If Windows Media Center finishes recording an HDTV program while
simultaneously recording an Analog program, the Analog recording fails. Media
Center is then no longer able to display Live TV or record subsequent
programs using either HDTV or Analog signals. It requires a PC reboot to
restore functionality in Media Center. This problem does NOT occur if Media
Center finishes recording an Analog program while simultaneously recording an
HDTV program. The result is that any time Media Center is scheduled to record
an HDTV program that ends before a simultaneously recorded Analog programs
ends, all subsequent programs fail to record. This problem occurs when either
manually recording programs or if Media Center is automatically recording
scheduled programs. I am using a VisionTek/ATI TV Wonder 650 Combo USB tuner
with Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit.
Steps to reproduce:
1. In Windows Media Center, start recording an HDTV program.
2. Start recording an Analog program.
3. Stop recording the HDTV program.
4. Stop playing the HDTV channel.
4. Windows Media Center displays the error "Recording Failed To Start:
Windows Media Center has encountered an error and is unable to record <name
of Analog program>. Please restart the computer and then reschedule the
recording."
5. Select any Analog channel in Live TV.
6. Windows Media Center displays the error "Tuner Not Available: The tuner
is currently in use by another application or is not working. Please close
all other applications, restart Windows Media Center, and then try again."
7. Select any HDTV channel in Live TV.
8. Windows Media Center displays the error "No TV Signal: There is currently
no TV signal detected for this channel. The channel may be temporarily
off-the-air, or you may need to adjust or reconnect your TV antenna."
5. Reboot PC.
6. Viewing Live TV and recording shows works normally in Windows Media
Center for both Analog and HDTV signals (until the initial condition
described above occurs again).
This problem can be reliably reproduced every time the above steps are
followed.
The tuner's "ATI Unified AVStream Driver" listed in Device Manager reports
it is working normally at all times.
I am using an antenna for the HDTV signal and a cable signal for Analog. The
cable signal is connected to the TV Wonder using S-Video from a cable box.
Hardware Configuration:
EVGA e-GeForce 8600 GTS video card
EVGA nForce 680i SLI motherboard
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor
2GB RAM (two 1GB Patriot memory sticks)
VisionTek ATI TV Wonder 650 tuner
Software Configuration:
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit
Windows Media Center 6.0.6001.18000 (longhorn_rtm.080118-1840)
ATI Catalyst 8.3
nVidia Forceware video driver 169.25
nVidia nForce chipset driver 15.08
I've pursued this issue with both ATI/AMD and VisionTek. ATI says the
problem is with Windows Media Center. VisionTek has been unresponsive. This
problem has persisted through several tuner driver upgrades and Vista
updates. I am using the most recent drivers and Vista updates. Any
suggestions for resolving this?