I too downloaded and tried media portal. Although it did detect my tuner, it still would not see any video input at all. also, the portal is very complex to set up, and I found it buggy. the main question is: if this thing WILL NOT work as intended, per dell's own manual, then why are they selling the product?
I paid a huge sum for this lap top, and it should work perfect, out of the box, with all the options in it.
I also tried the avermedia media center >> no go. I dont understand the media centers persistance on setting up the IR, which is for remote control only? its a conspiracy to sell more products that i dont need, like an IR blaster or something. All I want is to hook my Direct Tv box to the tuner in the lap top, thus, Watch Tv while i work, and i have the Direct tv remote to change channels. very simple. (apparently , not that simple). nonetheless, if IR kit is a must, then it should be disclosed by dell, and / or included with the laptop.
the problem, is microsoft's media center, and what media center is looking for. can be easily fixed and made "human friendly" by Ms, but again, why should they bother.
My issue was setting up the tv tuner to work with incoming signal from a direct tv set top box, where i can actually see the channel reception, but then i get an error at the end " IR hardware not detected". media center WILL NOT skip that step. Also, even with most IR blasters we will still get that error, as you may know, they do not have software drivers, thus MC will not see it anyway. of course there is one that is usb / software driven, and yes it is sold by MS.
1-) to avoid that: went through the set up, after it searched for signal: click "i will manually configure etc.." >> choose what ever box you have. Satellite or cable. then it will look for specific reception on channels 2, 3, or 4. Note which channel your reception is at, and you WILL get reception.
After that, it will fail, by the IR hardware issue. 2-) Now, repeat the set up. Do the same thing >> "I will manually configure ...". choose "antenna" and analog.
follow the procedure, clicking no on any additional set ups, or downloads. Go back to Tasks, Setup TV, >> GUIDE. Add channel. Now add the channel that you had signal ON. go to live TV, switch to that channel (2, 3, 4) and you will get TV. done. come to think of it, you can avoid step one, and just add channels, 2, 3 and 4, and one of which will work anyway. Mine is. Good luck
I had the same problem with my card and upon receiving a replacement I opened up my laptop to find that the dopes at the factory didn't hook up the coax lead to the card. I wasted hours on the phone with customer service to find out my problem (there was a language barrier) only to figure out the problem myself.
HI all, I got a new xps 17 and the TV tuner media center not pick up any chanels at all.
I briefly spoke to Dell (Aust) support, suggesting that the internal connection of the tv card to the antenna socket was to blame as others have had that problem. They put me on hold for about 5 mins, persumably looking up solutions, but then organised to send out a technician.
The service guy rang the following day and arranged a time, and he connected it up with no fuss.
While it was a shame it didn't work out of the box, it works fine now.
piker79
3 Posts
0
December 21st, 2011 20:00
Thanks Pierre
I too downloaded and tried media portal. Although it did detect my tuner, it still would not see any video input at all. also, the portal is very complex to set up, and I found it buggy. the main question is: if this thing WILL NOT work as intended, per dell's own manual, then why are they selling the product?
I paid a huge sum for this lap top, and it should work perfect, out of the box, with all the options in it.
I also tried the avermedia media center >> no go. I dont understand the media centers persistance on setting up the IR, which is for remote control only? its a conspiracy to sell more products that i dont need, like an IR blaster or something. All I want is to hook my Direct Tv box to the tuner in the lap top, thus, Watch Tv while i work, and i have the Direct tv remote to change channels. very simple. (apparently , not that simple). nonetheless, if IR kit is a must, then it should be disclosed by dell, and / or included with the laptop.
Pierre_C
5 Posts
0
December 21st, 2011 20:00
I didn't have the ATSC tuner work with Windows Media Player but it worked with Media Portal
www.team-mediaportal.com/
piker79
3 Posts
0
December 22nd, 2011 10:00
A solution finally.
ok dell, avermedia, i take it back..
the problem, is microsoft's media center, and what media center is looking for. can be easily fixed and made "human friendly" by Ms, but again, why should they bother.
My issue was setting up the tv tuner to work with incoming signal from a direct tv set top box, where i can actually see the channel reception, but then i get an error at the end " IR hardware not detected". media center WILL NOT skip that step. Also, even with most IR blasters we will still get that error, as you may know, they do not have software drivers, thus MC will not see it anyway. of course there is one that is usb / software driven, and yes it is sold by MS.
1-) to avoid that: went through the set up, after it searched for signal: click "i will manually configure etc.." >> choose what ever box you have. Satellite or cable. then it will look for specific reception on channels 2, 3, or 4. Note which channel your reception is at, and you WILL get reception.
After that, it will fail, by the IR hardware issue. 2-) Now, repeat the set up. Do the same thing >> "I will manually configure ...". choose "antenna" and analog.
follow the procedure, clicking no on any additional set ups, or downloads. Go back to Tasks, Setup TV, >> GUIDE. Add channel. Now add the channel that you had signal ON. go to live TV, switch to that channel (2, 3, 4) and you will get TV. done. come to think of it, you can avoid step one, and just add channels, 2, 3 and 4, and one of which will work anyway. Mine is. Good luck
mochelle
1 Message
0
February 13th, 2012 22:00
I had the same problem with my card and upon receiving a replacement I opened up my laptop to find that the dopes at the factory didn't hook up the coax lead to the card. I wasted hours on the phone with customer service to find out my problem (there was a language barrier) only to figure out the problem myself.
Gove
3 Posts
0
May 8th, 2012 01:00
HI all, I got a new xps 17 and the TV tuner media center not pick up any chanels at all.
I briefly spoke to Dell (Aust) support, suggesting that the internal connection of the tv card to the antenna socket was to blame as others have had that problem. They put me on hold for about 5 mins, persumably looking up solutions, but then organised to send out a technician.
The service guy rang the following day and arranged a time, and he connected it up with no fuss.
While it was a shame it didn't work out of the box, it works fine now.
Gove