How to Set Up a TV Tuner for Your Media Center PC

Plug in the USB tuner or install the TV tuner card in your PC, then follow Windows Media Center's live TV setup walkthrough

What to Know

  • Decide whether to use a USB TV tuner or an internal, PCIe tuner card.
  • Then, plug in the USB tuner or open your computer and install the TV tuner card.
  • Open Windows Media Center, select Live TV Setup, and follow the on-screen setup directions.

Some consider home theater PCs (HTPCs) the best DVR solution available. You generally have more freedom and access to more content than with a cable or satellite DVR or TiVo. To make your HTPC life as easy as possible, let's walk through setting up a TV in Windows by installing a TV tuner in Windows Media Center.

Physical Installation

Media Center has been discontinued. The following information remains for reference. Check out our list of free Windows Media Center alternatives for other options.

When installing add-on cards to a computer, USB tuners are the easiest, as you simply plug it into any available USB port. If you're installing an internal tuner, shut down your PC, open the case, and connect the tuner to the appropriate slot. Once it's properly seated, button up the case and restart the PC.

Before jumping into Media Center, install the drivers for your new tuner. These are required for the PC to communicate with the tuner.

Start the Setup Process

Now that you've physically installed the tuner, you can get started on the fun part. Again, depending on the type of tuner you're installing, the screens you see might be a bit different, but these are the most typical.

Depending on the type of tuner you have, the process might be a bit different, but WMC recognizes ​tuners easily and almost always points you in the right direction.

  1. On the TV strip in Media Center, select the Live TV Setup entry.

    Media Center showing live TV setup
  2. Media Center determines if you have a TV tuner installed. Assuming you do, the setup continues. If not, Media Center informs you that you need to install one.

  3. Ensure that your region is accurate. Windows Media Center uses your IP address to determine your region, so this should be correct.

  4. Media Center prepares to provide you with guide data. After selecting your region, enter your zip code using a keyboard or a remote.

  5. The next two screens are licensing agreements regarding guide data and PlayReady, a Microsoft DRM scheme. Both are required to continue setup. After that, the PlayReady install proceeds, and WMC downloads TV setup data specific to your region.

    Media Center showing license agreement
  6. Once you've been through all of these screens, the app examines your TV signals. Again, depending on the type of tuner you installed, this might take some time.

  7. If Media Center fails to detect the correct signal, select No, show more options. You'll be presented with all the tuner options available to you.

  8. Select the proper signal type. If you have a set-top box that you received from your provider, select it to walk through a special setup.

    Media Center showing TV Signal Type
  9. If you're only installing one tuner, you can finish up the TV setup on the next screen. If you have more than one tuner, select Yes to go through the process again for each tuner.

  10. When you finish setting up the tuners, the next screen is a confirmation.

  11. After you receive your confirmation, Windows Media Center checks for PlayReady DRM updates, downloads your guide data, and presents you with a screen. Select Finished at the bottom of the screen.

    The Finish button
  12. That's it! You've successfully configured a tuner to work with Windows 7 Media Center. At this point, you can view live TV or use the guide to schedule program recordings. The guide provides 14 days' worth of data.

Microsoft made installing and configuring a TV tuner as simple as possible. Other than the occasional signal hiccup, each screen is self-explanatory. If you run into trouble, you can start over at any time.

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