Please for the love of God... I need your input!

[rdhiggins]

Hello,

Whoever could assist me in finding out my problem I would be most thankful!

Basically I have my MCE setup by the following:

1. S Video Connection from the external cable box to the TV Tuner.

2. S Video Connection from the eVga e-Geforce 8500 GT video card that is using the splitter that came with the card which splits from S Video into 3 component video ports that I am then taking high performance component video cables to the back of the Toshiba Rear Projection TV.

3. I am using the evGA (or Nvidia) driver that came with the video card.

I have been going thru the TV setup phase in the OS, including the TV color setup and even before or after I mainly am receiving green colors. I receive the cable within BTV but the picture does not look that great....

After a couple hours trying to find the color problem I then swapped the 8500 GT card and inserted a HDMI board that came with the motherboard. This board from what I understand basically allows the HDMI support and Integrated ATI Radeon X1250 graphics.

This HDMI interface board still connects from the card to the TV using the same S Video splitter into component video cables.

After then turning on my and updating the drivers then I noticed that the picture was much better. No longer green!

It discourages me that a cheap board that came with the motherboard is nothing to write home about....but does not have the green color problem.

In any regard I still have a problem when using BTV the picture is good.

When I play a recorded movie (like that fish movie that came with BTV) then the video that is playing almost looks like it is playing in 256 colors because it is all pixelated and breaks up..... The fish movie for example looks like a big orangle blob that moves across the screen - nothing at all like I have seen it playing on my PC monitor.

Here are my specs:

Antec Fusion Case
Antec 430 PSU
ASUS M2A-VM H2MI
Athlon AM2 4600+
2 Gb Crucial DDR2
eVga GeForce 8500 GT
Creative Labs Audigy Soundcard
500 Gb WD Sata
Samsung DVD R / RW Sata

The Beyond TV Kit that I am using:

Beyond TV Software
Beyond Media Software
Hauppauge HVR-1600 PCI TV Tuner
IR Blaster (that came w/ the kit)
Firefly Remote
DVD Plug In
HDTV Indoor Antenna

OS That I am using:

Windows XP SP2

Thank You very much for your help!

[rdhiggins]

Did not receive any replies...

But I just wanted to be helpful in the event that somebody else happens to have the same issue.

I believe the problem that I am having is being caused by the way that the signal is coming in from the video card to the TV.

I am using a eVGA GeForce 8500 GT card with a S-Video connection. I was plugging a S-Video to component cable connector (that came with the card) into the S-Video port and then taking component video cables and plugging it into my TV from end to end....

I believe that the video card was sending a higher signal and either the TV or the card was sending too high of one particular signal.... aka the lovely tint of green.

Now that I have stated all of this what I am planning to do next is to use a HDMI cable to plug into the TV and then into a male to female HDMI to DVI converter.

I am hoping that this corrects it.....

[merrypig]

Green or magenta video is a sure fire sign of a mismatch between a component and a svideo video configuration.

you can't normally convert S-Video to component video with a simple 'connector. there's either something special about your svideo connector that it's using a Y, C and CVBS video signal a Y, Pr, Pb ( quite a common output from a graphics card) or the connector isn't doing what you think it's doing.

If it's the former case, check that your drivers are set for the right video output. Sometimes you need to reboot the system for it to detect the presence of a tv and possibly component vs svideo output.

Lot simple to use hdmi/dvi tho.

[rdhiggins]

Thanks Merrypig for your comments and yup I believe you are correct in your assumption.

What I had initially thought would work (with the converter, and video component cables) failed me, but the HDMI to DVI sure worked!!!! No more visuals with a tint of green

Now that I feel I have accomplished a huge task...I still have a few pondering questions.....

My Dual TV Tuner supports both HD and analag. I have an S - Video connection going from the external High Defn Cable box to my TV Tuner S Video Port. My TV resolution is set to 1080 and the picture is great within the BTV OS interface, but the HD channels that I receive (such as HD Discovery) are clearly not in HD format within BTV. Any Ideas why I am not obtaining the same HD clarity that the cable box provides?

When I had performed the initialed BTV setup the Cable Box that I am using is listed but not the exact same model #. So I selected the highest model that was listed (mine is the Scientific Atlanta 3250 HD) I don't have the IR blaster setup yet but I noticed that when trying to change the channel within the BTV OS interface that it changes to the exact same show no matter the channel number itself. So when I changed the actual channel on the cable box then it changed the TV show within the BTV interface. Is this normal since I have not hooked up the IR blaster or is it because of the cable box that I have is not listed? Is there a way to update this list?

Thanks!

Rick

[JWOsborneII]

Yes, it's because you don't have the IR blaster setup.

Basically, you're telling Beyond TV that you want to go to MTV2 (or whatever), and the box is on TLC. Beyond TV shows the information for MTV2, and tries to tell the cable box to change the chanel. If you don't have the blaster setup properly, then the cable box isn't going to listen to Beyond TV. Therefore, the chanel's not realling going to change.

It's sort of like trying to change the channel when you don't have any batteries in your remote. You click the buttons, but nothing happens.

[merrypig]

You cannot get HDTV via svideo video connections from a setup box.

For two reasons. #1/ svideo doesn't have the bandwidth to carry the high resolution signals. The cable attenuates the fast edges and it'll blur.

#2/ STB's output HDTV via Y/Pr/Pb but they will output a SDTV version of the same image via composite or Svideo connectors.

So although you can get HDTV from your component or dvi outputs, you won't (ever) get HDTV from the svideo output.

Unfortunately, you can't (easily) capture Y/Pr/Pb with any consumer capture card.

Your only real way to capture HDTV presently is to use OTA/ATSC for free over the air broadcasts, or QAM with the HDHR box for unecnrypted digital cable. Otherwise all your captures will be SDTV quality.

(Some STB's have a firewire output and there are hacks to let that work with BTV but it's not supported, or guaranteed )

[rdhiggins]

Just wanted to thank all of you users for taking a minute to respond and assist me!