Installing WinTV-HVR-2250 MP 1.1.1 and Win 7 Clean install... (2 Viewers)

[nzdreamer55]

Hello everyone,

I just ordered a WinTV-HVR-2250 card to install on a clean install of win 7. This is the retail version and included software and a remote for WMC. I am in the united states and only get an analog signal via my cable company (I know I live in the dark ages I know that when I put the card into the PCIe slot, Windows 7 will start to install drivers for the card, but I don't know if it will install everything that I need to use it with MP.

Questions:

1) Will I need to install any software that comes with the card from Hauppauge to watch TV?

2) Will I need to install any software that comes with the card for Hauppauge to use the WMC remote in MP (from the web site: New feature! Now with on-board IR remote control with dual IR blasters for Windows Media Center!-love the exclamation point they throw in)?

3) I think that I will need a decoder to watch live TV (from the Hauppauge site:” The Media Center products from Hauppauge do not include an MPEG video decoder" and "Dual built-in hardware MPEG-2 encoders for recording analog cable TV, for the best system performance.") Is this something that is included with a fresh install of windows 7 or do I need to install something like SAF 4.0?

4) If this card has Dual built-in hardware MPEG-2 encoders for recording analog cable TV, does it need software installed to make those encoders work or should they work with standard drivers from windows 7?

5) Kind of off topic, but when I scan for channels, is there a way to limit how high MP scans? I know that I can only get up to channel 73 so can I tell MP to stop there?

6) I might be able to get digital OTA signals in the US, is there a way to connect this to a card that has only 1 coaxial cable input that does not involve a physical switch (like putting in a splitter then connecting to both cable and antenna, or some type of software controlled switch so the HTPC can decide how to record stuff).

7) I noticed that this card is not listed in the wiki as being supported, but I have seen several posters that list it in their systems. If any users have any tricks to setup this with windows 7 and MP I would love to hear them.


Thanks as always

Steve

 

[Andrew H]

You'll be fine... assuming you have the Win 7 HOME PREMIUM it has MCE included which has the decoders. They'll show up in your MP configuration after you get that far on the installation. Using the MCE remote/blaster should be easy as well... I'd guess you want to reference the Hauppauge website where they have a guide for installing the 2250 onto a MCE system. That should get all of the drivers loaded. You can allow Win-TV to load but you'll not use it. I don't use the blaster but the remote is easily configured in the MP-configuration application under REMOTE. Your 4) is easy - it's hardware encoding and just works. 5) don't worry with saving time - YES, you can adjust these parameters in the TV-Server application but what's monkeying around with it worth? 6) just get a coaxial splitter/combiner and connect the cable to one-half and an OTA antenna to the other half and feed the single to the 2250. You should be able to do OTA for your stations 9-miles to your North. Also, you should do ALL three scans: 1) analog, 2) OTA, & 3) Clear-QAM. You may be surprised how many ClearQAM channels are on your cable input! Don't worry with the wiki - it'll work like a champ! Spend a lot of time in the TV-Server application before you ever try the configuration application... lots to setup, map channels, PREVIEW them and test the Timeshifting button under Manual Control.

 

[Andrew H]

Steve -- a follow up to your PM... I use the ChannelMaster 4221 9 miles from my local towers and have excellent OTA reception even though I have it mounted high in my attic! They have a 4221HD version today that ships more compactly than the original... but at 9 miles from your locals (check Antennaweb.org and use your ZIP code) you should be fine with an unobstructed indoor one like the Zenith or Phillips Silver Sensor. I was helping a San Diego user on another forum and he's 35 miles away using an RCA model he found gets everything he needs!

As I mentioned, you may wind up with an antenna but do a Clear-QAM scan of your analog cable and see what it detects before you fool with an antenna!

 

[Wolen]

If you have separate video and audio output on your cable box, I would use that to connect to the TV Card's A/V inputs for the cable, and use just the antenna connectors for OTA reception, then use the Blaster to change the cable box. This way you won't have to worry about OTA degradation.