Hi AVJunky - thanks for the advice.
I had done a search for 'NTL Pace' (that's how I dug out this old thread
) as I thought this may have been a specific issue with this STB.
Turns out getting a full colour s-video signal from a scart output seems to be an age old problem. A site-wide search for 'rgb to s-video' gave me plenty of relevant hits.
I'm now going to buy one of
these rbg to s-video converters from Maplins. I will connect the scart output of my NTL STB to the scart input of the converter. Then I will connect the s-video output of the converter to the s-video input of my TV Tuner in the MCE PC. I will connect the audio output cables from the converter to the input of the TV Tuner.
Th JS Technology converter is twice the price of the Maplins one so I'm going with the Maplins one as I think the picture will be satisfactory and represent good value for money.
For newbies like myself:
-RF is the worst quality signal.
-composite (yellow connector for the video, plus white and red audio cables) is better than RF but not great
-s-video (weird looking connector, plus the white and red audio cables) splits the chrominance and luminance onto two separate wires and so is better than composite.
-RGB has three separate wires and gives the best signal of analogue cables, and since most TVs use RGB the TV doesnt have to do any decoding.
-DVI is a digital cable and gives the best picture.
You can get a scart to s-video adapter - though this doesnt do any conversion so if there is no s-video output available through your scart outputs on the STB you will get a black and white signal - thats why I am going with a scart to s-video 'converter'.