"Service is unavailable" WJAR 10

[JeffLJ]

I am running Windows 7 with a Hauppauge 1600 PCI tuner card connected to an antenna in the attic.

Starting around the 1/1/12 WJAR would not record - would get "Service is unavailable" when I hit record
Live TV was working fine.

Now all I get is Service is unavailable when I try to watch it at any time.

The system has been rebuild & restored and tested with a 2nd tuner card (Hauppauge 1191 USB) and the problem persist.
I email the stations and have not gotten a reply (~ week ago)

I tried the USB tuner on a 2nd and 3rd computer - same problem.

All the other stations work fine.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks, Jeff

[Ack]

Do you get reception with the antenna connected directly to the TV?

[Kimreis]

This can happen every so often. Disconnect antenna and do a channel scan. Then, re-connect antenna and re-scan for channels. This should clear out the bad information.

Visit us on Facebook if you have further issues. Our engineers check the page often. http://www.facebook.com/nbc10

[JeffLJ]

Thanks for the response

1) Do you get reception with the antenna connected directly to the TV?

Yes, the TV works fine with the same antenna - strong clear picture.

2) This can happen every so often. Disconnect antenna and do a channel scan. Then, re-connect antenna and re-scan for channels. This should clear out the bad information.

Its happening on multiple computers. One of them was taken completely apart, cleaned, hard drive erased, restored, updated and tested with 2 different tuners - same problem.

Tried the disconnect, scan, re-connect, re-scan on 2 machines... did not help.

Exact error is the same on all machines:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Service is unavailable

There is currently no TV signal detected for this channel. The
channel may be temporarily off the air. Try again later.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is happening on 10.1 and 10.2?

UPDATE:
I installed the "WinTV 7" application and channels 10.1 & 10.2 work fine on 2 machines.

Could this be a problem with Microsoft and/or its program guide?.

[tokentry]

It must be a bad guide update. I am having the same problem and according to FB tivo users are also impacted. Really annoying!

If anyone knows a fix lmk it has been over a week with no NBC in Providence.

[JeffLJ]

After a few emails with someone at the station I can now view Live TV but still can't record.

Had to manually enter the station information and tell Media Center to "Scan for More Channels".

Luckily I get channel 7 from Boston with no problems.

Someone knows whats going on... just not talking.

[tokentry]

Can you shed some light on what you did to get the live programming working? I am alos not sure where to go from here? Is this something I can escalate to MSFT support.

[erkotz]

Is WJAR populating it's PSIP information? I believe WMC will only map channels that have that information (when using ClearQAM)

[Marksnarf]

On or about 1/4/12, the computer that sets the virtual channel died. It was replace that afternoon. We have not benn able to receive since. Station engineer says everything is ok - obviously he is wrong. I believe it is an oversight in the programming of the new computer. Call "Mark" in engineering - this is the only way it will get fixed.

[tokentry]

Interesting... PM me Marks contact information. I am going month 2 and considering trying to pull in NBC from Boston.

[tokentry]

Does anyone have an update on this? I tried to pull in NBC from Boston and it is going to be harder then I thought. I would really like to get nbc from PVD...any ideas?

[erkotz]

Look at the Application event log to see if ehrecvr is crashing when you try and tune to it

[tokentry]

It's working again. I am not sure what happened but...all of the sudden it is working.
Thanks everyone for the help. Great community here!

[mooshu22]

Uhg. I am experiencing similar problems with this "Service is Unavailable" message. Here is what is happening.

HTPC Specs:
-Hauppauge 2250
-Windows 7 64B
-Windows Media Center

Problems:
1) Cannot watch live-tv for some channels with full signal strength. WMC is saying "Service is Unavailable"
2) Other channels I can watch live-tv no problem.
3) When I record "Service is Unavailable" channels they are magically available for live-tv.
4) When I record channels I can watch live, they immediately become "Service is Unavailable" channels.

Troubleshooting steps:
1) updated Hauppauge Drivers
2) uninstalled drivers, reinstalled
3) reconfigured in WMC
4) manually configured in WMC
5) rescanned channels
6) disconnect cable - rescan while disconnected - reconnect cable - rescan channels.

No matter what I have tried I keep getting the same problems as described in #1-#4. Any ideas?

[erkotz]

Uhg. I am experiencing similar problems with this "Service is Unavailable" message. Here is what is happening.

HTPC Specs:
-Hauppauge 2250
-Windows 7 64B
-Windows Media Center

Problems:
1) Cannot watch live-tv for some channels with full signal strength. WMC is saying "Service is Unavailable"
2) Other channels I can watch live-tv no problem.
3) When I record "Service is Unavailable" channels they are magically available for live-tv.
4) When I record channels I can watch live, they immediately become "Service is Unavailable" channels.

Troubleshooting steps:
1) updated Hauppauge Drivers
2) uninstalled drivers, reinstalled
3) reconfigured in WMC
4) manually configured in WMC
5) rescanned channels
6) disconnect cable - rescan while disconnected - reconnect cable - rescan channels.

No matter what I have tried I keep getting the same problems as described in #1-#4. Any ideas?

Look in your application event log if you see ehrecvr crashing

[loomis2]

Mooshu: I have almost an identical system and the exact same tuner card with the exact same problem. One thing I noticed is if you let WMC configure the card it will do so with only one digital tuner active. When that happens I see all the channels I should without any issues other than I am missing my second tuner, which is an issue when I want to record two shows at the same time. But at least I can get a picture. When I manually set up the card with all the tuners active I get the No Signal message that a lot of other people seem to get.

I can't believe such a pervasive issue is so hard to find a solution for. Anyone out there have any suggestions for getting tuner cards to work as they should in WMC?

[divakarr]

I am currently having the same problem as the user above with the channel appearing only when it's recording. I have AVERMedia tuner card.

[loomis2]

Here is what worked for me:
Go into the guide to the channel that is giving the Service Is Unavailable message, right-click, and select Edit Channel.
At the bottom of the list, make sure Show Preview is listed.
Select Edit Sources
(There should just be a blue background since it isn't showing any previews) Select the Split button on the right.
Save and back out.
Now the guide should have two of that channel listed. One works and the other doesn't.
Go to the guide listing of the channel that isn't working, right-click again and select Disable.
Now you should be left with the one working channel.
Repeat these steps for each channel that isn't working.

This is a real PITA to do to get your tuner card to work properly with WMC, I know, but hopefully it is something that only has to be done once. And hopefully this works for you at all! All I can say is it worked for me.