NTL Scart to SVideo on WMCE

C

chrischant

Guest
:confused:

I just saw a thread where Spacecat was trying to get connection from hisNTL Pace box to WMCE.

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=170191&page=2&pp=15&highlight=scart+svideo

I have just specd my WMCE box and its on its way from the US with a ATI X700 Pro grahics card. I have also ordered (after asking the Hauppauge guys for advice on best quality with NTL cable service) a 150 PVR MCE TV card.

I was just about to order cables to connect this lot (I currently use a 50 quid QED Squart RGB scart cable from the STB to my Sony Plasma MRX1's media box which was a massive and worthwhile improvement over standard cables) I was going to get the QED Squart to SVideo cable.

That thread has now got me worried - can anyone give me a definitve view on this
 
I haven't read the whole of that thread, reading rants can get a tad wearing ;), but I used a J.S. Tech. RGB->S-Video converter for connecting my old NTL Pace box as well as the Samsung I've got now.

Not sure if this is relevant to you. :)
 
Hard to say as I never really compared them, NTL changed it when they increased their broadband speed, and rarely watch NTL on my big screen and on a 22" LCD differences don't show up nearly so much.
 
chrischant said:
Anyone else have advice??

I have the first pvr pci card and svideo in on that looks dire until I run dscaler, then it looks pretty damn good. I think with MCE that you are forced and not able to use dscaler.
 
Hi guys-

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I have just had my NTL digital here in Dublin installed and am wondering how I should best connect it to my MCE machine.

I have a Hauppage PVR 500MCE TV tuner and this takes in a coax or s-video signal, and it also has 3 separate connections - one yellow, one white, one red - is this component or composite?

My NTL Pace set-top box says DV3 on the front, and the label says Model No.:DC221KN. I can't tell if it can output s-video, but would the component, composite connection yield a better or worse picture?

Basically I'd appreciate any advice on what connectors/convertors and cables I need - I don't want to spend over £70/€100.

Thanks
 
chrischant said:
:confused:

I just saw a thread where Spacecat was trying to get connection from hisNTL Pace box to WMCE.

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=170191&page=2&pp=15&highlight=scart+svideo

I have just specd my WMCE box and its on its way from the US with a ATI X700 Pro grahics card. I have also ordered (after asking the Hauppauge guys for advice on best quality with NTL cable service) a 150 PVR MCE TV card.

I was just about to order cables to connect this lot (I currently use a 50 quid QED Squart RGB scart cable from the STB to my Sony Plasma MRX1's media box which was a massive and worthwhile improvement over standard cables) I was going to get the QED Squart to SVideo cable.

That thread has now got me worried - can anyone give me a definitve view on this


Thats ancient history old chap! (it was telewest not ntl)

I am using a Svideo convertor into an ATI 550 pro and the VGA to scart combo, picture quality is nothing short of superb!
 
Ancient history for some it may be but it's a very current question for me - just how do I connect my NTL Pace box to my PVR 500 MCE card so I can get it all setup with a decent quality picture and win some pro-MCE sentiment from the better half? ;)
 
Out of the three, S-Video will be best quality, then composite, then Coax.

So ideally you want a Scart to Svideo connection and a convertor i believe. Which you can get from Maplins for about £35.
 
For best quality you need an RGB to s-video convertor. Note convertor, not just a scart to s-video lead, which will not work.

Should also point out that this very topic has been the subject of several threads already. Perhaps a search before posting?
 
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'.
 
I now have MCE controlling the STB (updated driver and it worked but only from the second IR emitter port - first one is dodgy) which is great.

However, I bought an RGB to S-video converter from Maplin and connected the scart output from the STB box to it. The s-video output from the converter then goes to my Hauppage PVR 500 MCE card. For some reason I get a massive flicker using this signal. The same happens when I use the composite output from the converter box.

I installed the latest version of ATI Catalyst Center (including MCE components) for my Radeon X700 PRO gfx card and connected again using the s-video output from the converter box. This gave an excellent picture.

However, when I turned the machine on again the next day the flicker was back which has me totally perplexed. I got a scart to s-video adapter (i.e. just a little adapter, no conversion going on) but the picture off this was poor so I now am using that converter to connect the composite output of the STB to the tv tuner. This gives a decent enough picture but I want to get the s-video going as the picture is better and I have forked out £40 for the converter box.

I’ve tried my heart out to get this sorted out but have come up short so any help is much appreciated.
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom