A TV Card, PS2, and Vista

[Lorn]

Hey all.

I'm trying to run a PS2 through my TV card so I can play it (as if it was normal TV input) through Windows Media Centre. I currently have everything connected and powered on, but there's one problem.

I can't seem to set Media Centre up properly. Checking through the channels, none seem to be the one that the PS2 is on via the TV card - it should work, but doesn't.

Anyone got any ideas? Thanks.

[FdL]

You basically want to use the monitor. And through the tv card. Does the tv card have an auxiliary input for that, and if so, how do you switch to it, through software?

It seems to me that there must be a certain channel enabled for aux signal input, or that you could switch specifically to it.

I've never had one of those so I'm not sure how they work. But still it seems it could be easier to be able to connect the monitor directly to the PS2, you wouldn't lose image quality. Maybe there's something to switch between both.

[Lorn]

I would just use it through the monitor or something, but that's kind of far from what I'm trying for; the point is, if I use it through a TV card then I can use MSN at the same time, take screenshots etc.

I mean, a while ago I had Sky connected through the TV card (yay, multiroom, but then the box broke and I decided to give up) in much the same way - thing is, Media Centre on Vista is thousands of times more complicated than the XP version. With the XP version, you just clicked "live TV" and it took you there; with the Vista version there's 106 channels >.>

I think it's a setup thing, but not 100% sure. For what it's worth, I'm connecting through the video/sound port things - one yellow, one white, one red. Not sure on the technical term, TVs are NOT my thing.

[13_CBS]

I think this blog might help you. (http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=1840)

[FdL]

I see, you're connecting it right, with the RCA cable input. I'd say it's all a matter of software then, but well, I've heard that Vista overcomplicates stuff :s

[Lorn]

Heh. Got it working eventually, I really should learn to at least TRY the defaults.

However, there's a few second delay between something happening on the PS2 (ie, me saying move forwards/fire/whatever) and it displaying onscreen. Not a good thing.

Going to try shutting down some processes (ie, Explorer.exe) and hoping an improvement in a while.

[hobbes543]

Isn't explorer.exe necessary for the OS to operate? I thought it had something to do with the start menu/desktop. iexplorer.exe is IE...

[Lorn]

Nope. Explorer.exe is the icons and the taskbar, which are completely unnecessary if you can use command prompt or something similar. OS can operate just fine without it, but I rarely go without it with Vista.

[FdL]

I'd say it's a bit weird that this gets working when you shut explorer.exe, but well.

[B-Man]

Well, I could see why there would be some improvement if the Vista explorer.exe was disabled. It's a major resource hog.

[Zeful]

Nope. Explorer.exe is the icons and the taskbar, which are completely unnecessary if you can use command prompt or something similar. OS can operate just fine without it, but I rarely go without it with Vista.
It's most of the user interface actually. All the directory windows run with it. And I think it handles program startup (I've not been able to load programs because explorer.exe was gone.)
And it's not hard to restart. Just hit F5 and bam, explorer.exe restarts.