Center?
“The WinTV-HVR-1600 will work with Vista Media Center. Just usel the driver provided on the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR Installation CD. Since the WinTV-HVR-1600 is dual tuner, you will be able to watch and record analog cable TV channels and ATSC digital TV channels at the same time. Vista Media Center does not currently support clear QAM digital cable TV.
The WinTV WinTV-HVR-1600 can be made to work within the Windows XP Media Center application provided you have the latest updates (roll-up 2) for MCE installed. This update provides support for digital (ATSC) tuning and will allow MCE to recognize the WinTV-HVR-1600 as a tuner in its configuration. Without the latest updates MCE will give the error message “No tuner hardware found”.
Under Vista, there would not be any additional updates required for the WinTV HVR -1600 to operate in Media Center.”
Ref:-http://www.hauppauge.com/site/support/support_hvr1600.html?tab=5#mediacenter
Regarding your second question:-
There is a difference between WinTV-HVR 1600 and WinTV-HVR 1600 MC.
The later model (1600 MC) comes with Microsoft certified Media Center remote control as well as IR Blasters.
By: mymce on November 23, 2008
at 8:51 pm