Well a few months ago I wanted to get Windows Media Center Edition on my computer. So I went out and bought my WinTV PVR-250 and a nVidia FX5200. Then came my perdictament. I installed Media Center Edition but when I would go to watch TV it would SPAZ! So I looked online for a while and had a quite a problem, I COULDN'T FIND A GUIDE TO FIX IT! And I ended up doing it myself. So you know what? I thought I'd make one for anyone having the same problem! And here we go.
Step 1 - Hardware
Put in your DVR and video card BUT don't install the drivers for the DVR!!!
Step 2 - Operating System
Get a hold of a Windows XP Media Center Edition installation disk and install it. Just boot from disk to do a fresh install or upgrade from your previous version of Windows.
Step 3 - Drivers
Here is all available drivers to make your card compatible with MCE. Download the correct one!
Driver for Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 250/250MCE/350/Freestyle
Ver 1.14.20283.605 All card 250/350/Freestyle board 10/10/2002
Ver 1.16.11.21022 All card 250/350/Freestyle board 1/22/2003
Ver 1.17.110.21050 All card 250/350/Freestyle board 2/20/2003
Ver 1.17.110.21050 WHQL Freestyle board 2/20/2003
Ver 1.17.250.21108 All card 250/350/Freestyle board 4/18/2003
Ver 1.17.250.21126 All card 250/350/Freestyle board 5/6/2003
Ver 1.17.250.21176 All card 250/350/Freestyle board 6/26/2003
Ver 1.17.270.21197 All card 250/350/Freestyle board 7/16/2003
Ver 1.17.270.21212 WHQL All card 250/350/Freestyle board 8/11/2003
Ver 1.17.390.21261 WHQL All card 250/350/Freestyle board 9/25/2003
Ver 1.17.390.22029 WHQL All card 250/350/Freestyle board 2/2/2004
Driver for Hauppauge WinTV-PVR USB2 and OEM
Ver 2.52.1.21268 9/25/2003
Ver 2.52.1.21272 9/29/2003
Ver 2.52.1.21276 10/7/2003
Ver 2.52.1.21321 11/13/2003
Ver 2.52.1.21329 11/24/2003
Ver 2.52.1.21346 12/12/2003
Ver 2.52.1.21351 12/18/2004
Ver 2.52.1.22083 3/23/2004
Driver for Hauppauge WinTV-PVR Roslyn (Model 28xxx Only)
Ver 2.92.21350 12/16/2003
Ver 2.96.22090 4/5/2004
Installation Instructions
Driver for AverMedia M150 AVerTV PVR OEM
Ver 1.0.3.21 WHQL 10/20/2003
Ver 1.0.3.25 WHQL 11/05/2003
Ver 1.0.3.26 WHQL 11/15/2003
Ver 1.0.3.31 WHQL 02/06/2004
Driver for AverMedia M172 AVerTV PVR OEM
Ver 1.0.3.6 WHQL 10/09/2003
Driver for AverMedia M179 AVerTV PVR OEM
Ver 1.1.0.1 4/15/2003
ATI eHome Wonder
Ver 1.17.24.200 10/08/2003
nVidia MCE TV
Ver 1.0.0.26 8/8/2003
Step 4 - Driver Installation
Now after you've downloaded it, extract to somewhere you know it will be (Desktop is probably best), and goto Start - Control Panel - Printers and Other Hardware - Add Hardware. Click Next, it will search for it, after that click the bubble for "Install the hardware that I manually select from a list (Advanced)", press Next, press Next again, click "Have Disk...", click "Browse..." and goto the location you extracted the drivers to, open them, select the one that says "(Encode/Decoder)", Click next, click Next again, it installes, AND ITS DONE! Now go into Media Center and set it up!
EXTRAS!
Tips
Cyberlink Power Director v 3.0 is now providing import
“Recorded TV” for *.dvr-ms file format and automatically
convert them to *.mpg format for editing, etc, etc so
you XP Media Center user may want check this out.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Please keep mind that Windows Media Center wasn't made for PAL Video.
WARNING! nVidia add macrovision protection start with 41.09 drv and up
you should be ok GF4 but older GF2 and GF3 that have S-Video/Composite
output you may run in to problem with it if has card as BT868 or CX25870
TV encoder which do not support Macrovision and there one other problem
the Xcard and VIP port don't display any video with drv higher then 40.72.
Q: Where can I get Windows XP Media Center Edition
A: MSDN if really lucky and have acc to it or you have buy a with OEM system
that come Windows XP Media Center Edition.
Q: What do I need for it all this to work?.
A: Windows Media Center need a SPECIFIC Hardware Base MPEG-2 capture card.
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 250 (Where to buy check with your PC loacl store)
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR Roslyn Model 28xxx (Where to buy eBay, Shop1, Shop2)
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 250MCE Model 32xxx (Where to buy Shop)
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 350 (Where to buy check with your loacl PC store)
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR Freestyle (Where to buy eBay)
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR2 USB (Where to buy check with your loacl PC store)
AverMedia M150 AVerTV PVR (Where to buy Shop)
AverMedia M179 AVerTV PVR (Where to buy Shop)
Emuzed Maui II PCI PVR (Where to buy OEM Only)
Emuzed Maui III PCI PVR (Where to buy OEM Only)
ATI E-Home Wonder (Where to buy Shop1, Shop2, Shop3)
nVidia MCE TV PCI Tuner (Where to buy OEM Only)
Provideo Multimedia PV-258 (Direct from Provideo unless they have an appointed distributor in you area)
Provideo Multimedia PV-259 (Direct from Provideo unless they have an appointed distributor in you area)
You also need the:
Philips OEM MCE Remote Control IR Blasters/Receiver.
Newegg $33 also try eBay
HP brand Remote Control and IR Blasters/Receiver
RCM-RCVR-I/R SNOWBALL W/EMITTER EPC
$55.00 (ea)
Part #: 5187-2503
RCM-REMOTE CONTROL FOR FREESTYLE
$12.50 (ea)
Part #: 5187-1951
HP Spare Parts Store
You As need nVidia GeForce or ATI Radeon "NoN AIW" Video card.
Here one stop shop web site CnetPC they have it all
Philips OEM brand remote control and ir blasters/receiver $47
or you want $635 you can get this AMD XP2200 XPC System ready to run.
Q: I have new Model 28xxx board but dosen't work with any other 3rdparty
software tools like BeyondTV or SageTV why that?.
A: This new Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 250MCE OEM (Roslyn) model 28xxx base on
Conexant BlackBird Design so plases keep in mind that no budddy support
this other then Windows Media Center Edition rigth now.
Q: After upgrade my motherboard and processor my OEM PVR-250 card no longer
works rigth but worked flawlessly with previously setup why that?.
A: Sound like your motherboard dosen't support PCI bus 3.3volts they are
specifics specs for OEM Manufacturer like Gateway, Viewsonic etc, etc or
your having a power supply problem.
Q: I having problem getting MCE to display video what wrong?.
A: Since XP doesn't come with MPEG-2 codec you need install one fellowing
nVidia nVDVD or InterVideo WinDVD MPEG-2 decoder which seems work the best.
Q: But I'm still have same problem no matter what I do.
A: If you new style WinTV-PVR 250 that come with a Conexant CX23416 MPEG
encoder you need use the 1.17.110.21050 drv or higher being the old set of
drv didn't support CX23416 chipset at that time sorry.
Some eles it could be the Video card you using.
Q: How can tell which Hauppauge WinTV-PVR I have
A: Here how you tell just by looking at the tuner should be label with number
like 48xxx or 32xxx
WinTV-PVR 250 Retail board
48xxx Rev1 It come with Composite to S-Video connector adapter.
48xxx Rev2 It come with a REAL Composite input port.
32xxx Rev3 It chip should be label Conexant CX23416.
Hauppauge Freestyle OEM board
48xxx Rev1 It has no IR port.
32xxx Rev2 It chip should be label Conexant CX23416 and has no IR port.
28xxx Rev2 It Dual chip design should be label Conexant CX23880/CX23416
and has no IR port.
Q: Can I use WinTV2000 or some other 3rdparty Application and still keep my
Windows Media Center?.
A: Yes you can but need make sure you turn off MCE first.
This below hack is only useful for the older drivers other then that most of
the 3rdparty Application should work now of the box now.
You need to find the in the windows\inf\ folder open each oem(x).inf
intell you find the rigth INF and you need to edit it.
Look for
;AddInterface={19689BF6-C384-48fd-AD51-90E58C79F70B},%p2.Encoder%,VideoEncoder,
remove the ";" line so look like this
AddInterface={19689BF6-C384-48fd-AD51-90E58C79F70B},%p2.Encoder%,VideoEncoder,
Del matching oem(x).PNF file
Remove the card from device manager reboot.
Driver 1.17.250.21108 or lower
If you haven't install the drv just edit hcwpvrp2.inf first then install the
drv, Most 3rdpart tool should work after this done like SageTV, SageRecorder,
ViewPVR250, etc, etc But in order to get WinTV2000 to work you need install
reg driver web update and WinTV-PVR soft MPEG decoder drv in order for
WinTV2000 to run.
You need this below and install by number list below.
1: WinTV-PVR 250/350 Drivers 1.7.21177 or higher
2: WinTV32/2000 4.00.21126 or higher
3: WinTV-PVR MPEG Software Decoder 4.0.21154 or higher
Driver 1.17.250.21126 or higher
1: WinTV-PVR 250/350 Drivers 1.7.21177 or higher
2: WinTV32/2000 4.00.21126 or higher
3: WinTV-PVR MPEG Software Decoder 4.0.21154 or higher
3rdparty Media Center Edition Application:
MCE WebGuide
MS-DVR to MPEG2 Ripper
Jeff Griffin MCE Tools
Media Center Remote
Forum and Other site:
SHSPVR Forum
The Green Button
xpMCE
If you need any help I can be reached at the following:
AIM: MHerm88
MSN: MHerm88@hotmail.com
Email: MHerm88@hotmail.com
