MCE2005 issues: Need some advice

S

Skids1

Gawd
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Jul 16, 2004
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Hello all... Just built a MCE2005 box:

Currently using:

AMD 3200 512K 754
Western Digital 250GB SATA HD
1GB Mushkin 3500
Abit KV8Pro http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/products.php?categories=1&model=176

Sapphire 9600XT 256MB w/Svideo & RCA Out
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102344

Hauppage WinTV-PVR-500MCE (http://www.hauppage.com/Pages/products/data_pvr500mce.html)

Sound Blaster Audigy
http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=205&product=237

TV- 42Inhc Toshiba HDTV Ready Rear Projection - Has Svideo/RCA/Composite

A couple of questions:

1. Does anyone notice the difference in quality between Svideo and Composite? Does it make a noticable difference when viewing txt or even movies?

2. What if any extra codecs do you recommend installing? Ive read alot about people unable to get Divx/Xvid playback working at all, or if they do it wrecks normal playback of everything else.

3. Does anyone recommend this card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814145107
over the card Im currently using? Biggest difference is Nvidia over ATi and having the ability to connect to the TV using Composit/RGB cables.

Thanks all in advance for advice,

Skids
 
1. yes, there is a difference. won't make web browsing any nicer, but the colors are better for movies and stuff.

2. I use Xvid on my HTPC all the time. I have the Nvidia codec installed and the Xvid codec installed. also AC3 for sound. works fine.

3. I like the 6600gt for a HD HTPC. much better than ATI in my opinion. the drivers are very HTPC friendly. I think there are other 660gt's with a passive cooling system though.
 
Skids1 said:
Biggest difference is Nvidia over ATi and having the ability to connect to the TV using Composit/RGB cables.
Click to expand...
Won't this do the same thing you are talking about, with your existing card?
 
Yes I did notice the adapter... I have a slight alignment issue in that the picture is slightly off center to the right and leaves a wider gap to the left and it looks like the bottem is too far down (When at the desktop, NOT when MCE Interface is open...

I noticed my video card defaults to PAL-B so it comes up scrambled as Windows boots and then the video card settings are changed and it comes up like it should.

So basically my 3rd question Im asking, is Nvida any easier to work with for tv output stuff, etc?

BTW, thanks for the replies... much appreciated...

Skids
 
quote:
"TV- 42Inhc Toshiba HDTV Ready Rear Projection - Has Svideo/RCA/Composite"

it's an HDTV without COMPONENT (Red, Green, Blue RCA jacks) or DVI input?

COMPONENT and COMPOSITE are not the same thing. That adapter outputs component video which will let you drive a good HDTV at pretty much the same resolutions as a monitor, up to 1920x1080interlaced. Composite is a single yellow RCA jack that will output standard TV signal, 480interlaced. Nice if you want to play PONG, your Atari 2600, or old Sega Genesis.
 
I'm going to assume it's component since composite falls under "RCA."

Other then the questions you mention that you have some issues, what are they?

Pretty much the only codecs you should have are:
1.) An MPEG2 codec
2.) FFDShow
3.) AC3 Filter

Thats pretty much it, don't install those crappy Klite codec packs. When something goes wrong they'll be the cause of it as well make it very hard for you to figure that out.

The recommendation on 9600 cards is that the XT is barely able to drive an HDTV, I would upgrade to a 6600 series but the problem there is that the AGP versions all pretty much have terribly loud coolers for HTPCs and there are no after market coolers for them (although if your case is large enough you can use the Zalman one).

One quick note: Creative cards are terrible for HTPCs if you value music playback since they resample and distort the audio. Hell, onboard sound is better for an HTPC then a Creative card.
 
CrimandEvil said:
I'm going to assume it's component since composite falls under "RCA."

Other then the questions you mention that you have some issues, what are they?

Pretty much the only codecs you should have are:
1.) An MPEG2 codec
2.) FFDShow
3.) AC3 Filter

Thats pretty much it, don't install those crappy Klite codec packs. When something goes wrong they'll be the cause of it as well make it very hard for you to figure that out.

The recommendation on 9600 cards is that the XT is barely able to drive an HDTV, I would upgrade to a 6600 series but the problem there is that the AGP versions all pretty much have terribly loud coolers for HTPCs and there are no after market coolers for them (although if your case is large enough you can use the Zalman one).

One quick note: Creative cards are terrible for HTPCs if you value music playback since they resample and distort the audio. Hell, onboard sound is better for an HTPC then a Creative card.
Click to expand...

I've always had good luck using nvidia cards for tv output, but not ATI.

What if I want to run divx codecs and whatnot from downloaded files. Not just mpeg2s, what other codecs should I install? I currently us klite. But I notice when it causes issues, especially with AC3 to my receiver from an nforce optical out.
 
ffdshow can handle xvid/divx, or get the xvid binary from koepi.org. AC3 filter is another 'must have' for me, but ffdshow can also handle that if needed.

Quicktime alternate and real alternate are also worth getting if you want to stream stuff from the web without the horror of realplayer.

As has been said, codec packs are evil, good luck trying to uninstall all the junk that they hide all over your system.
 
quote:
"I've always had good luck using nvidia cards for tv output, but not ATI."

I have experienced the opposite. My ATI 9500radeon worked great on a 60" LCD rear projection via component out and my x800 has a superior picture with out tweaking than my 6800gt. Nvidia has released a lot of HDTV support in their drivers since so maybe thats changed.

Don't think of it so much as a TV anymore, HDTV's are a lot more akin to your dedicated PC monitor these days. A 42" 1920x1080x30Hz desktop/game/DVD player will definately cut into your broadcast tv time. :)
 
ok i'm gonna correct myself. It appears ATI cards and MCE2005 don't like each other. I did fine with XP, but when you try using the green button/media program the res goes to hell if your running anything non-standard. Seems to be an incompatibility with ATIs DirectX drivers since drasticly reducing acceleration stops it (but then it stops anything you want to see : / )
 
br0k3nman said:
What if I want to run divx codecs and whatnot from downloaded files. Not just mpeg2s, what other codecs should I install?
Click to expand...
You install FFDShow which is why I listed it. Since you've already let the Klite crap touch your HD you're going to want to do a full reinstall of MCE to make sure you get rid of it, if you don't parts of it will exist on your HD and continue to screw up things.
 
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