Setup Live TV in Windows 7 Media Center with Hauppauge WinTV HVR 2250

andrew | March 9, 2010 | 1 Comment More

I have a pair of Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 2250 cards that work great with Windows 7 and my Comcast cable setup. Setting up a TV tuner card with Windows 7 Media center isn’t terribly difficult. Media Center does a pretty good job of walking you through the process, but, I did run into a few minor snags. Specifically, getting both “regular” cable and ClearQAM setup together can be a little confusing.

Note: If you pick up one of the 2250 cards online, be sure you get the one with the remote control if you want one. They also sell it without for a few bucks cheaper.

If you are following along but have a different card, your results and screens may differ a bit, but hopefully this will keep you going in the right direction.

Things you need:

You’ll need to have a TV tuner card, in this example, a Hauppauge WinTV HVR 2250, installed.
Some form of TV input like cable or satellite.
Windows 7 Media Center initial setup. (If you haven’t done this yet, no worries, I have a step by step setup you can follow. )

Installing the software and drivers

I strongly recommend you download the drivers from the website rather than using the CD that came with the card. You can go here to grab the latest software and drivers. If the link changes, you can just go to Hauppauge.com, click on Support, and look for the model 2250.

Ok, let’s get started.

Download and Save the latest driver and software installation.

Double click the downloaded .exe file and click “Next” on the Welcome screen.

Click “Next” on the following screen (Install location) and the installation process will proceed.

Select your language….

Click on Step 1: Install Drivers

The driver installation will proceed….

When finished, click on “Drivers have been updated successfully.” Note: This window may be hidden behind the initial installation window. If so, minimize the initial windows so you can see this window. Then, maximize it after you click the “click to exit” button below.

You should now see your tuner card listed under the Sound, video, and game controllers in Device Manager.

Setting Up Live TV in Media Center

Now, we are ready to open up Windows Media Center and configure it for live TV with the Hauppauge WinTV HVR 2250.

Open Media Center and go the the TV section. Scroll to the right and click on Live TV setup.

If you have physically installed a tuner card but get a message that no TV Tuner card was found, check the Device Manager(Start > Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Device Manager) to be sure your device is recognized and drivers are installed. If you followed along with the first few steps and installed the drivers, this won’t be an issue, but if it is, double check your device manager to ensure the TV tuner card is recognized and there are no issues.

Confirm your region. By default, Media Center will use the region you choose during the Windows 7 setup. If you need to change it, select No, I want to select a different region. If it’s correct, select Yes, use this region… and click Next.

Enter your Zip Code and click Next.

Agree to the Program Guide Terms of Service and click Next.

Agree to the Microsoft PlayReady EULA and click Next.

Microsoft PlayReady will proceed with it’s installation.

Windows 7 Media Center will then detect and display the tuner cards found in your system. Now, eveverything looks correct for my Hauppauge WinTv HVR 2250. However, from going through this process a few times, (I have a couple of these cards) I know that to get set up properly, I have to configure everything manually. Thus, I will select No, let me configure my TV signal manually and click Next.

Choose your signal type and click Next. I have cable through Comcast, so my choice is cable.

Then select whether or not you have a set top box from your service provider and click Next. I just have “regular” cable w/ no pay channels and set-top box, so I select No.

… and then the signal type. If you have just regular cable, choose Analog cable and click Next. If you want to setup both, don’t worry, we’re going to come back and configure the ClearQAM later.

Note: The Hauupauge WinTV HVR 2250 is a dual tuner card which allows you to setup regular and clearQAM. For those that aren’t familiar w/ clearQAM, it’s basically the HD/digital channels that the you can get without a converter box or special digital subscription. These are typically your local network stations. For example, with my digital TV tuner card, I can get NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, PBS, and a couple independent stations in HD without having to pay for a special package from my cable provider.

Here Media Center informs me that I have 2 tuners and can use both in Windows Media Center. I want to use both, so I leave them selected and click Next.

Next, select your signal provider. I gives me a few options based on my location. I select the one in my area that isn’t digital (since we selected regular cable and will setup digital next) and click Next.

Now, Media Center has finished setting up the regular cable signal and asks if I want to setup another signal. I want to get set up to also receive ClearQAM, so I select Yes and click Next.

Now, we will be going back though some of the previous steps, but choosing the Digital/QAM setup instead. Media Center provides you will the remaining options for your dual tuner. Click Next.

You’ll notice that this time around Media Center presents us with the options for ATSC/QAM tuners. Click Next.

This time around my options for “regular’ cable are gone (they’ve already be used during the first part of the setup) and I’m left with my digital options. I’ll select my provider and click Next.