Had my new media pc for a fortnight and its all going wrong!

[DKennedy]

Hi again everybody peepsSorry I havent updated or thanked everybody but I got so frustrated last week, I decided to walk away for a few days to calm down.

So the update is...My PC is controlled by something called iMon where I found "screen resolution supported by graphic card". I opened this up but the choices given did not go up to 1080i so I picked the highest possible.

AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGG!!!! lost everything,

Now all I get when I open media centre is a blue screen! when I open task manager or force a shutdown I briefly see the media centre but thats it. Once media centre has been opened I cant access anything (I assume it is "always on top") so I have to shut down from task manager.

I have tried going into the media centre settings from "right clicking" but there is no way to change the screen res other than opening media centre and back to blue screen as above.

I tried uninstalling the imon hoping it would remove the settings but no joy.

Any help would be appreciated.

My next step will have to be taking the whole thing back to a mates house to start again from installing the OS.

 

[cram]

ok - you don't need to use Imon to change the screen resolution. Imon is a piece of software aimed at integrating remotes. I use it in conjunction with the the IR receiver in my PC to allow me to control it using a Harmony One remote.

You can control the screen resolution either in Control Panel or just try right clicking on the desktop. There is usually a screen resolution option there.

 

[DKennedy]

Hi Cram,

Right, no option but a rebuild as there does not appear to be a way of changing the media centre settings, without going into media centre directly, where I cant access the settings because the settings are . Classic catch-22.

because media centre is Burtoned, I have been playing with other media which has thrown up an interesting fact.

It is only media centre that is showing the distortion. A friend described it as a "pin cushion effect, where everything is tiny in the centre but widely distorts as it moves diagonally to the edges. media player on ripped content is fine, DVDs are fine (other than the overscaling issue) So, as it only shows on media centre and recorded TV, is this a problem with the TV card?

Any input would be appreciated as we are starting again on saturday. My PC savvy mate is more of a hardware guy and has very little experience of windows7.

 

[amcluesent]

>So, as it only shows on media centre and recorded TV, is this a problem with the TV card?<

Your display is a flat-screen TV, correct? Maybe it's been set to one of those 'smart' modes to expand 4:3 ratio picture to fill the screen. Somehow your PC tuner/display card is using 4:3 and so the TV is stretching this to 16:9, hence the distortion at the edges.

How are you connecting the PC to the TV? Analogue VGA? With an HDMI I thought all this sort of nonsense should be done away with.

There's a way of resetting setup on Windows 7 Media Centre. Close the Media Centre application. Open Task Scheduler -> Microsoft -> Windows -> Media Centre and manually run the MCERecoveryTask. Reboot to make sure all the Media Centre things get restarted and you should be back to set-up mode in Windows 7 Media Centre where you add tuners etc.

 

[Anonymous]

The video problem u are describing is likely fixed by doing this in Windows Media Player 12 - try it with media centre

Tools>Options>DevicesTab>Display>Properties.
The horizontal slider controls the aspect ratio.

 

[DKennedy]

hi amcluesent, errm??? I opened the task scheduler but Im having problems following your futher instructions. Where can i find "microsoft" for a start!?! <said i was a doofus on another thread>

 

[DKennedy]

cheers edsib, that may help with the overscaling problem i have but this goes a little deeper im afraid.

 

[amcluesent]

>Where can i find "microsoft" for a start!<

Keep expanding the 'tree' of tasks under Task Scheduler (Local) [Think of it like directories in Windows Explorer]

 

[cram]

Once in task scheduler expand the folders on the left of the screen: Task Scheduler Library - Microsoft - Windows - Media Center

The task is called MediaCenterRecoveryTask

 

[DKennedy]

cheers cram :0)

 

[DKennedy]

cheers amcluesent :0)

 

[DKennedy]

ok, update and more begging for help/bright ideas.

I took the PC round a mates on the weekend and sorted some of the minor glitches (overscaling/sound) but Im still left with the crazy distortion. mediaplayer/dvds/and even the interfaces on mediacentre(epg, menus etc) are all A-ok. We installed mediaportal to try and the picture was fine (glitchy as hell tho', it isnt working at all at the mo and will be uninstalled as soon as this is sorted). So I have to conclude that there is a problem with how the TV card is talking to the mediacentre (as the playback of recorded tv is also distorted it appears to have been recorded that way, as i said mediaportal doesnt have the distortion).

Over to you guys as I dont have any hair left and Im woried about my teeth!

 

[DKennedy]

<shameless bump>

 

[Anonymous]

So ur sound is working - its just the display thats not now?

What model of tv/monitor are using?

What display adapter?

Look in device manager for these 2 settings. Expand the display adaptors and and monitors entries.

Can u take a screenshot of the problem, upload the pic somewhere and provide a link to pic?

 

[DKennedy]

So ur sound is working

nope, only on spotify but that will just take closing the onboard soundcard in Bios which i havent gotten around to yet.

- its just the display thats not now?

What model of tv/monitor are using?

its a 32 inch bush flatscreen i bought while drunk (long story). Its due a replacement but after shelling out on the mediapc its right out of the question right now. The problem also showed up on my mates tv and didnt in mediaportal, so Im sure its internal to the mediacenter/mediaplayer

What display adapter? Ummm, HDMi (is that what your asking?)

Look in device manager for these 2 settings. Expand the display adaptors

ahhh! intel(r) HD graphics

and and monitors entries

just says "generic PnP Monitor"

.

Can u take a screenshot of the problem, upload the pic somewhere and provide a link to pic?

That would have been the next move but the pc refuses to recognise my wifi network as anything other than public, and wont allow me to access the internet!

Easy-pc!, pain in the ***-pc if you ask me!

 

[Anonymous]

the exact model number of ur Bush monitor?

Hard to tell without the exact model - but looking at other bush monitors - set the resolution to 1360x768. Any other resolution is likely to give u a very strange looking distorted screen.

 

[DKennedy]

its a flat panel tv mate.

I tried the other settings and its just as bad, just in a smaller box!