Twelve Tips to Troubleshoot Your Tuner

If your PC displays a jerky picture or no picture when displaying HDTV, note the troubleshooting ideas listed below. They've been put in order of the simplest fix to the most complex.

  1. Check the signal strength, your situation may require a better antenna (see antenna tips ) or it may need to be repositioned.

  2. Try lowering the resolution settings of the graphics card.

  3. Check for hardware interrupt (IRQ) conflicts. Go to: all programs>accessories>system tools>system information, click. Then click "+" to expand Hardware resources and select Conflicts/Sharing. See if the tuner is sharing an IRQ with a different process. If so, move the card to a different slot.

  4. Download & install the latest drivers for the video card and the most current software for the HDTV tuner.

  5. Check the processor utilization (ctrl-alt-del then select performance) while you're watching a program. If it hits 100%, you'll get a jerky picture. This indicates it's most likely is a decoder issue. Either the graphics card is not DirectX 9.0 compatible or the decoders are not working properly (see #12 below)

  6. If the problem occurs only when you're recording, check the hard drive settings. The setting must be must be ultra DMA, and also try defragging the hard drive.

  7. Try temporarily disabling the virus scanner, and run the HDTV application. If this resolves the problem, consult customer support for the anti-virus software.

  8. If you have an AGP video card, try disabling the fast-write in the BIOS, if it’s an option.

  9. Disable Multi-threading if you have a Pentium with HT (Hyperthread) Technology. This can be done through the system BIOS menu.

  10. Ensure your XP operating system has been upgraded to Service Pack 2. If you're not sure, go to: Control Panel>System. You should see Service Pack 2 listed under the System Information if it's installed.

  11. Re-seat the tuner card and/or try a different PCI slot.

  12. Check the installed video decoders. To do this, download & install the MCE video decoder checkup utility. The download link is here. Then run the utility, which will display all loaded video decoders. There should be at least one with a green check in the MCE Compatible column. If not, you'll need to install a video decoder. Click here for a list of decoders that can be purchased and their associated URL's. You might want to review the decoders explained page.
If none of these tips are helpful, go to the AVS Forum and post your specific problem. Fortunately, it seems there's always someone who can help.


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