RTE DTT and WinTV / Vista MCE

IrishLad

Hi All,
I have setup a new Vista system with a Hauppauge HVR-1100 and WinTV7 with latest drivers.
Now when I scan for all DVB-T channles I get BBC etc.. but also the 4 irish channels RTE/TnaG/TV3 are showing as MPEG2 SD encrypted? I can view the BBC channels with EPG guide no problem, but only get audio for the irish RTE channels...

I thought that they changed to MPEG4 after the trail and was hoping to be able to use a software decoder for viewing them on the mediacenter PC.

Has anyone any advice on how to get the irish DTT channels running on a PC using a DVB-T card and software to allow me to view the channels?

Thanks,
IrishLad

ethernet

They have moved to MPEG4. It should work as long as your card supports it, either through its hardware or software.

It's worth noting that the encryption flag has been toggled occasionally during the past while as further "tests" continue so keep trying.

IrishLad

Hi,
Thanks for the quick reply.
At the minute Vista MCE shows the channels in the channel list as blocked and you can't see them listed on Guide screen to view them, and WinTV shows them as encrypted, but also as MPEG2 which could just be it reporting it incorrectly.

If there anyway to verify if the channels are currently encrypted as I want to try and view them which I assumed would work based on having Vista Codec Pack installed and MPEG2 and MPEG 2 decodered built in.

I am based in Co Louth and think the mast I get the signal from is Clarmount Carn.

Surely this should work

Thanks,
IrishLad

ethernet

This is stating the obvious but you're receiving the UK channels from somewhere else and RTÉ 1, RTÉ 2, 3 and TG4 from Clermont Carn.

You'll need a UHF antenna for the right band for the Clermont Carn transmitter (e.g. band . However, if you're also receiving the UK channels, you probably have a wideband antenna which is OK too.

The UK Freeview system is using DVB-T and MPEG2. There will eventually be a transition to DVB-T2 for HD services.

The Irish DTT system, in its seemingly eternal trial, is using DVB-T and MPEG4. So make sure you have a DVB-T (DVB-T2 if you want to try and future-proof your setup) and it must also support MPEG4/H.264 for the Irish channels.

Did some quick searching and it seems that Hauppauge device is for MPEG2. You might find software on their website to enable you to watch the MPEG4 broadcasts which will use your processor for the decoding instead of a dedicated chip in the TV card.

IrishLad

Hi,
Thanks as explained I know the card is MPEG2 and have stated that I need to use software decoders for MPEG4, my question is the fact of the scan is showing the channels as encrypted.

I have 2 aerials with a diplexer attached for RTE and UK signals to be send down the one cable, I get perfect reception of the standard UK and RTE channels and also during the initial trail I was getting RTE digital with no problems, its only now they have changed to MPEG4, using a software decoder is fine as the system will able for the CPU load, the problem is the channels are only showing as encrypted!

So can anyone confirm there are able to veiw RTE digital using a MPEG4 software decoder???

Thanks,
IrishLad

ethernet

OK, cool. Could it be a Media Centre thing? 7 still in beta/RC and all that.

According to the folk here, Clermount Carn is still broadcasting, although there was at least one outage so far. That's probably the most up-to-date source on it too.

IrishLad

Hi,
Thanks I am using Windows Vista Ultimate MCE and also Hauppauge WinTV7, not going near Windows7 yet

Am downloading DVBViewer as apparently it is better that Vista MCE so will see if that shows the channels as unencrypted.

If there is any other info people can pass on then let me know.

Will keep you posted.

IrishLad

ethernet

Hehe, my bad -- just saw 'win' and '7'

Do try it out. Should rule out Media Centre if nothing else. Good luck.

p15574

I got this working after doing something like that (installing DVBViewer). I don't think you have to actually use it, I think merely installing it will setup the codecs required so that MCE can then also see the channels. I don't actually use it, though, I just verified it worked. There's a thread somewhere here where someone listed detailed steps - with screenshots - on how to do it.

elyod

Vista Media Center does not support MPEG4(H.264) over DVB-T

Windows 7 has finally added a built in H.264 decoder but after trying it out the H.264 decoder does not work so great on Live TV. Media Center does not give you the option to choose alternative decoders. I have 84% signal which other decoders like CoreAVC and ffdshow (running in Dvbviewer) seem to work fine with. But the Windows decoder seems to want a far higher signal strength as the picutre breaks up badly, and sometimes doesn't display.

There does seem to be workarounds to force Media Center to use different codecs but they only seem to work with 32bit and I have 64bit installed.

For dvbviewer, use either CoreAVC, Cyberlink H.264 codec or "ffdshow tryouts".

The ffdshow tryouts are free and recent releases have added very good H.264 decoding. Download ffdshow tryouts beta 6.

If you want a Media Center solution you might take a look at Media Portal. Any of the above codecs will work in this too.