TV Service Unavailable?

[mdavej]

Another solution is to go into the sound setup in Windows and simply turn off exclusive mode.

Werds, since you already had cable (I assume), why did you go with DirecTV? Wouldn't a cable DVR or Tivo have been simpler and no contract? DirecTV is going to get very expensive when your promo runs out.

[werds]

Another solution is to go into the sound setup in Windows and simply turn off exclusive mode.

Werds, since you already had cable (I assume), why did you go with DirecTV? Wouldn't a cable DVR or Tivo have been simpler and no contract? DirecTV is going to get very expensive when your promo runs out.

Possibly, but the issue was more about my wife being supremely pissed and wanting a resolution yesterday. From July through October 1st, we had approximately 4 and a half weeks of no tv service (non-consecutive). At that point the Fall TV season had started and she was angry about missing her shows which compounded the previous lack of TV service. I told her we could move to Tivo (which was something I had been eyeing as a WMC alternative) but we had a unique option available. Our home is serviced only by Mediacom or satellite tv providers and Mediacom offers a 90 day money back guarantee... so since we were still in the 90 day window we took the money back, mainly because they seemed to never be able to provide quick turn around in troubleshooting and it had been the 4 separate tech appointments to always resolve the issue for a day or two and then it would go back to crap.

So with an angry wife at the end of her wits I could have continued troubleshooting the WMC setup (which would have involved more downtime), pay for a full Tivo system that mirrors WMC capabilities (large upfront cost and if Mediacom was the problem we would be stuck in contract with them for 2 years of what up to that point had been shoddy service and poor response.) Or I figured the other option would be to go with satellite TV which meant we would get an install right away, there was no charge for equipment, install etc. and the first year cost was ridiculously low for the channels that were must haves. For a Genie DVR system in 4 rooms for the first year we are paying $43/month.

Obviously the price will shoot up in year two but after calculating our package and cost amortized over the 2 year period it was cheaper than purchasing a full TIVO system at that specific moment - and faster Also it leaves us with the option of at the end of the contract I can try Mediacom again without worry of being in contract so if round two doesn't work well with the WMC system I can again find a cheap satellite tv alternative or purchase into a Tivo system at that time...or whatever other system will replace WMC... But the biggest issue was pretty much being stuck with Mediacom and or a newly purchased Tivo system if the real problem was Mediacom and my wife having lost any patience with that game altogether. She does almost daily complains about the Genie menu system and the compromises compared to the WMC system... and she does roll her eyes knowing it will cost more in year two. But she loves having her cable TV (unlike many people the channels she watches are not easily available or cheaply available through streaming services... and our kids channels as well).

But I keep an eye in here because if there is a solution I would love to know! Miss the WMC setup

[mdavej]

The bright side is DirecTV actually has a lot of features the WMC doesn't. She might like it better once she uses them.

- Live buffers on all tuners, which you can switch among at will
- Ad hoc recordings start back at the beginning of the buffer rather than the point you pressed record
- If you've just tuned to a channel and the buffer is empty, you can still watch from the beginning since DirecTV will download it from the cloud
- RF universal remote, so no aiming required, and no TV or AVR remote required
- Bug-free, fast, reliable client boxes
- Ethernet networking via coax, so no additional wires to run. Ethernet can be use by other devices as well
- Online DVR management
- Vast on demand library
- Quick tune (pop-up with 9 favorites via up arrow - I think)
- Boolean searches
- Skip to tick and skip to beginning/end via long key presses on remote

I had DirecTV on and off for about 10 years. All of the above I really missed when going from DirecTV to WMC.

Do try the solution I posted (uncheck exclusive mode in sound properties). It's worked for me in the past.

[Dmordarski]

When I swapped from a Panasonic Plasma 55/onkyo avr to a Sharp 70 with denon avr, I had a ton off issues, service interruptions (hdmi audio) blank screen (swapped to a nvidia VC), Commercials flickering (28/59 bug) and lastly another blank screen on turn on (edid detective) None of the issues I had with the old setup, I still get a TV restart on certain recorded content but its down to maybe once a day. Lets just say Wife got tired of me working on the TV pretty fast, at least the extenders all worked and the shows where available, so I feel you pain.

[Tester]

@mdavej I went ahead and turned off exclusive mode and also set everything to 2 speaker setup. Still same results.

At this point the only thing that works is a full reset, and usually only for about a day or so.

Again, this setup used to work perfectly and I cannot determine a) what is wrong, nor b) what changed that caused this issue.

[PapachoSneak]

Arghhhhh. I've had my HTPC up and running for more than 2 years working fine (Ceton 4-tuner card). Sometime in the last week, it quit working with the subscription required error on every channel. I've got Windows 7 Ultimate, set to automatically install updates. The last time I watched something on it when I know it was working was on the 11th. Last night I tried to watch something and every channel gives the error. I've never seen this issue before. Windows Update has installed 18 updates since then, definition updates for MSE, windows security updates, .NET framework security updates, etc. I guess I'm going to have to try and roll back some or all of these updates but and dreading the effort.

Has anyone has any more luck figuring this out? I'll post back if I figure anything out.

[Paw Paw]

Arghhhhh. I've had my HTPC up and running for more than 2 years working fine (Ceton 4-tuner card). Sometime in the last week, it quit working with the subscription required error on every channel. I've got Windows 7 Ultimate, set to automatically install updates. The last time I watched something on it when I know it was working was on the 11th. Last night I tried to watch something and every channel gives the error. I've never seen this issue before. Windows Update has installed 18 updates since then, definition updates for MSE, windows security updates, .NET framework security updates, etc. I guess I'm going to have to try and roll back some or all of these updates but and dreading the effort.

Has anyone has any more luck figuring this out? I'll post back if I figure anything out.

Same situation with me. Between 8 and 9AM today all encrypted channels show "Subscription Required". I am on Comcast Houston. What system are you on? I do not think it is a Microsoft update since I manually apply the updates and have not done so for a week or two. Comcast is less than useless at level 1 on an issue like this so I opened a ticket with Ceton and asked them to contact Comcast for me to get to a higher support level if they agree that it is a Comcast issue.

Edit - My HTPC is getting automatic updates but 2 of the tuners are dedicated to a second PC and it is not getting automatic Windows updates. Both units are experiencing the issue.

[Cirdecus]

I have no firewall, no nothing.
I have a ticket in, and they're been pretty helpful but found nothing yet.
Seems like it's a software issue from what they've said.

It is literally a clean install of Windows 7 with nothing on it but every single windows update. No other software at all.

Did ANOTHER clean install of Win7, this time without having the Hauppauge HVR-2250 in at all at any point.
Did all the Windows updates, installed the Ceton beta firmware, Diagnostics are fine, went through TV Setup and nothing.

Got a Win8 key, so gonna try that tonight. Really disappointed that support wasn't any more help after they decided it was infact software and not hardware

Their first responses will always start blaming your software and hardware. They've been doing it to me for over a week now and I've proved that my tuner is defective. They are stubbornly resistance to RMA's though.

Most people go through multiple tuners with Ceton and their service is just horrible. See my post earlier about my tuning adapter suddenly failing.