NTL cable tv setup on MCE 2005

james130c

I read somewhere NTL STB's do not allow s video, is this why my scart to s video lead will not work? i get no signal in any setup of MCE.

Also my NTL STB is a pace 1000. If anyone has setup MCE on this box before with NTL please help me to do so.

karltimber

have a read of my thread here - it may be applicable to your situtaion.


K

james130c

Hi thanks for the reply, ok so my NTL box is a pace 1000 and doesn;t have the s video output. Does this mean scart to s video will not work because the box doesn't use s video? am i right in thinking i would need a converter? also if this is so would scart to composite be the way to go? will the box understand this setup to my pc? as right now i am getting nothing at all signal wise or audio wise.

subway

scart to composite is the only solution without buying an rgb to svideo converter box.

james130c

Ok thank you, i just dont want to buy the cable and still have it not work, should i be getting audio even though i am getting no video signal when MCE scans for it? because i am getting neither audio or video. As i understand it i may not be getting video because of the use of s video. but why no audio?

subway

have you plugged in the red/white audio cables from ntl to the mce box?

james130c

the scart to s video lead i have been using has the audio leads attached, its a scart to sivdeo and has the red and white leads to. should this be seperate?

james130c

Also my NTL box has no composite slot on it, it has the audio red and white slots but no yellow. So i would still be buying a scart to composite lead will it be the same as the scart to s video results im getting. Will this not even work?

james130c

Also, if i use neither s video or composite and just use the coax from the box to the PC, like i do from the box to the TV. I stil get no signal. Yet when i put it into the tv from the box i get it perfect on channel 6 it's tuned into.

Just no luck with setting up media center with any of these it seems for me. any ideas?

8T8

From my own experience I do not recall MCE playing audio if it does not detect a video signal so I would expect that as normal.

Those scart to s-video cables again from my experience do not work & that was with a Chorus set top box not NTL.

You need to get one of those scart adapters with the little switch on it and set it to output then composite will work. S-video will as well but it will be in black & white you need a scart RGB to s-video converter to do that properly.

As for the coax (RF?) I have no idea how that works on NTL boxes does it mean you can tune the TV into the NTL set top box ? If so you would have to use the terrestrial over the air TV tuning wizard in MCE instead of selecting the set top box cable TV wizard at a guess...

james130c

Basicly if i put a stand alone arial in the back of my PC in the RF slot, i will get some standard channels like BBC1 and ITV 1. Although very bad quality. So i figured if the TV shows the NTL cable fine using a coax from the TV out on the STB to the TV why cant i just put the TV out from the STB into the RF on the PC. But MCE still shows no signal for any settings i choose. :mad:

james130c

http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/store/cur_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1607444573.1168029229@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccdkaddjkmjjdehcflgceggdhhmdfio.0&page=Product&fm=11&sm=3&tm=undefined&sku=604889&category_oid=-30867

I am now using a basic LOGIK scart to 3 Phono cable which is a little like this with a input and output switch on it. It now finds my NTL cable tv but in black and white. even though its not s video like you said. Is it because its a basic lead and not scart to composite written on the box? or will i need that converter no matter what.

Also where do i get the right IR blaster thingy for NTL pace 1000.

SouperComputer

SCART to composite should be fine. The NTL STB's carry RGB and composite through the SCART cable. In fact unless the direction of your original cable (SCART to SVideo) was incorrect, you should have gotten a greyscale picture.

As for greyscale over composite, ive never seen it from a STB, only when the output on a graphics card is set incorrectly.

Maybe you should connect a DVD or VCR to the component in on the TV card, just to be sure it is working ok.

IR blaster wise, you should have gotten one with your PC. Do you have a MCE remote?

james130c

Hi, yes i got a remote with MCE, but there has been alot of problems with NTL pace 1000 box, a website suggests a fix and says i need a buy an additional IR thingy to help it to work with this STB.

The cable i showed above is what i am using, and here is a screen shot of MCE and what it is showing me.

http://www.brgp.net/MCE_Image.JPG

How can i try and resolve this issue with the black and white? people talk about changing my settings or something from NTSC to PAL or something on my PC but i dunno nothing about all this....

SouperComputer

people talk about changing my settings or something from NTSC to PAL or something on my PC but i dunno nothing about all this....

Unfortunately they may be misunderstanding the issue. It only applies when there is a mismatch of the source and destination video. IE the SVideo out on your Video card is set to NTSC and you TV is PAL, this does not apply in your case. The only NTSC\PAL issues I can think of are

1) Your STB is set to NTSC (99.9% unlikely)
2) Your PVR card is NTSC (99.98% unlikely as you have already tuned RF\Analog PAL signal)

Sorry I cant be more help, the only issues I can think of are:

1) Dodgy STB or SCART connection
2) Dodgy Cable or incorrect direction on switch
3) Dodgy PVR card.
4) Software config (unlikely though)

All you can do is test each item above and ensure it is working correctly. Like I say, throwing the cable you have, into a DVD player and connecting it to the PVR card would be a start. If things look good then call NTL and get them to replace your STB.

james130c

I hooked the DVD player up to the PC and the same thing i see the DVD but in Black and White..., also tried the lead connecting the dvd player to the TV and that was fine. So there must be some problem with the STB to PC making it black and white? and the DVD to PC. Would a better lead work do u think? this is a pretty crappy one if im right. I just dont wanna pay out more and get the same results. Or does it sound like my PC settings some how.

SouperComputer

Well, the lead is fine from what you are saying. So its either a dodgy STB (which is now unlikely as all inputs to the PC are greyscale).

Either your PVR card is dodgy or you have a software\driver issue.

Post up some info on the computer and PVR card you have.

Are the analog (IE arial) signals in colour through MCE?

james130c

Using a stand alone ariel i get black and white/bad quality and only 1-2 chnanels. However using the main TV in ariel cable i can get decent quality for 1-2 channels in colour. So this is confusing me.

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0962082310.1168088780@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccekaddjldifhefcflgceggdhhmdgom.0&page=Product&sku=967549&tabIndex=1

That is my computer above.. if you can work out what you need to know from that...?

Smoggy

What I use is :

MCE 2005
PVR 150MCE
NTL Digital
RGB to SVID convertor

Pic quality is colour and very reasonable.

SouperComputer

James (good name BTW!) what is the make/model of the PVR card? Have you tried updated drivers? It sounds like a problem with the card or its set to NTSC somwhere..

james130c

Hi, how do i find out the make of the PVR card? as it doesn't seem to say anywhere in the hardware or PC manual. I tried search my PC make to find out if it says also and no luck.

james130c

Hi, altho the cable appears to be fine, i am going to replace it with a better quality cable. First id like to know if this is correct. I have to get a 'Scart to' lead. Not a (RCA to Scart) for example.

Because the first lead i brought was a Scart to svideo lead, didn't have a switch on it for input/output. But the lead didn't work. Brought another lead simular without s video and a switch to input/output and someone said put it on input. This didn't work, outting it on output did work though.

So basicly would it have to be a scart to lead or other way round, if i cannot get one of this quality with the switch.

thanks

james130c

Anybody know this?

8T8

First up ignore all those scart to .... leads they more than likely wont work.

You got the correct scart adapter which must be set to output as logically you are taking the output from the scart connection and turning it into composite video.

I assume from your post that it is now working, if the connection is still in black & white it may be a driver issue or have you tried replacing the composite video cable you are using.

To find out the make of your tuner go into the device manager and look under "sound, video and game controllers" and tell us what is listed, one of them should be the tuner.

james130c

Ok here is what is listed:

ASUSTeK LNA Tiger Hybird Capture Device
Audio Codecs
Creative SB Audigy 4 (WDM)
Legacy Audio Drivers
Legacy Video Capture Devices
Media Control Devices
Video Codecs

As i said i am not using the RF IN on the back of the PC (using the PCI slot) I am using a front pannel unit that come with the computer which has these ports.

S video input

Composite input

Left audio input

Right audio input

And this is my computer:
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/product.php?sku=967549

Thanks.

james130c

Any idea's of this?

8T8

Okay your tuner is the ASUSTeK LNA Tiger Hybird Capture Device which after some searches show this to be the "Asus My Cinema 7131 Dual" tuner for MCE.

The latest drivers on Asus site for that card are v13.3.1.4 which you could attempt to install and see if that changes anything.

Just extract to a folder and run the setup.exe to begin the install.

Are you using the composite or s-video ports on the front of the computer ?

Also are those ports present on the back of the machine where the tuner is located ?

(In the event the tuner no longer works with MCE after the new driver install this plugin, some weirdness going on with drivers and Asus cards from their forums)

james130c

Thanks i will try these things, to let you know that on the back of my PC is only an RF IN port. No S Video, Composite ports at all on the back. These are located on the front of my machine only it seems. Although they do say S Video 2, Composite 2 and Audio 2. So i don't know why i do not have any on the back of the PC.