UK Picture Quality and PC to TV connections

[MikeJHathaway]

Hi Everyone,

Am new to HTPC and have just setup my MCE with Sky and my omnikey reader, one thing I have noticed today is the quality of the picture. I have a nVidia geForce 8500 GT graphics card and I am using the S-VHS connector to connect to my TV and the quality isn't that great, on my xBox extenders the picture is great so I know it's not the setup of MCE. My TV isn't HDso I am limited to start, does anyone know if VGA to scart or DVI to scart will produce better results?

This needs to pass the wife and kids inspection so any pointers would be great.

Many Thanks

Mike

[foxwood]

Do you mean S-Video, rather than S-VHS?

S-Video can support a Standard Def signal, but it's possible that your video card is set up for NTSC (480i) rather than PAL (576i) and your TV is upscaling the signal. You might want to see if there's an option in the NVidia control panel to specify the PAL resolution.

[MikeJHathaway]

Sorry yes it's S-Video over an SVHS cable, I did set the NVidia control panel to PAL, I will have anoth dig to double check. My TV supports 1080i as this is the resolution my Playstation is using but I guess this is the connection I am using that is bringing the resolution down.

[richard1980]

My TV isn't HD

My TV supports 1080i

1080i is HD. Does your TV display HD signals (either 1080i or 720p) at full resolution, or do you have an SDTV that simply downconverts HD to SD?

If your TV is HD, you need a different connection. S-Video doesn't support HD, so you'll need to switch to something that does (such as component, DVI, or HDMI).

One other thing to check: Make sure you have told WMC you are outputting to a TV. Do not select any of the other options, as they will all overscan the output signal which will further degrade your picture quality. You can adjust your setting by going to Tasks > Settings > General > Windows Media Center Setup > Configure your TV or Monitor.

[MikeJHathaway]

Sorry I should have included the TV detail in my first post, while the top end resolution is 1080i and as you rightly point out is HD the set does not have any HDMI input, this is one of the old Panasonic sets that was released just before HDMI and 1080p sets were available.

Yes media center does know its using a TV as the main display.

Is there a DVI to scart cable I can use to help with resolution?

Thanks for all the helpfull responses so far.

Cheers

[foxwood]

Sorry I should have included the TV detail in my first post, while the top end resolution is 1080i and as you rightly point out is HD the set does not have any HDMI input, this is one of the old Panasonic sets that was released just before HDMI and 1080p sets were available.

So what connections does the TV have? Just S-video and SCART?

What connection are you using for the Playstation?

If there's a VGA port on the TV, a DVI to VGA adapter might do the job. SCART is just a physical interface that can actually carry a number of different types of signal, but I don't think any of them are a direct match for DVI.

[MikeJHathaway]

The TV has SCART and Component Video the S-Video is using a scart adapter. My Playstation is using the Component Video connections.

Is actually hard to get to the back of the set and check as its bolted to the wall and true to its age quite heavy so I tend not to disturb it very often (oh how I wish it would break to get a nice HDMI light weight set )

[richard1980]

I think you'd be better off just buying a component video selector switch. From what I can tell, there is no such device that can convert DVI to SCART, so you'd have to build your own and risk damaging something in the process.

[STC]

I remember SCART!

What a clunky, nasty connector that was.
I even had a four way IR SCART switch!
Wow, that was when I had an old analogue Amstrad SRD400, an OnDigital box and a TiVo and the biggest Sony 32 inch widescreen CRT you've ever seen!
That thing weighed about a tonne.

[bmblank]

How much is a tonne? Is it anywhere close to a ton?

[mark1234]

S-Video/SCART is never going to be as good as the HD component connectors your PS3 is using. Does a switch exist that would allow you to have both devices using those sockets? Can you sacrifice the PS3 down to using SCART?

For a long time I used S-Video on my PC (with both nVidia and ATI cards) to SCART on my TV and it was fine for what it was. It was better with ATI as it's easy to create a custom resolution to get a widescreen aspect ratio. I did buy a VGA-SCART cable from someone on old TGB a long, long time ago but it never worked for me. If I can find it in the attic, and you want it, you can have it to try if you want. But I'd recommend using the component connectors as a preference.

[holidayboy]

You can get a cheap "component video selector switch" on eBay for £12 ish.

It only has manual push buttons though I think, you'll need to spend more for IR switching.

Also make sure you get one that switches the audio, as well as the video!

[bobbob]

How much is a tonne? Is it anywhere close to a ton?:twisted:

no an imperial ton is equivalent to 900kg, so about 10% less than a tonne.

[STC]

^ Long live the Empire and the correct use of the Weights and Measures Act!

[barnabas1969]

You need something like this. I don't know where you would get one in the UK, but monoprice.com is a great source for those of us in the USA.

I actually own one of these switches. It works perfectly, and can "learn" the IR codes on your remote (or you can use the supplied remote to "teach" your programmable remote). For example, you can "teach" the switch so that when you press the power button for your Media Center PC, it will switch to that input. This particular switch can switch component video, analog audio, and coax digital audio (not optical). If your devices don't have coax audio inputs/outputs, you could buy converters pretty cheaply.

[mark1234]

^ Long live the Empire and the correct use of the Weights and Measures Act!

No.

The metric system is the one thing the French got right and we got wrong.

[STC]

I was jesting

[foxwood]

Do you know the model of the TV?

[bmblank]

As was I. Trolling is a great past time.