Noob HTPC question

Santa Claus

OK,
Got myself another XC Cube (AMD this time) which thankfully didn't have a dead mobo like the last one so managed to get media centre installed without any problems (Well apart from searching for ages to discover why it didn't like XP SP2 even though it was asking for it, only to discover this was actually microsoft code for "Please insert dvd 1 again".
Also have a Hauppauge PVR 150 card which I have a scart adapter to s video bringing signal in from my NTL box and a standard cable from TV out on the TV to TV in on a scart adapter on my TV.

The Hauppauge card seemed to install OK (didn't get any errors) but any time I try to launch media centre it tells me
"Your video card or drivers are not compatable with Media Centre"

It then launches Media centre and if I then go in to try and set up the NTL feed it tells me my IR receiver is not installed even though I have it stuck to the front of the NTL box over the IR receiver.

Any ideas, I'm at my wits end with this bloody thing (I inherited the The TV and home cinema set-up from a former flat mate and he had a cube running MCE fine on it until he took his pc away....I would ask him how he managed to do it but he's in Bangkok at the moment so probably has better things to think about).

DublinEvents

Uninstall the current drivers for your TV tuner, download latest ones from the manufacturer's website especially those that mention Media Centre support and try your luck with them. Hopefully they will work. Or just search for "Hauppauge PVR 150 and Media Centre" on google to list articles or forum posts relating to these two so you can read other people's experiences about it.

SouperComputer

MCE is referring to your Graphics card, not your TV card!

What graphics card do you have and have you installed the latest drivers. Basically it needs to have DX9 support.

Santa Claus

SouperComputer wrote:

MCE is referring to your Graphics card, not your TV card!

What graphics card do you have and have you installed the latest drivers. Basically it needs to have DX9 support.

I need a video card in addition to the hauppage card ?? I thought between the onboard video and the Hauppage that would be enough !

SouperComputer

Santa Claus wrote:

I need a video card in addition to the hauppage card ?? I thought between the onboard video and the Hauppage that would be enough !

The answer is both yes and no.

To record TV you need a TV capture card. No problemo, you have one.

For The media centre application to actually work and display the UI, you need a graphics chip (Beit onboard or not) and drivers that support DirectX 9 and a minimum texture memory of 64Mb. Its to do with the way the menus and transitions etc look all pretty. There is a workaround, but to be honest, you are betteroff getting a DX9 card IF your current onboard graphics card does not support it.

If your onboard does not support DX9, the operating system itself will work fine, but the Media Centre itself will not fire up. Think of it as being a DX 9 only game

If you installed the latest drivers for your onboard graphics installed and it's no dice, you have two remaining options:

1) Search for the DX9 workaround:

Just open regedit and point to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Display Settings

Then Add 2 DWORD KEYS called DisableDxCheck and DisableDx9CapsCheck and set both their values to 1 and media center should start without problems and without all those nasty recompiling things

Have fun

2) Get a cheap DX9 graphics card. If you have AGP I reccomend the Nvidia FX5200. You can pick one up for about 25-30bills used and generally they have no fan so they are quiet too.

Oh, and ignore hauppage drivers for the moment, your issue does not lie with them currently.


/edit, there may also be MCE-specific or optimised drivers available for your onboard graphics. I doubt it though.