Media Center Fails to Play BBC (UK) TV Stations

Steve C

Member
Power User
Messages
275
Location
UK
I have a WinFast USB TV dongle which until last month played all TV stations fine using Windows 8 Media Center.

For the past month, it has failed to display any BBC station. The dongle tunes to the correct station but I just get a black screen. I've retuned the stations several times to no avail.

Has anyone else experienced this problem or knows how to fix it?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 64 bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Build
    CPU
    Intel i3570K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-77X-UD5H
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Sapphire R9 280X Toxic
    Sound Card
    Realtek on motherboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Viewsonic VP2770
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1440
    Hard Drives
    Intel 520 180GB SSD
    Seagate 2T HDD
    Seagate external 1T USB HDD
    PSU
    XFX 850W
    Case
    Nanoxia Deep Silence 1
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-D14
    Keyboard
    Microsoft
    Mouse
    Microsoft
    Internet Speed
    50Mbps
    Browser
    Chrome
I have a WinFast USB TV dongle which until last month played all TV stations fine using Windows 8 Media Center.

For the past month, it has failed to display any BBC station. The dongle tunes to the correct station but I just get a black screen. I've retuned the stations several times to no avail.

Has anyone else experienced this problem or knows how to fix it?

Hi there

If this is FREEVIEW (Digital Terrestial TV) all the channels (or at least a lot of them) changed YESTERDAY Wed 03 Sept.

You might want to re-load / re-install and start the whole Channel tuning stuff again . For instance SKY NEWS is now on I think Channel 132 and not 82 like it used to be.

Analog TV I don't think is available any more regions in the UK (and in a lot of Europe too) so if you were using that it might have been switched off in your region recently - I'm sure there aren't any Analog TV regions in UK any more.

Another suggestion - if you want BBC TV why not use on the Internet the BBC iPlayer - if your broadband is fine you can get it at HD quality too.

Cheers
jimbo
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Linux Centos 7, W8.1, W7, W2K3 Server W10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 X LG 40 inch TV
    Hard Drives
    SSD's * 3 (Samsung 840 series) 250 GB
    2 X 3 TB sata
    5 X 1 TB sata
    Internet Speed
    0.12 GB/s (120Mb/s)
Do you get your channels from Hannington ?

If you do, do you have any options for manually adding channels, the main BBC channels are on channel 45

Not sure how media center works or if it has a manual tune option
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 3521
    CPU
    i5
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon
    Browser
    IE
It's a Freeview tuner using Rowridge. It tunes to the station e.g. BBC News on 130 but the screen is black. No problems tuning to ITV and other independent stations. I've started using Internet TV but I'm curious why this problem has appeared.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 64 bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Build
    CPU
    Intel i3570K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-77X-UD5H
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Sapphire R9 280X Toxic
    Sound Card
    Realtek on motherboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Viewsonic VP2770
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1440
    Hard Drives
    Intel 520 180GB SSD
    Seagate 2T HDD
    Seagate external 1T USB HDD
    PSU
    XFX 850W
    Case
    Nanoxia Deep Silence 1
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-D14
    Keyboard
    Microsoft
    Mouse
    Microsoft
    Internet Speed
    50Mbps
    Browser
    Chrome
Hi there

Might be the channel change isn't yet complete for your area. Does a "Physical Freeview" TV work for BBC .

Can you tune Manually -- could be the WMC has the guide hosed up too.

Cheers
jimbo
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Linux Centos 7, W8.1, W7, W2K3 Server W10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 X LG 40 inch TV
    Hard Drives
    SSD's * 3 (Samsung 840 series) 250 GB
    2 X 3 TB sata
    5 X 1 TB sata
    Internet Speed
    0.12 GB/s (120Mb/s)

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 3521
    CPU
    i5
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon
    Browser
    IE
The tuner has found all new stations e.g. BBC News on Channel 130 but the screen is blank for all BBC channels. I can't find any way of manually tuning Media Center to a particular frequency.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 64 bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Build
    CPU
    Intel i3570K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-77X-UD5H
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Sapphire R9 280X Toxic
    Sound Card
    Realtek on motherboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Viewsonic VP2770
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1440
    Hard Drives
    Intel 520 180GB SSD
    Seagate 2T HDD
    Seagate external 1T USB HDD
    PSU
    XFX 850W
    Case
    Nanoxia Deep Silence 1
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-D14
    Keyboard
    Microsoft
    Mouse
    Microsoft
    Internet Speed
    50Mbps
    Browser
    Chrome
Have a look to see if there is anyway to disable interactive features (red button), if there are problems with these it can give a blank screen (it might be trying to display a retune message which media center has issues with)

I am not aware of any actual changes to the broadcasting of channels, just a change of numbers for the childrens/news channels

last thought, do you have any of these channels duplicated higher up, at the end of the guide, it's 800+ on set top boxes/tvs but not sure for media center
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 3521
    CPU
    i5
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon
    Browser
    IE
Have a look to see if there is anyway to disable interactive features (red button), if there are problems with these it can give a blank screen (it might be trying to display a retune message which media center has issues with)

I am not aware of any actual changes to the broadcasting of channels, just a change of numbers for the childrens/news channels

last thought, do you have any of these channels duplicated higher up, at the end of the guide, it's 800+ on set top boxes/tvs but not sure for media center

Hi there.

There's a whole slew of new channels on FREEVIEW (UK) -- it's just possible that either the guide / channel info in WMC hasn't been updated yet - could take several weeks !!! or your hardware might not be able to handle some of the new frequencies.

I believe including Radio the number of channels has increased from about 80 to around 150 - most of which are totally unscrambled -- only B.T Sport 1 and B.T Sport 2 are scrambled and need a decoder to unscramble their programs.

Test with a "bog standard" terrestrial freeview TV or recorder -- use the same antenna - if you then can view the program on your TV then the hardware is not up to the job.

The only channel I get problems with is the CBS ACTION channel (Ch 90) - it just displays a TEXT page but the rest of the stuff works just fine - and that's through a VM. !!!! Hardware is an old Hauppage DVB-T stick !! which I'll throw away soon - but it's good to test this stuff out at times.

I'm currently on a contract in the UK in Manchester so using their channels -- no probs.

Cheers
jimbo
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Linux Centos 7, W8.1, W7, W2K3 Server W10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 X LG 40 inch TV
    Hard Drives
    SSD's * 3 (Samsung 840 series) 250 GB
    2 X 3 TB sata
    5 X 1 TB sata
    Internet Speed
    0.12 GB/s (120Mb/s)
I agree there are over 100 channels (a few new ones launching soon but not a huge number)

CBS Action hasn't launched yet which is why it is not working, launches 1st October

Frequencies have not changed for existing channels, the guide location numbers have changed

I don't know enough about how Media Center works, but the BBC channels are all on the same frequency as they always have been, all that changed this week is the guide number for Childrens/News channels to make extra space in the guide

BBC 1, BBC 2, BBC3, BBC4 have not changed at all
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 3521
    CPU
    i5
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon
    Browser
    IE
I've installed ProgDVB which I used to use on my old computer. This finds all 138 Freeview channels at maximum signal strength. There is nothing wrong with the TV tuner dongle or reception. Media Center still shows the BBC channel logo but shows a black screen for any BBC station. Very strange!

Perhaps I should uninstall and reinstall Media Center?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 64 bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Build
    CPU
    Intel i3570K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-77X-UD5H
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Sapphire R9 280X Toxic
    Sound Card
    Realtek on motherboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Viewsonic VP2770
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1440
    Hard Drives
    Intel 520 180GB SSD
    Seagate 2T HDD
    Seagate external 1T USB HDD
    PSU
    XFX 850W
    Case
    Nanoxia Deep Silence 1
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-D14
    Keyboard
    Microsoft
    Mouse
    Microsoft
    Internet Speed
    50Mbps
    Browser
    Chrome
Back
Top