Hacking Windows 7 Media Center

Adding ATSC to Windows 7 Media Center

by Michael Healy @ 3:27 pm on January 27th, 2009 in Atsc\ClearQAM, tv listings with 2 Comments

Peter Near’s blog has a post on adding ATSC support to your Media Center box:

First, some background. Like the United States, Canada has decided to transition all television broadcasts from analog to digital. These new digital signals have greater effective range, provide a crystal-clear high definition picture, and as with all over the air network TV broadcasts are free and legal to access. It’s worth noting that over the air signals represent the best high-definition picture quality you can get for network television – better than cable and much better than satellite. While high definition is available for a fee via cable and satellite, those high definition channels are subject to ever-increasing compression and picture quality degradation as they try to squeeze more and more content into your subscription. And unlike cable and satellite, over the air broadcasts are not encrypted and can be easily incorporated into a Media Center setup, copied over to your iPod, and are generally easy to use. The United States has nearly completed their digital transition, and will be shutting down the analog broadcasts in February 2009. Canada is well into its transition, with most major markets now broadcasting in digital and 100% of the country switching over to digital by 2011 before we shut down our analog transmitters. Here in Toronto, I can get access to every major US and Canadian network in full high-definition glory using a $40 antenna that I put in my attic.

You can find the rest of the post where you’ll be taken through adding ATSC to 7MC using a SiliconDust HDHomerun (a popular clearQAM and ATSC tuner) over on his blog at The Green Button.

2 Comments


Anonymous
Comment #4629 from Anonymous [Reply]

I’ve already set up Qam channels (4 hrs worth) and now would like to add ATSC. Will this method retain my Qam configuration and listings (including my manual edits)? If not, is there a way to add ATSC channels without disrupting existing Qam channels?

Comment left November 7, 2009 at 5:25 pm Permanent Link

Pat
Comment #7088 from Pat [Reply]

Is an internet connection required to get EPG guide data? I can’t seem to get Windows 7 Media Center to get OTA EPG. Also, it didn’t find any VHF channels on auto scan, but did on a manual scan. This is a fresh new install with no other software loaded other than Win7 Pro.

Comment left January 25, 2010 at 5:26 pm Permanent Link

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