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[DocLotus]

Don't know if it's my imagination or not but, here goes...

I have almost always had some sort of problems with MC TV going back to version 17; this includes running on various Windows hardware including Intel & AMD CPU's.

I have had so many TV tuners I've lost count.
 
Recently I've had installed on my Windows 10 laptop FOUR different TV software programs AT THE SAME TIME... MC TV, HD Homerun, WinTV 10, & NextPVR.

You may rightfully ask WHY ?

The answer is simple, when I buy a new tuner I install the software for it in hopes of bypassing the many problems I've had with MC TV.

I would disable MC TV for awhile & use one of the other TV programs. But, as I really like MC TV from a user standpoint, I would usually, after awhile, return to MC TV & force myself to resolve the current problem.

But I've also noticed that little problems would eventually crop up in almost all of the other TV programs, sometimes similar to what I've experienced with MC TV, other times entirely different problems.

So, I made a decision to completely uninstall all the other TV programs & see what would happen with MC TV at that point.

This is the point where my imagination may be playing tricks on me & where I could use some of your expert advice.

So the question is...
Does having other TV programs installed on the same computer as MC TV cause interference problems with each other ?

After uninstalling all the other TV programs everything with MC TV seems to (that's my imagination part) running much better.

So, is it my imagination or not ?

What do you guys think

[RoderickGI]

Does having other TV programs installed on the same computer as MC TV cause interference problems with each other ?

Yes.

Particularly if those other programs are trying to collect EPG data, or running any background services at all that touch the tuners. As you have been using the other software it is likely that some processes were still running and using the tuners. WMC interfered, even when supposedly completely turned off. Which is why it was recommended it be uninstalled. Some people do, or did, run both together, but used separate not shared tuners.

You need the manufacturer's software for setup, and that is all, for some brands.

[DocLotus]

Thanks for the reply; you just confirmed what was going through my mind 

Yes, I've noticed that many times all six of my tuners were in service but only 2 or 3 channels were being recorded by MC TV. Found that programs were being recorded by multiple TV programs at the same time such as MC TV, WinTV 10, HD Homerun & NextPVR. Yep... I did set up recording for all of them (over time).

Have also had EPG sluggishness problems as MC TV, WinTV10, HD Homerun & NextPVR were all set up to download EPG data.

Seems that "I" yes, "Me" may be the real source of the weird TV problems by setting up recordings & EPG data downloads on multiple TV programs for the same times. That would absolutely account for the sky-high TV tuner usage. This happened because I set up TV recordings on other tuners a long time ago & simply forgot about them. The same channels were also set to record on MC TV.

"Operator Error" may very well be the source of most of the problems.

By the way, I've removed ALL other TV tuner software & MC seems to be working well. Software the was uninstalled is WinTV10, HD Homerun & NextPVR.

This may also account for the weird slow-downs I've often experienced in MC TV as so many resources would be going to the many recordings going on at the same time between the multiple tuners.

Once again thanks for the advice.

[DocLotus]

By the way, I've had another long-standing problem with TV tuners not being released after recordings stop. Uninstalling all the other three tuners seems to have also solved that one as well as tuners are now becoming available after recordings come to an end.

Boy-oh-boy... it's looking better & better

[RoderickGI]

Excellent.

Just be aware that I think you need the HD Homerun software to set up their tuners. You need to set a "JRiver Mode" I believe. But I don't use them, so I'm not sure. No doubt Yaobings excellent Wiki articles and threads on the topic would explain. It might only be required for HD Homerun Prime tuners. This: https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/TV_Tuners#HDHomeRun

But if you do reinstall their software, just make sure that no EPG, Channels, recordings, or any other stuff is set up, and just use the configuration functions for the tuners.

[DocLotus]

I'm aware of all that, had been using the HD Homerun for about two years. The reason I uninstalled the HD Homerun hardware & software is because I've had a lot of problems with the hardware (may be a bad power supply).

I'm currently using only 6 Hauppauge tuners... one WinTV-dualHD USB & one WinTV-quadHD USB for a total of 6 tuners. They seem to work well plus I have only one brand to keep track of. They don't require the WinTV software to be installed for them to work with MCTV... I like that. Channel scan and all other functions work correctly in MCTV without the WinTV software.

[DocLotus]

Just be aware that I think you need the HD Homerun software to set up their tuners. You need to set a "JRiver Mode" I believe. But I don't use them, so I'm not sure. No doubt Yaobings excellent Wiki articles and threads on the topic would explain. It might only be required for HD Homerun Prime tuners. This: https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/TV_Tuners#HDHomeRun

It's... J River Media Center under... Configuration BDA Compatibility Mode.

But if you do reinstall their software, just make sure that no EPG, Channels, recordings, or any other stuff is set up, and just use the configuration functions for the tuners.

Don't need the TV Software at all... only the HDHomeRun Setup program (for Windows) is needed to get HDHomeRun TV tuners to show up in JR TV Setup Manage Devices window. Channel scanning was flawless.

As an experiment, I reinstalled BOTH the HDHomeRun TV program software (App from the Windows Store) and the HDHomeRun Setup (for Windows 10) program. JR TV was somewhat flaky with the HDHomeRun App installed. JR TV was very sluggish when I changed from TV to Music (Audio); plus I got a lot of weird screen jumping & sometimes hanging up. Uninstalling the HDHomeRun App resolved all those problems.

[DocLotus]

I got to thinking that all my problems with my HDHomeRun Connect Quatro tuner might really be conflicts between all the other tuners I had installed on the same computer at the same time. So I reconnected the HDHomeRun Connect Quatro (with all the other TV tuner software uninstalled) & guess what? It seems to be running perfectly.

So now I have 8 TV tuners running properly.

Boy-oh-boy, program conflicts can be so much fun 😂