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Thread ID: 71691	2006-08-13 19:21:00	media center help	bring back the abacus (6878)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
478267	2006-08-13 19:21:00	Hi all I have brought a media center and I can't seem to set it up where I get a good picture from sky. I am on sky digital, and have a dual tuner card thingy it's a 500 something or other, which I have no clue how to use, :D any way bottom line is I am willing to pay some one to come over and fix it up and a few basic lessons on what to do. I'm in Aucks on the shore. I would need hands on help as I am seriously not pc savy. I get a picture but it looks the same as when you've had a pint too many and your trying very hard to focus!! Is there a company I can call to come out and do this for me? thanks to all for this site.	bring back the abacus (6878)
478268	2006-08-13 20:37:00	From whom did you buy it ? was it new?	GrahamT (291)
478269	2006-08-13 21:44:00	Have you got the sky decoder hooked up to one set of the AV inputs on the TV card? Does the sky picture look OK when connected directly to a TV?	CYaBro (73)
478270	2006-08-13 22:59:00	Mine had similar problem when it was set up. If all connnections are OK, trying adjusting the setting of your video card. It worked for me. Basic lessions on what? If its using the functions of Media Centre, your retailer should have shown it to you so that you can make full use of its capabilities.	ephesus (2509)
478271	2006-08-14 00:20:00	thanks for the replies, I brought it new from playtech and some one from there came around to set it up but it still looks dogdy, I have a blue monitor thing in my plasma going to the media center and 1 wire that turns into 3 wires that come from the sky box in to my media center and one black wire svideo going from my media center to the tv? how do I adjust the setting on my tv tuner card? is there a company or some one I can pay to set it up. I'm really really not PC savy. cheers all. I don't want to ask playtech as the lad who came around did it in his own time and I feel abit cheeky asking him to come around again. Although they were very nice. the sky picture was good bbefore.	bring back the abacus (6878)
478272	2006-08-14 01:59:00	You said the picture was good before, did you do anything to it after it was installed? Just moved your mouse over the task bar (icons on the bottom rigth). If the software for the video card is installed you can usually see an icon like "nvidia graphics", click on it and it should bring up settings for your video card. Try adjusting the graphics options. You can always revert back to default if you don't like the settings. It could also be due to a dodgy tv tuner card, ie. the hauppage 500MCE so it might pay to ask playtech to have a look at it. Where are you on the shore?	ephesus (2509)
478273	2006-08-14 03:21:00	thanks for the replies, I brought it new from playtech and some one from there came around to set it up but it still looks dogdy, I have a blue monitor thing in my plasma going to the media center and 1 wire that turns into 3 wires that come from the sky box in to my media center and one black wire svideo going from my media center to the tv? how do I adjust the setting on my tv tuner card? is there a company or some one I can pay to set it up. I'm really really not PC savy. cheers all. I don't want to ask playtech as the lad who came around did it in his own time and I feel abit cheeky asking him to come around again. Although they were very nice. the sky picture was good bbefore. The hauppague PVR 500 (and the 150) is not the best card when used in the PAL flavour like we use in NZ. There isn't much you can do about it, as we don't have any other brands freely available in NZ. You might want to check that you are using Svideo from the Sky decoder to the PVR 500 (sounds like you are using composite at the moment) Your media center should be connected to your television by either VGA, DVI, HDMI or component connectors. If you are using Svideo or composite to the TV the picture quality isn't going to be very good. As the video stream from the sky box is getting mpeg2 compressed there will inevitably be a drop in quality, this usually manifests itself in a loss of sharpness, particularly when watching high motion scenes like rugby. The mpeg2 software decoder can allieviate some of these issues however. You may need to find out a lot more about media center, as even though it's pitched as an appliance, it can still be a demanding beast to care and feed. Can you please find out: How is the sky box connected to the PVR 500? What input connectors do you have on your television? What is the native resolution of your television? eg 720p? How is the media center connected to the TV? What graphics adaptor do you have in the media center? What mpeg2 decoder are you using with the media center?	BIFF (1)
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