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Sony 1040Q repeated picture via HTPC
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dkap




Joined: 14 Aug 2008
Posts: 109



PostLink    Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 6:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote


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Not sure I follow... The HTPC is currently Win 8 on one HD, previously Linux Mint on the other HD, and the computer I'm on (working at 11pm on a Sat, eek) is Win XP.

Dan
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AnalogRocks
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Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 26690
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

TV/Projector: Sony 1252Q, AMPRO 4000G


PostLink    Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 7:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ahhh OK you're doing the hard drive thing. I use to do that too.

You might want to consider a used PC from a local shop that has a video card slot be it AGP or PCIe (which ever your 6200 card is) that has XP on it. You're trying to do old school output with a new OS.

Of course it may cost you just as much to just get one of the external video VGA to S-video boxes I posted earlier in the thread.

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dkap




Joined: 14 Aug 2008
Posts: 109



PostLink    Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 7:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

AnalogRocks wrote:
You might want to consider a used PC from a local shop that has a video card slot be it AGP or PCIe (which ever your 6200 card is) that has XP on it. You're trying to do old school output with a new OS.


Crud. That would mean this entire 2-month process has been a waste of time (and parts). I don't think I'm ready to acknowledge that possibility, no matter how obvious it is becoming.

Dan
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AnalogRocks
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Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 26690
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

TV/Projector: Sony 1252Q, AMPRO 4000G


PostLink    Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 8:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

dkap wrote:
AnalogRocks wrote:
You might want to consider a used PC from a local shop that has a video card slot be it AGP or PCIe (which ever your 6200 card is) that has XP on it. You're trying to do old school output with a new OS.


Crud. That would mean this entire 2-month process has been a waste of time (and parts). I don't think I'm ready to acknowledge that possibility, no matter how obvious it is becoming.

Dan


Honestly I have played with the old video cards since 1996 ->

It was a little flaky in Windows 95 A & B, by version C it got lots better. I had an 8 Meg ATi Expert@Play card with great S-video out, a Canapous 6 meg VooDoo card with ( terrible ) S-Video out. That was a Pentium 200MMX with an ATi ISA TV tuner card.

Then Windows 98 then 98SE came along and I had 3 Systems. One had a VooDoo 3500 VIVO card. ( Awesome for its time ).

The other had a Matrox G400 Dual Head Max ( clearest 2D desktop ever ) with dual VGA AND S-video out at the same time.

When I rebuilt the Matrox box it got a Gainward Golden Sample GeForce4 Ti4800-SE Ultra/750-AGP8X 128MB BGA Video-in/Video-out card ( Lousy 2D, great 3D and S-video in and out )

Then next upgrade in the box was a GeForce 6200 ( which died 3 months later ) and got replaced by a 7800GS
all working nicely in Windows 98.



I was forced to upgrade to XP to get past the 2GB file size limit of FAT32 and the 512meg RAM limitation for HTPC.
Since then I have owned 5 cards with S-video/Composite and component out maily ATi but also some Nvidia. (Nvidia got tossed aside because it wouldn't play nice with powerstrip nor would the Nvidia control panel give me a proper 1080i 72/96Hz and hold it after a reboot to the Ampro 4000/Sony 1252 )


XP played nice the ATi 9800 AIW Pro in my 9 channel PVR ( c.2004) and the Mini PVR (Shutle HTPC c.2005 )with the ATi 9600 AIW and ATi HDTV wonder ATSC /NTSC tuner card.
That was when I upgraded from my 27 inch TV with S-video to a 40 inch RCA RPTV HDTV so I was using the Component out from the ATi 9800 card. Later on I switched to the DVI port. (can't see the boot/POST over DVI. Could over Component/YPbPr )

Getting the ATi 9800 card to play nice with the 40" TV took a while ( 2 months ) of playing with drivers and power strip to get 1080i with no overscan.

The Mini PVR was my portable PC ( sometimes along with the SONY 1252 ) to do outdoor backyard projection.

My Green Machine PVR HTPC has an ATi 3850 card that plays nice with Powerstrip, runs XP, 2 Happauge TV tuner cards ( 4 channel PVR ) and works 24/7. That was a journey on its own see this thread.
http://www.curtpalme.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=120&start=0

I refrain from upgrading OS or even new drivers. On my 2004 PVR/HTPC I 'upgraded' to ATi's newest drivers and it completely hosed the system to the point I just paved it and started over with a fresh install of XP and the OLD drivers.

Getting all the video cards/mother boards/Video cards/OS'es/and damed drivers to work together can be a royal PITA.
Hence my recommendation for the external VGA to S-video box. ( which I've also tried over the years-some good, some bad)

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dkap




Joined: 14 Aug 2008
Posts: 109



PostLink    Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 4:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

How the heck do you remember all that detail??? Or do you keep notes on everything you've built?

Dan
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AnalogRocks
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Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 26690
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

TV/Projector: Sony 1252Q, AMPRO 4000G


PostLink    Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 6:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

dkap wrote:
How the heck do you remember all that detail??? Or do you keep notes on everything you've built?

Dan


It's all in my head along with the voices Laughing

That HTPC build thread was my notes for the latest one.

There's allot more detail to it but I just gave you the cliff notes version.

Oh yeah I forgot to mention my first DVD player. It ran Windows 95, with an AMD 200MHz chip, 32 megs of ram and a 2 gb hard drive. For video it had an ATi 4meg PCI video card with S-video out and a Real Magic DVD decoder card connected to the ATi card internally via a ribbon cable. Also a wireless remote with a RS-232 IR receiver.

The S-video out on the ATi showed you the desktop but had a solarization effect when playing DVD's. The S-video out from the Real Magic card was stellar. Showing THE best S-video picture I have ever seen for DVD.

I bought that DVD-PC back in 1997 when DVD players were $1200-$2200. For the mere sum of $700 ( at auction ) I had an honest to goodness DVD player.

The best part. It was seamless. When using the S-video from the Real Magic card all you had to do was hit the power button. Hit eject, insert a DVD and wait about a minute or two ( while Win95 was booting ). The Real Magic software auto loaded and the DVD started to play. You never needed to see the windows desktop. My first true HTPC. I wore out the IBM 2X DVD reader watching movies on that.

Eventually I ended up with two of them ( because we all know two is better than one Smile ). The second one got stuck in the upgrade-itus path. Going from the AMD 200Mhz to a Celeron 300 overclocked to 450 and 503MHz with 384megs of RAM. It had a RIVA TNT2 ULTRA 32meg video card and a pair of VooDoo2's SLI'ed together for VooDoo games at 1024x768 on my (then) huge 17" Acerview monitor.
And a huge Quantum AS 13GB hard drive with Win95 C on it.

A bad power supply killed that box. I plugged it into the AC one day and it went "SNAP", "SNAP", "SNAP"
Killed everything EXCEPT the floppy drive. I still have the 13gb hard drive. I wish I could find the same model to swap the circuit board off of so I could recover that perfect Win95 gaming install.

That box went on to become the (c.2004) 9 channel PVR with all new guts except for that mighty floppy drive. It's still in there.

This is all from memory.

Now if this guy in my head would just stop singing Skitamarinkydinkydink my day would be great. Wink

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dkap




Joined: 14 Aug 2008
Posts: 109



PostLink    Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2012 1:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

AnalogRocks wrote:
It's all in my head along with the voices Laughing


Hah, nice! I've never been an early adopter ... started in on DVD in '99 once mass appeal had already made them affordable. Went through all the run-of-the-mill, big box players from Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, Toshiba, Sharp, Sanyo, etc., before going up-market with Marantz to find something to my satisfaction. Huge Marantz fan; wondering if I should just replace that instead of banging my head against the wall with HTPC. :/

Dan
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AnalogRocks
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Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 26690
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

TV/Projector: Sony 1252Q, AMPRO 4000G


PostLink    Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2012 2:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

dkap wrote:
AnalogRocks wrote:
It's all in my head along with the voices Laughing


Hah, nice! I've never been an early adopter ... started in on DVD in '99 once mass appeal had already made them affordable. Went through all the run-of-the-mill, big box players from Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, Toshiba, Sharp, Sanyo, etc., before going up-market with Marantz to find something to my satisfaction. Huge Marantz fan; wondering if I should just replace that instead of banging my head against the wall with HTPC. :/

Dan


OR Get an external VGA to S-video adaptor Wink

My first hands on with a DVD player was at a local boutique shop. They had a Pioneer customer appreciation day. That was when Pioneer's DVD player had a copper chassis, massive twin power supplies one for analog, one for digital and it weighed 40 lbs or so.
Quality built. I'd still like to have one just because.

Then there was the DVD/LD combo player. I really wanted one of those too. Couldn't swing the price at the time. I was too busy buying my separates 5.1 system. Massive dollars then. Now you can do the whole thing for less than a 10th.

Yep early adopter, it cost allot.

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