Problems using STB with MCE

[Fat Tone]

I decided to make my DVB-T card independant of MCE, and to get rid of the built-in tv-out of my a7n8x/vm-400, and to get rid of the wifi.

I have installed cat5e around the house, which works great - no more WPA issues and delays. I have installed a Club-3D Radeon 9250 VIVO 128MB (latest CAT5.8s for MCE), which seems fine (but see below). I have installed the MCE 2005 remote with IR blaster to control my NTL STB, which it seems to do nicely.

I have the STB connected to the TVs AV1 by scart, and also (from its 2nd scart output) to my VIVO input by s-video and to the composite input of my DVB-T card. The HTPC connects to the TVs AV2 from the VIVO output (composite as svideo doesn't work well, which I think is an issue with my crap TV).

Windows Movie Maker 2 will preview and capture from both inputs, so I know they are ok, but the problem is when configuring MCE to use the STB the best I can get is a black preview, which sometimes will change to 'tuner not found' or 'stopped'. Both Composite and both s-video inputs are listed.

Please help! I've trawled xpmce.com and thegreenbutton.com but they usually stop at 'check Wmm2'.

TIA

[Fluff]

I didnt think that the NTL STB put out svideo. Atl least there is not an option for it on mine!

[Fat Tone]

It would seem to. It's just MCE is not compatible with WDM VIVO

So my recently acquired 9250 was a lemon (for this purpose). Guess I should have researched some more. A friend is lending me a 9800SE AIW to try...this supposedly has been modded to be v.quiet.

[Pace]

I want to replace the ancient DVD player and VHS machine (and possibly cable box) with an HTPC

So, you are setting up your PC remote to control PC and your cable box, yeah?

Just wondering, did you research cable tuners at all? I would like an MCE (built a test-one at the moment without a tuner), but need to decide on my tuner setup. I wanted a dual DVB-T setup initially, but don't get that good a signal. Now thinking of an analogue or cable tuner, then upgrade to HDTV next year or so.

Back to the point... I've been advised that ntl used to filter my MAC address, and therefore lock customers to their set-top boxes, but no idea if this is still the case. Any idea?

[Fluff]

Cable tuners are not legal in this country unfortunately. Maybe they will become a reality with Vista.

At home I had to spoof the MAC address to get my router working. NTL check MAC address for authentication.

When you connect a new PC you have to resupply your logon credentials in order to register the MAC address in their database.

[Fat Tone]

There are a lot of DVB-C cards on ebay from Germany for example. I just have a DVB-T card in my machine (and at the moment even that isn't working through MCE since installing the Cat 5.10s and messing with some settings, but does on its own app). To be honest, this HTPC has been a pain in the arse right from the beginning.