Re: HELP! Dell told me I cannot watch tv on my tv AND work on com

Since you are talking about two PCs, you can have two different signal sources. Problem comes when you only have one PC, the signal for that one PC must be the same.

So analog cable on your PC and digital on your husband's PC should be fine.

Pete

yewing wrote: 
Tiny Tim,

Thanks for the info.  Again, you have been very helpful.

I am aware you can't hook up two different things to the tuners. I guess I didn't communicate very clearly when I was writing. Sorry about that. What I meant was that we want to hook up two cable connections to the tuners - both the same company and the same type of connection. My computer will be easy to do this with because my cable is straight from the wall. My husband's computer is another story because we use the digital cable with his connection so I will have to wait until I can afford another digital cable box so both set ups are the same thing.

I just really want to thank everyone that extended their knowledge to us here. You got us through this and I am thrilled to have my set up working just like I'd hoped! I couldn't have done it without all the outstanding assistance! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Yvonne


"Tiny Tim" wrote:


STB is Set Top Box or in other words your cable or satellite or digital TV receiver. The IR blaster is a cable with an Infra Red LED at the end that you attach to your STB so that the PC can change its channels to allow unattended recording. Of course, if you're watching live TV via the MCE PC, so that you can benefit from the recording buffer to allow pause or slow-mo etc., then you would use the PC remote to change channels rather than the remote for the STB. Your MCE setup should take you through the procedure to configure the blaster for your particular make/model of STB.

BTW, you suggested you want to use the twin tuners to attach different things to your PC(s). As far as I know, you can't. MCE will only work from one programme guide so you can't have e.g. cable attached to one tuner and satellite connected to the other. You need to have the same type of device, with identical programming, attached to each tuner. That might be two cable boxes, or two satellite boxes (same service provider) or two terrestrial RF connections. But you can't mix them on the same PC.

"yewing" <yewing@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:06BF0E85-F6BA-47CE-886B-18863AC2AC2D@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Pete,

YOU ARE BRILLIANT!  I am viewing recorded t.v. shows on my t.v. while full
screen computing on my monitor now!!!

I can hardly believe the 'expert' at Dell didn't catch that! I went through
the entire set up with him several times. He supposedly went to their lab
where he and another expert worked on the same configuration. His response
was that it couldn't work. I intend to take time to call them back and let
them know what the correct steps to take are so that they won't continue to
misinform consumers.

I have another question, regarding my husband's configuration. Please
forgive my ignorance, but what is 'stb'? His cable box? Also, what is an IR
blaster? Tackling one computer late tonight was as much as I could handle
for one very busy day. I'll work on his in the next few days.

THANK YOU so much. I was so frustrated and you solved my problem! I am so
thrilled. Also, thank you for the extra advise about sharing file through
the media center. I will be sure to look that up too.

I really can't thank you enough.  You ROCK!

Yvonne



"Peter Near [MCE MVP]" wrote:


Well, you'll be happy to know that there's a simple solution.  You said
you ran svideo from the tuner card to the modulator.  That is incorrect,
you need to run svideo from the video card to the modulator.  Basically,
find out where you monitor is plugged in and there should be a SVideo
connector right beside it.  Sorry that the Dell guy didn't catch this,
it's really quite a simple change.

On the use case...  I was originally going to suggest that you only need
1 PC and to return one of the MCE machines in favor of an extender.
However, given what you've suggested it sounds like you have a
legitimate need for 2 PCs - one for you and another for your husband to
work on.  You should be able to configure them as you mentioned below.

Your PC - connect from wall to the tuner card.  Connect your video
card's s-video out to the RF modulator and then to your TV.

Your husband's PC - connect from the STB to the tuner card using SVideo
(if available, if not the composite or coax).  Connect the IR blaster
from the remote receiver to the front of the STB.  Connect the SVideo
out from the video card to the TV.

You may find it interesting to network the two PCs together so that you
can share music, pictures, and television between the two.  The music
and pictures are fairly straightforward.  Set up a share on each machine
and then add that shared folder to the Music and Picture section of the
other machine.  Sharing TV is somewhat more complicated, but can be
accomplished using a small utility called "Share recorded TV" which is
located here: http://www.thegreenbutton.com/downloads.aspx

First things first, change that SVideo connection and get the TV working.

Pete

yewing wrote:

Pete,

I will try to explain what I am trying to accomplish as you requested.
Thank you for being willing to try to assist me.

First, let me address the driver issue. I tried to update the driver from
windows, but it said there were no updates available. I then went to the
nvidia website and successfully downloaded the latest driver there. The
properties do give me the option to select to use a t.v. and to use dual
screens, etc. However, the pc is still not sending a signal to my t.v. My
t.v. is not necessarily older, but is new and cheap and little (just supposed
to be one I could watch shows on while computing in my office). I hooked up
s-video cable from the tuner card through an RF Modulator and then used
coaxial cable to the t.v. from the tuner card. I went through the set up for
the t.v./dual screens, but as I said before, it was unsuccessful. There
simply is no output to the t.v. I am planning to read the pdf file Tiny Tim
referenced more fully to try to work on this issue.

Here is what I am trying to accomplish. I have 2 of these computers, both
with dual tuner cards. My initial goal is this:

1. To have my pc in my office for computing using the monitor. At the same
time that I'm computing, I want to watch media center recorded video and/or
live t.v. output by the media center on my little (non s-video) t.v. It's
not good to have this big, beautiful monitor (19" flat panel) with a little
window for t.v. and another little window for computing. The windows have to
be reduced to a point that make it hard to read data and require lots of
scrolling, etc. I want to use the cable straight from the wall to my pc. I
don't mind not taking advantage of the digital channels our cable provides.

2. To have my husband's pc in his office for computing using the monitor.
At the same time that he's computing, we want to run the media center
recorded video and/or live t.v. and/or streaming music from the internet
through his entertainment system. We are happy to live with only using one
of the dual tuners for now because we want to connect his system from the
p.c. through the digital cable box and then to the t.v. and his speakers that
are part of his stereo system. We do not have two digital cable boxes
available for him to use at this point in time so he is willing to live with
that and only record and/or watch 1 show at a time. The dual tuners are for
future use down the road when we can afford to expand more.

So, on my husband's system we need to hook the pc's tuner card through his
digital cable box.

The instructions that came with the Dell pcs show that you can hook the pc
tuner card to a t.v. and/or to a digital cable box. We are not absolutely
positive that his digital cable box has the ability to hook up using
composite cable as recommended on the set up by Dell, but we were going to be
consulting with someone on that when we went to buy the cable.

Down the road, we want to add 2 or 3 media center extenders to t.v.s located
in different areas of our home. We can't afford the extenders at this time
and wanted to wait for that phase of our home entertainment improvement
project for another year or two.

First things first - we wanted to get mine up and running to prove we could
use the media centers the way we want in the long run. If I cannot use them
to run the computer using the monitor at the same time as watching the t.v.,
then that is not what I wanted and I want to return the computers to Dell. I
just received the first one last Thursday and the second one last Friday and
Dell has a 30 day time we can return the computers if we are not happy. So,
the clock is ticking, but I have some time to determine if this will work or
not.

One more point. The Dell specialist for windows xp media center that I was
working with also told me I could not use a media center extender to use the
media center on a t.v. while working on my computer and using the monitor at
the same time. He kept saying something about a software overlay that would
prevent it. He agreed with me when I asked him if I basically just bought an
expensive tivo OR a computer, but not both.

I can live with the hacks or work arounds you suggested, but I first need to
get a signal going to my t.v.

Thanks for your help and time.  I really appreciate the assistance.

Yvonne


"Peter Near [MCE MVP]" wrote:



Unfortunately, Dell is somewhat correct. You can't do this easily or
perfectly. I would recommend that you tell me what you're trying to
accomplish with this setup and then I can help you get where you want to
go. Ignore technology for a second. For example:

"I want to have a PC that I can use while at the computer monitor for my
internet browsing, email, word processing, etc. I also want to be able
to view television, pictures, etc from two televisions in the house at
the same time".

As it stands, the general statement is that you can't use Media Center
fullscreen in one monitor while performing other PC tasks.  MCE takes
over control of the keyboard and mouse when it is running fullscreen.

You can however use MCE in a window while using other applications on
the PC.  This opens the door to a few "hacks".

1. Almost fullscreen - When in a window, drag the corner or media center
until it is almost fullscreen. You can then move this window over to
the secondary display.

2. Video mirroring - Most modern videocard support this.  Run Media
Center in a window on your primary monitor.  In the video card driver
find a setting for "video mirroring" and set it to VMR mode.  This will
take whatever video is playing in a window on your primary monitor and
play it full screen on your secondary monitor.  Note that it will not
display any of the media center menus or guide, just the video.

Realistically, the method to accomplish what you want is by using a
media center extender.  This allows you to have multiple media center
sessions running on the TVs in your house, with only one PC powering
them all.  This might be the solution for you, but I need to hear more
about how you intend to use this system.

Pete

yewing wrote:


I just invested thousands in two new computers - Dell 8400 with dual tuners
and windows xp media center 2005. I've been trying to configure the media
center so it would play through my tv so I can work on the computer WHILE
watching my t.v.

After being on with support for nearly an hour, while they configured my
settings in their lab, I was told you can't do that with media center!!!
They said only one screen is the primary screen. I can't do both. If I
direct the media center to the t.v. then I can't use the monitor with the
computer.

My call was initiated to them because I can't get a signal to my t.v. I do
not have a t.v. with an s-video cable where I'm trying to hook things up
right now. I was advised, through here, to use an RF modulator. I tried
that too. No dice. So, I called technical support. Technical support
transferred me to a "media center" specialist.

Please help me. Have I just purchased two REALLY expensive tivo boxes? I
have these computers set up, networked, and the packing is already broken
down. It's going to be miserable trying to return them. Yet, I don't want
to keep them if they can't do all I bought them for. Please, please help me. 



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