Q. My video is stuttering, what's the problem?

A. If your video is stuttering, image freezes for short periods, there are several possible causes.

Signal Strength:
Unlike analog TV where the picture gets more static as the signal weakens, digital TV's picture will look perfect, but will start dropping frames as the signal gets weaker. You need a signal strength of at least 80% to get smooth un interupted Video. If your signal strength is less than 80% you should try adjusting your antenna to get a stronger signal or try a larger antenna.

Renderer:
The "Overlay Mixer + Video Renderer" and "VMR 7 (Use Overlays)" renderers use special hardware in the video card designed for displaying video which makes them the fastest choices. If you're using the "VMR 9" and losing frames try switching to "Overlay Mixer + Video Renderer" or "VMR 7 (Use Overlays)" renderers.

Insufficient GPU power:
Frames can also be lost if The Graphics Processor isn't fast enough. Unfortunately there's no way to check for this directly. If none of the above measures eliminate the stuttering a more powerful graphics card could be considered.

Q: Can Easy HDTV and EASY HDTV DVR both run at the same time?

A: Yes, as long as they both don't share the same tuner and only one can use an overlay based renderer.

Q: The audio volume is too loud during commercials and/or too soft during the program can I do anything about this?

A: We recommend you download and install the free ffdshow and use it's AC3 audio decoder, it has a normalize feature which will average out the volume.

Download and install ffdshow.
Run Easy HDTV and click File->Settings.
Select "ffdshow Audio Decoder" in the AC3 Audio Decoder drop box.
Click the "OK" button for the settings window.
Click File->Audio Decoder Properties from the Easy HDTV menu.
Select Volume in the list.
Check the "Normalize" check box.
Click the "OK" button.

Q: The trial does not work on my computer, if I buy the software key, will that fix it?

A: No, the program works the same during the trial period as it does when activated by a software key. The only difference is that during the trial period a nag screen comes up each time the program is run and it stops working after 30 days. If it's not working on your computer, you probably do not have a tuner, or it's driver is not installed properly, or you do not have a MPEG-2 or AC3 decoder.

Q: Do Easy HDTV and Easy HDTV DVR support PID filtering with the HDHomeRun?

A: Yes PID Filtering is supported with the HDHomerun, see here.

Q: Can I run more than one instance of Easy HDTV or Easy HDTV DVR?

A: Yes, there is a command line option to run multiple instances, here are the steps.

1. Copy the desktop shortcut by right-clicking and draging the shortcut to an empty spot on the desktop, select the "copy shortcut".
2. Right-click on the new shortcut, select properties.
3. In the "target" edit box add "-instance "name"", where name is name you want to call the new instance.

Q: On Windows 7 if I try to open a video file with East HDTV DVR or view the video folder with Windows Explorer the live video or video file playback stutters or the program responds poorly. Is there a fix for this?

A: When the file open dialog or Windows Explorer views the video folder, Windows trys to scan throught the video files to find their length and other information, this can disrupt other program's access to these files causing stuttering or the program to become unresponsive. To turn off this scanning, navigate to your recorded video folder in Windows Explorer, change the folder's properties from "Videos" to "General Items".

Q: I selected "Microsoft DTV-DVD Audio Decoder" for the AC3 audio decoder and there's no sound, what's wrong?

A: Due to licensing issues The "Microsoft DTV-DVD Audio Decoder" is only avalable for use by Microsoft applications. You'll need to install a different AC3 audio decoder like ffdshow.

Q: I Have a HDHomeRun, Easy HDTV/Easy HDTV DVR shows good signal strength, but it doesn't find any channels during the scan or there's no picture or sound, what's the problem?

A: It's probably the firewall, because the HDHomeRun is connected via a network adapter it must go throught the firewall. The installer tries to add Easy HDTV/ Easy HDTV DVR to the firewall's list of allowed programs, but if it doesn't work, you'll need to add it manually.

Q: Which HDHomeRun tuners does Easy HDTV/Easy HDTV DVR work with?

A: Easy HDTV/Easy HDTV DVR work with the HDHomeRun CONNECT and HDHomeRun EXTEND, but it does not work with the HDHomeRum PRIME.

Q: How many days of guide data is there?

A: Guide data is collected from each channels data stream, each broadcaster decides how much guide data they send.  This can range from 0 to 7 days of guide data.