Vista Media Center - Advice Needed !

[Channel 2]

I need a bit of advice. I am planning to build a HTPC designed to run on Vista. I have NTL which i'd also like to be able to watch in another room (XBox 360 Core sounds like a good plan for this). At the moment the best input on my TV is a scart input.

1. Does anyone know if there is still an issue with certain ntl boxes and media center in vista ?

2. In vista, can you have different types of tv cards i.e. 1 digital and 1 analog ? So i could have NTL on 1 card and freeview on another ?

3. Is the XBox 360 Core the best and cheapest way to get media content in another room ?

4. Could anyone point me in the right direction to find out how i can connect my HTPC to my TV using my TV's Scart input ?

Any help would be much appreciated ! :lease:

[Channel 2]

anyone ? :confused:

[MacBurp]

3. Is the XBox 360 Core the best and cheapest way to get media content in another room ?


Yes if you use MCE. The only other game in town right now is Sage TV and their extender product. It is possible to build another PC and network the two, but live TV would not be supported and it would cost a bit more.


4. Could anyone point me in the right direction to find out how i can connect my HTPC to my TV using my TV's Scart input ?

Any help would be much appreciated ! :lease:

Does your TV support s-video on any of its scart inputs? If it does, you could use a scart-s-video lead to connect to your PC's TV-out. You would get better performance if you could use DVI - but this is not scart :).

regards,
Paul

[TonyUK]

I seem to recall reading that MCE won't support Digital AND analogue at the same time, it's one or the other.
I'm not 100% sure on this but I seem to recall quite a few threads on this over at thegreenbutton.com

HTH,

Tony.

[Channel 2]

Does your TV support s-video on any of its scart inputs? If it does, you could use a scart-s-video lead to connect to your PC's TV-out. You would get better performance if you could use DVI - but this is not scart :).

regards,
Paul

Would using the vga output instead of s-video have better quality ?

[MacBurp]

Would using the vga output instead of s-video have better quality ?

Yes, as VGA is RGB and therefore better than s-video, but it is harder to set up.

If your TV has a d-sub input, you can use an ordinary VGA cable to connect up. You need to use powerstrip to set up the right resolution for your TV, do a search on powerstrip for more info.

If you only have a scart on your TV, VGA may not be an option for you. I've read of people connecting an ATI video card with a custom-made VGA to Scart cable, however this only works with ATI - Nvidia cards do not transmit the required sync info. Its unknown if the latest generation of ATI card would work. You would still need to configure the resolution with powerstrip.

regards,
Paul

[Channel 2]

Does your TV support s-video on any of its scart inputs?

I think the TV in question does have s-video ! What would the quality be like ? Does the quality depend a whole deal on the graphics card used ?

BTW, Thanks for all your help guys ! :thumbsup:

[dsanders_sco]

1. Does anyone know if there is still an issue with certain ntl boxes and media center in vista ?
If you mean the remote control codes, then yes I believe this is still an issue - try checking the green button for more detailed info.

2. In vista, can you have different types of tv cards i.e. 1 digital and 1 analog ? So i could have NTL on 1 card and freeview on another ?
No. Although Vista supports many (more than 2) tuners, they must be the same "type". IE, you can only have dual digital tuners or dual analog tuners; you can't have a mix of digital and analogue

3. Is the XBox 360 Core the best and cheapest way to get media content in another room ?
This is what I do and in Vista it looks superb.

4. Could anyone point me in the right direction to find out how i can connect my HTPC to my TV using my TV's Scart input ?
It depends if you have an S-Video output. Better display is gained using component or VGA input. Although these days I use my 360 and the PC has been relegated back to the study

HTH

[Channel 2]

I think s-video would be the easiest to use ! But i'm worried about the quality not being up to scratch ! :confused:

[MacBurp]

I think s-video would be the easiest to use ! But i'm worried about the quality not being up to scratch ! :confused:

I had my TV connected directly to the HTPC with an s-video link for a while (replaced it now with anm xbox360 extender). As my TV does not support s-video at all (12 year old 4:3 set), I used a converter to step down to composite - and the quality was not too good. The 360 made an immediate improvement to pq.

I've heard it said that s-video is not much lower in quality than RGB, which is the best you'll get through a scart - so maybe the s-video connection will be alright.

regards,
Paul