Re: Poor picture quality using Satellite box in MCE

Thanks JW, Dana for your reply

So, the situation is:

the Video card works fine, because all other videos stored in the PC and DVD
work perfect.

the signal from the satellite arrives ok to the PC tuner card and then it
gets degraded by the low speed/low power Encoding that the card has to
perform and hence the output is low quality.

But then the question is: if the problem is with the encoding speed, it does
not really matter thatn the signal comes from a satellite box, as the same
problem would be encountered with a direct OTA signal.

If that's right, does it mean that the combination MCE/Tuner card ALWAYS
gives a bad output, no matter what the input is? So, what is the whole point
of having MCE anyway?


"Dana Cline - MVP" wrote:

Well, I don't know anything about your tuner card so can't comment
there...well, one comment maybe...do you have an antenna hooked up to the FM
antenna connector? If so, remove it and see if that improves your video
signal.

I have an nVidia 6600GT and it has no problems seeing my DVI connected TV.
Not sure why yours won't...which manufacturer built your board?

Dana Cline - MCE MVP

"Il Principe" <IlPrincipe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:16815156-6B74-41DA-AE5D-D409307A1B45@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
thanks Dana for your reply.

I am using brand new cables and have tried both S-video and Composite, but
the quality is the same, i.e. very bad. Once again, if I connect the very
same cables to the TV instead of the MCE PC, the quality I see is almost
perfect, so I am assuming STB output and cables are fine. Which leaves us
with the Tuner.

I have a AverMedia Hybrid TV Tuner Card, A16C (DVB-T, Pal/Secam/FM).

The graphic card is Nvidia 6600 and it has two outputs, one VGA and one
DVI.
The TV input is DVI. The image works when I use the VGA output into the
DVI
input (and the PC recognise the TV), but nothing if I use the DVI output
into
the DVI input

Thanks for you help.



"Dana Cline - MVP" wrote:

I would suspect your tuner card, or its drivers. Since you're coming in
via
sVideo or composite from the STB, you'll probably never get as good a
signal
as in the demo videos. One thing that might help would be to use high
quality (and short) cables from the STB to the tuner.

As for the graphics card output, which card do you have, and which
version
of the drivers? Generally if you connect to the DVI output, the card
should
recognize there's a TV there and enable the signal. However, you might be
able to enable that output from within the drivers dialog.

Dana Cline - MCE MVP

"Il Principe" <IlPrincipe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:02D5B5E4-952B-4F00-945D-DECF4268FF52@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi,
I have just bought a Sony Vaio RC202 with Media Centre and I have
problems
with the video quality

The video source is a Satellite (Sky) box and I am using a Scart output
from
the box and either S-Video or Composite into the PC tuner card. The
signal
from the Satellite is crystal clear if I connect directly STB and TV,
but
if
I go via the PC Media Centre the output is very bad..lots of blue,
almost
like an old VHS tape.

On the other hand, when I watch some of the sample videos even in HD,
the
quality is perfect, so I am assuming that the Video card output is
working
fine. I should however point out that for some reason I can only see
the
image on the TV if I connect VGA (PC) to DVI (TV), but nothing if I use
the
DVI output from the Video card. Additionally, I can't get the 16:9
format,
and the video seems to show only in 3:4 (which to be honest is the
original
aspect ratio of the satellite signal).

I find it strange that, while I can import video on the PC using 1394
at
perfect quality, there are difficulties in connecting a live video
signal.
Maybe there are cards outthere with an RGB/Scart or DVI input? But I am
not
sure this is the problem.

Can anyone help?

thanks






.

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