windows Media Centre: Maximum ATSC Tuners

[sambat]

I have an existing Hauppauge HVR 1600 that can record a single digital channel using WMC or Beyond TV.
I added a Hauppauge HVR 2250.
It has dual ATSC tuners.
Beyond TV doesn't see it at all - still records from the 1600.
Windows Media Centre can record two channels at the same time using the new 2250.

Is two channels from two out of the three available, the maximum for WMC?

Edit:I can record three channels at the same time, but have to use two programs to do it.

[usually_quiet]

As I understand it, it should be possible to record from up to 4 of the 4 ATSC tuners permitted by Windows 7 Media Center, although some people still have problems getting it to work. Having a power saving mode turned on is one of the things that is supposed to cause problems. Another possibility is that some other software PVR program has control of the tuner, when multiple PVR programs are installed.

I know there is or was an issue with WMC not working for Canadian ATSC broadcasts. While there is a workaround, I don't know how it impacts the number of tuners that can be used at one time.

[sambat]

Where I live, there are no OTA Canadian broadcasts, so I'm wondering in what sense the reference is to "customers" - customers of WMC?

US customers will now be able to utilize two NTSC (analog) capture boards and two ATSC (digital) capture boards.

[usually_quiet]

The pre-Windows 7 versions of WMC only allowed 2 tuners of each type they were designed to use. I don't know how many "boards" people have managed to install in a Windows 7 PC in real life, but I think I have seen mention of more than 2.

Windows 7's Media Center permits 4 ATSC tuners, 4 NTSC tuners (or WMC-compatible analog capture devices), 4 QAM tuners and 4 digital cable tuners to be installed in a single PC. That is 16 tuners. I am certain not all of the 16 tuners allowed can be used at once unless they are network addressable and assigned to other PCs. However, I remember seeing reports from people using 4 ATSC or 4 digital cable tuners for recording or viewing at one time using 1 PC.

There is software known as "Tuner Salad" that may help you with WMC. It was something I read about for Vista's Media Center, but I would not have expected it to be necessary using Windows 7 and just 3 ATSC tuners.

[sambat]

Thank you for the information - it fixed it.
I ran the older, free version of TunerSalad (Max 8 tuners) and rescanned in WMC and it picked up the third ATSC tuner.
I can record three at once using WMC.
It would be interesting to know if it's a 'Canadian' thing - or just my bad luck.