Is anyone able to tune ATSC3 channels in WMC?

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JanSiegrist

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Is anyone able to tune ATSC3 channels in WMC?

#1

Post by JanSiegrist » Thu Feb 09, 2023 8:14 pm

Greetings everyone, I'm in RI at 02896. Recently channel 27 out of Marlboro MA started broadcasting ATSC3 channels:
102.1, 104.1, 105.1, 115.1, 125.1, 150.1, and 166.1
I'm using a recent HDHomeRun Flex 4k tuner which is capable of tuning ATSC3 channels. In the HDHomeRun Config GUI app, I do in-fact see them.
As I've been finding out not all apps including the HDHomeRun App will tune and display these channels on all hardware that will otherwise run the HDHomeRun App.
I have found two experimental versions that will - an experimental QMPlay2, and an experimental Kodi Matrix 19.03 that will work with NextPVR.
Some apps like VLC will display the video just fine, but no audio.
To be fair HDHR is aware of the issue's I'm seeing so we'll see what happens in time, ultimately I may need to purchase a newer video card it's been mentioned that an nvidia 10xx vers is needed. Also note that the latest HDHR app only has all the features while running on Win10. I do have a Win10 box with the latest version installed - still no luck.
My main WMC machine is a Win7 pro box with a 4 core processor and 8g of ram.

Sooooo is anyone able to tune ATSC3 channels with WMC? If so what codecs need to be installed? What vers of Windows was WMC installed on to make it go.

Also, EPG does not yet show the Next Gen channels - I've also put in a ticket to them.
Thanks in advance

Jan

prsa01

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#2

Post by prsa01 » Thu Feb 09, 2023 10:45 pm

Wait for someone who knows what they are talking about, but, I believe people have said wmc will be unable to deal with atsc3.

Ken H

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#3

Post by Ken H » Tue Mar 21, 2023 5:15 am

WMC can't even handle all versions of H.264, for example the one Comcast uses, so I'd speculate it's highly unlikely it could handle ATSC 3.0.

stuartm

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#4

Post by stuartm » Wed Mar 22, 2023 12:13 am

Ken H wrote: Tue Mar 21, 2023 5:15 am WMC can't even handle all versions of H.264, for example the one Comcast uses, so I'd speculate it's highly unlikely it could handle ATSC 3.0.
This is apparently not universally true. I am on Comcast and pretty much all my channels are H.264 and aside from some oddities, I have no problems with the H.264 I am getting.

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d00zah

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#5

Post by d00zah » Wed Mar 22, 2023 1:39 am

stuartm wrote: Wed Mar 22, 2023 12:13 am This is apparently not universally true. I am on Comcast and pretty much all my channels are H.264 and aside from some oddities, I have no problems with the H.264 I am getting.
Running a 3rd-party CODEC pack, by any chance?

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#6

Post by stuartm » Wed Mar 22, 2023 4:33 pm

Nope, straight Win 7

Ken H

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#7

Post by Ken H » Wed Mar 22, 2023 10:07 pm

d00zah wrote: Wed Mar 22, 2023 1:39 am
stuartm wrote: Wed Mar 22, 2023 12:13 am This is apparently not universally true. I am on Comcast and pretty much all my channels are H.264 and aside from some oddities, I have no problems with the H.264 I am getting.
Running a 3rd-party CODEC pack, by any chance?
stuartm wrote: Wed Mar 22, 2023 4:33 pm Nope, straight Win 7
This would make you the only WMC user I've heard of that has Comcast/Xfinity and doesn't have a problem with the H.264 channels. There are a few threads here that have discussed this before.

Not saying I don't believe you, just makes you the exception.

The issue for me, is when I tune to any of he ScreenPic channels the screen goes black and sometimes I get sound, sometimes I don't. Sometimes WMC locks up and I need to restart. I accidentally found if I tuned to one of my local channels then go back to ScreenPic, it works fine.

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#8

Post by stuartm » Thu Mar 23, 2023 7:07 am

Yeah, that is the oddity I mentioned. And it has been discussed here on TGB before. Tuning from an h.264 HD channel to the lower resolution MPEG2 Screenpix channel almost always gets a black screen and just sound. This is a known bug in WMC. The workaround you mentioned usually clears it up or tuning to the low res channel before tuning any other usually works. This is not so much a problem with h.264 since Screenpix is not in h.264 rather a problem transitioning away from h.264 and WMC having problems detecting the encoding of the new stream. There are no problems when switching back to H.264 from the low res nor switching between h.264 streams that I have ever seen. I suspect tuning a local channel (I would guess its a MPEG encoded channel or btw tuning to a different Streampix channel) seems to get WMC to be unconfused about the video stream again. Anyway, this discussion is way off topic from the original question. Which BTW is highly unlikely to work since there is no new development in WMC for years before ATSC3 was even created.

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#9

Post by Ken H » Thu Mar 23, 2023 7:50 am

stuartm wrote: Thu Mar 23, 2023 7:07 am Yeah, that is the oddity I mentioned. And it has been discussed here on TGB before. Tuning from an h.264 HD channel to the lower resolution MPEG2 Screenpix channel almost always gets a black screen and just sound. This is a known bug in WMC. The workaround you mentioned usually clears it up or tuning to the low res channel before tuning any other usually works. This is not so much a problem with h.264 since Screenpix is not in h.264 rather a problem transitioning away from h.264 and WMC having problems detecting the encoding of the new stream. There are no problems when switching back to H.264 from the low res nor switching between h.264 streams that I have ever seen. I suspect tuning a local channel (I would guess its a MPEG encoded channel or btw tuning to a different Streampix channel) seems to get WMC to be unconfused about the video stream again.
Glad to know we are on the same page.
Anyway, this discussion is way off topic from the original question. Which BTW is highly unlikely to work since there is no new development in WMC for years before ATSC3 was even created.
Agree 100%.

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#10

Post by Ken H » Thu Mar 23, 2023 7:59 am

Having said that, and especially considering what Gary has done with EPG123, I have a probably unrealistic hope that someone much more knowledgeable than me will rework the codecs used in WMC to make them workable for new formats not in existence when WMC was orphaned.

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Fpostgate

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#11

Post by Fpostgate » Sun Dec 03, 2023 11:04 pm

I am disappointed in my windows 11 machine. It can't see my new HDHomerun Flex4k on the wifi setup. It is working fine on my up to date win 10 machine. the Win 10 PC is on hard ethernet wire and the Win 11 laptop is on wifi. Any thoughts on that? I have a nice digital antennae and this WMC is still the best option for TV!

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garyan2

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#12

Post by garyan2 » Mon Dec 04, 2023 1:47 am

Check to make sure you have Network Discovery enabled and you are on a private network with your wifi. I'm on Win11 and can see my Flex 4K just fine.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

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Fpostgate

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#13

Post by Fpostgate » Mon Dec 04, 2023 10:36 pm

Yeah the network is widely visible and I can watch TV with the HDHomerun app. It just says that no tuner is detected when I try the TV setup option on the WMC. I don't understand how my PC upstairs works fine, but this one and my win 11 laptop don't see the tuner. :( So Close..

And thanks Gary for the support, I will donate to your cause if I can figure this out.

Network is visible, I can see the tuner and get to its webpage from my Win 10 (machine at fault). I made sure network is as "Private".



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garyan2

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#14

Post by garyan2 » Tue Dec 05, 2023 12:23 am

Then the other question would be did you install the drivers? The HDHomeRun app and Windows drivers are 2 separate packages.

Sent from my SM-G781U1 using Tapatalk

- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

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Fpostgate

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#15

Post by Fpostgate » Tue Dec 05, 2023 12:56 am

Well holy S%it, I found the driver and you are correct, after install it worked. I thought for sure it was the same thing from the darn App Store lol. Were is the link for donation? I find it strange that the HDHomerun app works fine but the WMC needs its driver...

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garyan2

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#16

Post by garyan2 » Tue Dec 05, 2023 1:07 am

The app can talk directly to the tuners. The OS/WMC require BDA drivers to connect with them.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

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Fpostgate

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#17

Post by Fpostgate » Tue Dec 05, 2023 4:45 am

Thanks have one on me, check the epg123 donations!

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