Media Center not working on E1505?

I just got my machine and I haven't gotten to format my HD and do a clean install yet, so I was just using msconfig to stop all the **** that's on there from loading at startup (so far it's worked pretty well) - but now Media Center crashes every time I try to set up my TV signal. Are there certain things that I need to leave enabled for startup? I disabled EVERYTHING (from the startup tab, not the services tab).

Also, when Media Center was working, I had very choppy video on Live TV only (all other videos played fine, including streaming video over the internet). Any idea what could cause that, and how to fix it? I have the base Dual Core system, with 120 GB HD and 2 GB RAM...

 

Generally I would not get rid of everything in the startup area. There are some things that may be useful, such as the WLTRAY.exe for the network or the quickset so that you may change your brightness and such. For the chopiness of the video, Edge05 recommended to me to go to microsoft updates (windowsupdate.com)and use the customize updates option. In there you will find a media center update that is optional that will suposedly fix some errors in Media Center. I would give this a shot. Other than that I can not think of anything.

 

I already tried installing the update for rollup 2...no luck, still choppy video.

Anyone have any ideas? Especially why it won't work at all now - do I need to leave certain things turned on at startup?

 

rollup 2, I think, is the update for remote control support, there's another update for video playback. Yeah, some things need to be left on.

 

Such as? LOL - I'm pretty experienced with XP in general, as I have four computers at home and I do programming for a living, but this is my first Media Center PC.

I'm pretty sure I installed all available updates (yes, the optional ones you get to by hitting custom), but I'll check when I get home...

If that's not it, any other ideaS?

 

I don't know, try letting everything start, then turn them off one at a time... I know it's a pain, but you never know. I'm having issues with my laptop that may either be hardware, or maybe it's something I disabled... so who knows?

 

Hmm...not sure it's worth doing that, since I'll probably be formatting the thing late this weekend and starting fresh (I just don't have time to do it now, I need it for a job tonight and Saturday).

I will check and make sure I installed both updates though...

 

yeah, if you are going to format / reinstall, then yeah, it's probably not worth it.

 

OK, I got TV working again - but it's still choppy as all hell...and yes, I did install all available updates (even the optional ones).

What else could it be?

 

I'm not sure if it applies here, but I had the problem with choppy playback of dvd's until I turned off the hardware acceleration and turned on the "eagleview" or whatever it's called in the MediaCenter.

 

I had thought about turning off the hardware acceleration, but I figured that would do more harm than good. Maybe I'll give it a try...

What's this EagleEye you're talking about though? I don't remember seeing that...

 

EagleEye is basically a video enhancer. It adjusts the picture for brightness. I watched a couple of portions of the Chronicles of Narnia with EagleEye on, and in scenes where I couldn't really see the scene because of light, EagleEye enabled me to see it. However, it comes at the price of video clarity, just doesn't seem as clear.

Turning off Hardware acceleration won't hurt, but shouldn't HAVE to be done on a new E1505. It's worth a shot though.

 

Well, Dell tech support insists it's a software issue - and that I'll have to pay for software support if I want it. How about that? I pay $1700 for a new computer, including complete care, and they tell me I have to pay extra for support for something that didn't work out of the box. I politely said no thanks.

I did notice that a new driver is out for the Intel video card - released on 4/7. I think I'll try that when I get home tonight...

 

I give up - someone please help me with this. I did the driver update and it still doesn't work...and I'm really pissed off that I spent an extra $130 on the TV tuner, an extra $119 on complete care, and now Dell tech support tells me I'd have to pay a fee to get more support on this? That's BS as far as I'm concerned...

Anyway, if you go into the setup and configure your monitor, and play that little video, that video plays fine - no choppiness at all. It only appears to be live TV that has the problem...

 

Your DVD's play fine? I wish I could help more, but I don't have a TV tuner yet.

 

Yeah, my DVDs play fine...I've only tested it with one, but it was just as clear and smooth in the E1505 as it is in my DVD player.

 

Hmm, I don't know, maybe it's your Tuner... try it in another computer, if it's still screwey then that's the issue.

 

It might be your power profile. When I first used my TV Tuner I was running the notebook on Battery Power... and it was choppy. Thought it was a piece of **** it was so choppy.

Thought it might have been power related and tried plugging in the PC and it got smooth. basically I think when its running on batteries in the default power level its not feeding enough power to the USB tuner.

You can fix it by plugging in the notebook, or setting the notebooks power profile to Desktop or whatever it is to be at full power all the time even when not plugged in.

This makes sense as the Tuner has its own DSP processors and such, and its powered entirely via the USB Port. So Id give that a try.

 

Here's an odd twist - if I take the video out of full screen, it runs smoothly and looks very nice. Even more odd - this includes not only taking it out of full screen and into a window, but if I just bring up the task manager to have the taskbar at the bottom of the screen, it runs smoothly. The second I go back to full screen, choppy again...

 

By the way, I did check out the power settings and try with it plugged in vs on battery power - same problem. I've limited it solely now to full-screen vs non-full screen.

Question is, how do I fix that? I've already got the latest driver and all updates for MCE...

 

Well for those of us that bought the tuner- we are awaiting your fix. I don't even have time to look at my tuner yet. I'm trying to get this configured for VPN and having all kinds of problems.

 

I certainly will, but I'm not very confident - like I said, I've upgraded to the newest video drivers, and now the newest TV Tuner drivers - still the same problem...

 

Anyone? This is really annoying and I can't figure it out...

 

FWIW, you're not alone on this one. I spent (wasted) the bulk of my Sunday morning on the phone with Dell trying to figure out the same problem. I'm still within my 30 days of OnCall, so they did their best to try to solve it. They were stumped, and told me I needed to find a way to get connected to Dell's Media Centre queue. I was given several numbers, sat on hold a ton, and never got through. While waiting on hold, I found your message, which at least showed me I could watch nonjerky live TV in less than full screen.

I'd be interested in any solution you find, but even with paid tech support, my time is too valuable to throw away 2-3 hours at a time while they scratch their heads.

Sorry that's not more helpful, but I thought you might want to know you're not alone.

 

Here's another new interesting twist:

Try recording something in MCE, then play it in Media Player (NOT MCE). You have to go to your recorded TV folder, then play it from there (in regular media player). It plays fine. If I play the EXACT SAME RECORDING in MCE, I have the same ****py choppy video I've had since I got the machine last week.

 

During the Media Center set-up, did you choose "built-in display"? If you have chosen "flat panel" instead, you will get the problems that you are describing. You may also want to play with screen resolutions as well.