Surface Pro 3 + WMC8 + HDHomeRun Prime

[Kieran]

Hi all,
I recently bought a MS Surface Pro 3, with the core I5 processor, 8GB ram, 256GB SSD. I then purchased the WMC add-on for W8.1 for $9.99. Set up and cable advisor etc., all went well. But playback of live TV is nearly useless. First you have to minimize or otherwise switch tasks and then go back to WMC before a station will tune/show up, and sometimes that doesn't even work.

But when I can get it to tune a station, it's almost unmatchable it's so choppy and pixilated with digital noise.

I feel like this has to be a set up or drivers issue, because I have a tiny, comparatively weak net-top PC which I use as my main TV/DVR device for my living room. Granted this little guy is running W7, not W8, but the hardware is nothing compared to the Surface Pro 3 (the net-top has a AMD Fusion 350 APU running at 1.6GHz with 4GB ram, and a 256 GB SSD, and it works wonderfully).

I really really was hoping to use the surface as a portable TV in the house (among other things). Any help troubleshooting and getting this working would be greatly appreciated.

As a start, I have run Windows update several times and everything (OS, drivers, etc.) is up to date.

Thanks!
Kieran

[Crash2009]

What kind of WiFi router do you have?

How far is the router from where you are trying to run the Surface Pro

[cwinfield]

Most likely your wifi is poor. Use 5g band and anything less than 300mbs dual band n will be poor.

[Crash2009]

Yup, The Surface Pro will do 802.11ac. Here is a little blip of what that is. http://www.techradar.com/news/networkin ... ow-1059194

[Kieran]

My router is the ASUS RT-N66U Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router.
I'm familiar with 802.11a/c/n/b/etc., and this router is not -ac compatible, it's an n-class router; however it's a top of the line n-router, and I've watched TV via WiFi before with this router. What's the bandwidth requirement for HDTV via WMC8? I've tried watching shows while standing right beside the router with a full strength WiFi signal, with similarly poor results. Bandwidth to speediest sites (I know this is not the same thing) is ~90mbps.
I don't know if there's a way to test my bandwidth to my router, or to the hdhomerun-prime.
Thanks for the comments & tips so far...

[Kieran]

So I just disconnected the LAN line from my net-top HTPC, and connected via WiFi. It is playing HDTV via W7MC @ the HDHomeRun-Prime with zero problems; it's perfect, I can't tell the difference between a wired connection and WiFi. The hardware for this net-top (a Foxconn NT-A3500) pales in comparison to the Surface Pro 3.
So it can't be the router. Any other ideas? Are there some settings or drivers or driver settings that I may have neglected to set up properly?
Thanks...
Kieran

[cwinfield]

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surf ... 9364adc1b3

It appears that a firmware update caused slow wifi, the post suggests rolling back to the earlier wireless nic driver. Also just connecting a net top is not a way of refuting that it isn't the wifi. If you had a surface docking station and used Ethernet would. If it is not your wifi I would suggest your firewall or 3rd party software.

[Crash2009]

So I just disconnected the LAN line from my net-top HTPC, and connected via WiFi. It is playing HDTV via W7MC @ the HDHomeRun-Prime with zero problems; it's perfect, I can't tell the difference between a wired connection and WiFi. The hardware for this net-top (a Foxconn NT-A3500) pales in comparison to the Surface Pro 3.
So it can't be the router. Any other ideas? Are there some settings or drivers or driver settings that I may have neglected to set up properly?
Thanks...
Kieran

which one of your routers (4) wireless networks is the net top connecting to.

Have you tried giving each device their own lane? You have two or more 5ghz lanes. Reg 5.0 and guest 5.0

[cwinfield]

It looks like Microsoft gimped the wifi accidently with a botched update trying to improve battery life. There is still no update to fix but the best band aid appears to be uninstalling deleting the wifi adapter driver, downloading the update via ms download center http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download ... x?id=38826 , extracting the wireless nic driver from the exe, installing manually, then rebooting. It appears to affect all routers ac/n with Broadcom chipsets.

This fixed my issues with the WiFi Driver:

Download the Surface Pro 3 June Update:

Download Surface Pro 3, Surface Pro 2, and Surface Pro firmware and driver packs from Official Microsoft Download Center

For those who are having issues with WiFi, uninstall them and delete the drivers, reboot and allow the earlier drivers to install, then unzip the driver package and update to the June WLAN drivers and they are much more stable without the power drain of the original drivers....

It looks like the Windows Update Install had issues and the manual install seems to fix them... no 6 Mbps issue with now...

i got this from another thread and has fixed my problem. you should try these steps if you've exhausted all other methods.

Also this:

Enable Hyper-V to expose advanced power options settings, restart, open power options, click change plan settings, click advanced settings, expand wireless adapter power settings, change to max performance. Disable Hyper-V and restart. Now connects everytime and fixes connection speed display

[Crash2009]

Scandalous. Great job CW.

[Kieran]

Thanks for the great post, CW. I will try your suggestions over the next few days and report back.

In my own defense, I didn't say "it can't be the wifi" I said, "it can't be the router." I think that by establishing LiveTV played perfectly on another WiFi device in the house, that meant the router was doing it's job sufficiently. I fully suspected that it might be either wifi drivers on the Surface, or graphics drivers on the Surface, or settings of either or both of those hardware's drivers.

One more question: you wrote,

Also this:

Enable Hyper-V to expose advanced power options settings, restart, open power options, click change plan settings, click advanced settings, expand wireless adapter power settings, change to max performance. Disable Hyper-V and restart. Now connects everytime and fixes connection speed display

Is this something I should try after rolling back the drivers per your instructions, or before?

Thanks again,
Kieran

[cwinfield]

I would start by just uninstalling, deleting, trying the older 4/XX/14 dated drivers, reboot, see if it fixes it, if not then try the june update driver instructions, see if it fixes it, last I would try the power options.

P.S. I was not trying to be over critical in your troubleshooting, just trying to help you fix your problem. Many times people think just because X works then it must be Y but actually it is Z.

[jfreiman]

While not 100% artifact free, I am able to watch live HD sports programming from my InfiniTV6 ETH to my Dell Venue 8 Pro tablet - wirelessly, of course.

Recorded shows play 100% error fee. Skipping and changing channels is slow - as is expected.

My point is, if my tiny (and cheap) tablet can stream live and HDTV, the Surface Pro should be able to as well - except for protected content since DP isn't supported by WMC (unless things have changed since I last checked).

Ceton InfiniTV6 ETH
Netgear R7000
Dell Venue 8 Pro w/Pro Media Center

BTW, I had to modify the Windows 7 32 bit Ceton drivers to install on the 32 bit Windows 8, but everything works well enough.

Well enough - to watch TV from my kitchen or bedroom. I don't use the streaming/live tv feature all that often, but I do use it to playback recorded shows when I'm away from my home (and don't have time or want to convert with MC Buddy).

[mbze430]

I have a HD Homerun Prime... it's because the feed coming out from the HD Prime is full uncompressed MPEG. there is no compression done on the HD Prime. Even the best of the N class router isn't going to be able to keep up that feed. I have an AC router, even then it skips once in awhile. I have a RT-AC66U and a WZR-D1800H.

[Roginator]

I watch TV upstairs wirelessly through an XBox 360 extender. Seems to work fine. Maybe I just have a good router or a very short distance (about 10' through one floor)

[richard1980]

For what it's worth: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/01/wifi ... reception/

[Rainey]

From what I understand the new surface pro 3 has a HDCP problem, the display is a "Display Port" connection for the internal display and is not supported by Play ready at this time. If you connect an external TV to the HDMI port it will work fine.

Slim chance Microsoft will fix it or add the SP3 to the playready list of supported devices as WMC is not being updated.

[Scallica]

Slim chance Microsoft will fix it or add the SP3 to the playready list of supported devices as WMC is not being updated.

You're almost correct. There is no "list of supported devices". However, there is a list of connections that support HDCP, and at this time, only HDMI is on the list. While DisplayPort supports HDCP, Microsoft has not updated WMC/PlayReady to recognize DisplayPort as an interface that supports HDCP.

Also, the Surface Pro 3 does not have an HDMI port; it has a mini DisplayPort.

[richard1980]

Also, the Surface Pro 3 does not have an HDMI port; it has a mini DisplayPort.

Which just means an adapter is required to get to HDMI.

[deihmos]

The Surface does not use HDMI and that problem has existed forever. The surface would not be able to play any copy once channels either. It is something to do with the HDCP hand shake and the way around it is to resize the window.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2392252/en-us