We Got Served

Ian Dixon over at The Digital Lifestyle has discovered the release of two new updates for Windows Media Center, KB981129 and KB981130, which fix problems with TV Tuners locking up and a low bit rate overlay with analogue tuners.

I’ve experienced the first issue from time to time, which is generally fixable with a reboot, but I’m hoping the patch sorts the problem out once and for all.

Update for Windows 7 (KB981129)

Description

This update fixes addresses a deadlock issue that can occur when using a TV tuner in Windows Media Center.  With frequent, fast channel changes (channel surfing), the following symptoms occur:

· You receive a tuner conflict error when there is no apparent conflict

· You receive no tuner available message when there are available tuners

· The Windows Media Center Receiver Service stops responding

There may be other causes of these symptoms unrelated to this fix.  For example, these symptoms may the current state of TV tuners or malfunctioning hardware.

Update for Microsoft Windows 7 (KB981130)

Description

On Windows 7 Media Center systems with analog tuner(s), customers may encounter low bit rate overlays.

The mechanism Windows 7 Media Center uses to monitor bit rate (signal) strength is overly sensitive in some scenarios, resulting in false detection of a low bit rate which triggers an overlay.  This update addresses how Windows 7 Media Center monitors the bit rate on systems with analog tuners.