Sony VGX-XL3 - Page 9

Thanks for the complement, D.C., but now that I've got it all set up, I realized: I could have done exactly the same thing by buying one additional 750GB and wound up with double the previous capacity (750 x 2 / 750) instead of 2.6 times (1000 x 2 /750) at a quarter of the price. That's a (2/2.6)/(1/4) = three times better bang for the buck. Even if I didn't already own a 750GB and had to buy two new drives, that would still be a (2/2.6)/(1/2) = 1.5 times better bang for the buck, so if anyone wants to install a similar setup, you might want to consider that. Especially if somebody is performing independent oversight of your finances.


Nonetheless it is, as Eric Cartman would say, "sweeeet." (See attachment for details).

So I got Gears of War (GOW) for Windows (http://www.gamesforwindows.com/en-US...orWindows.aspx , videos; http://media.pc.ign.com/media/670/670283/vids_1.html) and the XBox controller for Windows (http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/ga...s.aspx?pid=091) yesterday (you guys definitely need to check out this game). Initially I as well as countless others who bought this game had problems playing the game because after installing I was trying to start the game from the DVD which made it crash after about 15 seconds. Then after troubleshooting I realized it had to be started from within the Games folder in Vista as noted on the developers website after complaints from customers of the same crash issue (I then made a Quichlaunch shortcut). Thereafter, all was great, you would not know it was not an XBox one was playing, XL3 delivering the game at 1080p to the TV (yes, my TV actually confirms that it is receiving HD 1080p from the XL3) with heavy HD surround audio on all ceiling mounted 5speakers+1subwoofer, awesome. And the XBox Controller for Windows really makes gaming affordable so that all you have to buy is the Windows version of any game (without getting stuck with outdated game consoles everytime a new one is released) and you are on your way (sometimes Microsoft/developers hold out a while before releasing games on Windows though, so that people can go out there and buy XBox consoles...for example Halo 3 is not out on Windows yet).

What I am trying to point out is that when I was unknowingly trying to start the game from the DVD it would sometimes not have audio. So when I finally caught on to starting it from the Vista Games folder for the most part it had audio but once today there was generally no audio on anything at all on the game and on Vista in general until I rebooted. I am not sure what is going on anymore because on both occasions of playing the Spiderman Bluray disk and this GOW DVD for the most part they did not have audio, so it seems as though the drive or its software/driver is/are having issues as well. Perhaps I should test further with more DVDs to confirm if there are audio issues with the DVD drive. Yesterday, at one point there was no audio at all even after reboots until I installed the original audio driver from Sony website, it seems to be better than having the latest audio driver installed but in any case the situation needs to be resolved. I plan to give Sony a call to troubleshoot this and perhaps send another tech out here with a new audio and video card.


Techworxs, LLC - Computer, Network, VoIP, & Technology Solutions for Homes and Businesses.™

You're Welcome...My Pleasure. I learn more from your posts then all the lousy and dull manuals I've ever read.
But 577 HRS of HD Recordings..WOW!!...You're Insane! :-)

I was completely unaware that there was an XBox controller (even a wireless one) for Windows. I may have to get that, thanks. I tried playing some games downloaded through XBox live while exercising and discovered that it is a serious hazard to life and limb to play a video game while on a treadmill (this is particularly true of driving games). So I only use the XBox 360 to watch TV from the XL3. I might get one of these controllers so I can play games from the couch on the XL3...how ironic is that? (Someone recently asked me how I like the games on the XBox, and I said "Games? You mean it can play games, too?")

rjeffb, you don't want to get the wireless xbox controller for Windows, people are having issues with it and its connection and interference with other things around it, and you know its in the same 2.4GHZ frequency as your WiFi unless you just want to mess with it and return it within 30 days. You should read its reviews, also, why have to keep replacing batteries when one is only a few feet away from the system? The wired controller is so good it ran out in some stores. I guess that's what the two USBs in fron of the XL3 are made for...LO really L.



Techworxs, LLC - Computer, Network, VoIP, & Technology Solutions for Homes and Businesses.™

>I learn more from your posts then all the lousy and dull manuals I've ever read.

All of my posts are being compiled and published by Time-Life books, "The Magic of Jeff's Posts." Normally $995 but if you act right now, yours for only three easy payments of $19.95 plus $4.95 shipping and handling (plus applicable sales tax in New York, Virginia, and Guam).

You'll read stories not found in any lousy and dull manual - like the tale of John Wesley Hardin, a man so mean he once shot his computer just for hibernating. Order now and you'll receive this informative pamphlete, "Why can't I find the 'any key' on my keyboard?" absolutely free.

- Jeff :-)

P.S. oh, this is supposed to be an XL3 forum. Um, me much like XL3 Sony when work okay. 1080P good!

rjeffb, after connecting the XBox controller for Windows to your XL3, make sure you install its Vista update so it can complete installation. You may have to run Windows update for that, on mine Windows Update automatically got it and notified me to install it, which I did.



Techworxs, LLC - Computer, Network, VoIP, & Technology Solutions for Homes and Businesses.™

Thanks, but I already own two wireless controllers for my XBox, in fact I already purchased the rechargable battery packs for them. So since I don't play games on my XBox, that investment is just collecting dust. Does anyone know about the Microsoft Xbox/PC receiver? It's not much money and if it worked, then I could use my existing hardware. BTW I have wireless turned off on the XL3, in fact I hardly ever use wireless in my house at all (security or not, my network slows down because it's subject to constant snooping attacks when I have the radio turned on).

rjeffb, Yes, the wired Xbox controller for Windows doubles as a wireless controller for xbox, so the wireless gaming receiver is what you hook up to your XBox so you can also use the XBox Controller for Windows with your Xbox wirelessly as well. Did you check out Gears of War yet? That game is awesome, its up there with Halo and has won over 30 awards, you should check it out. I think it has much better weapons and levels than Halo (I love the gun that also doubles as a chainsaw in front of it instead of a bayonet so you can shred your enemies when they close in on you). I bought if on Windows ($40, circuitcity also has a $20 rebate on it) and it plays great on the XL3. Its such an intense action-packed game. The videos are at; http://media.pc.ign.com/media/670/670283/vids_1.html . Let me know what you think. The audio at less than halfway on my A/V system via HDMI is awesome. You also get free Silver Live account to go online and battle and get to try out Live Gold for 30 days.




Techworxs, LLC - Computer, Network, VoIP, & Technology Solutions for Homes and Businesses.™

To everyone that has been having a problem with HDMI Sony has seemed to release a fix for this.
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu...=3255&os_id=28
I haven't tried it yet so use with caution.

On the realtek site there is a new Vista Driver posted. Not sure if it is for our unit though. Not much information:
Version R1.84

Got the Lost Season 3 BRD. Bueno Vista blurb and FBI warning play, then black screen and no audio. Menus appear to work, but no picture or sound. Installed the old Sony BRD update, no change. Installed the latest update off Sony's web site and voila, everything works. Well, sort of, and the picture is astounding; reported by my monitor as 1920x1080px60Hz.

1. Audio setup still reports just "2 speakers" (or headphones) even while disc is playing but it does appear to be in surround sound, especially when set to Dolby 5.1. It could be simulated surround sound but the signal is going to the processor digitally. I can also activate DRS, can't really tell any difference, but if I set it to DRS simulated surround sound then I >can< tell the difference (sounds terrible). The strange thing is, because I am presented with only two speakers, I get two active volume controls (left and right, with all other choices unavailable) and lowering them does kill all the left or right sound out of both front and rear. That would seem to be impossible if it's a true 5.1 signal. The output is still greyed out and pre-selected on SPDIF, no way to change it to HDMI. So is it surround sound or not? Beats me, too bad the discs don't come with a diagnostics menu that puts out discrete speaker sounds to test the audio. The discs' menus do have audio setup to select between Dolby 5.1 and Dolby 2.0, but exactly how what the DISC is set for interacts with what WinDVD is set for is totally unclear.

2. WinDVD is unbelievably buggy. It will not start up at all if I am recording a TV show, it just bombs and pops up the "...has stopped working, what would you like to do" window. This is true whether Media Center is running at the time or not, "watching" a Blu-Ray from within Media Center simply starts WinDVD, not even a Media Center-specific version (a la Chess Titans). When Media Center is not recording, WinDVD still bombs half the time when autorunning as a result of inserting a disc; once in a while when started by running a shortcut; and it very reliably crashes when quitting the program (you might ask who cares about that last one, but it could well prevent it from remembering where you left off). The good news is, once the BRD is actually playing, I haven't had any crashes so far. Exactly what happens if you are watching a Blu-Ray when Media center starts to record something is highly theoretical just now.

I have to apoligise for my post on realtek driver. My other pc has Realtek, Sony has SigmaTel. I went to see if they have a update on there audio driver and company was bought out. The new company says we have to go to Sony for updates on driver.

So get this...I do the Hdmi update from sony and I hook up the panny via HDMI (Beautiful Picture!! even if it is only 1080i) BUT...I am not getting any sound on recorded videos! I get sound in window media center (beeps and bells) I get sound if I play some music. Just No Sound on any video! I have the Sigma tel set to HDMI only. What gives? Do I need to update the Sigma tel Drivers?

Yeah, if you read way back in this thread you'll see that if you change anything affecting audio (new OS, HDMI, probably Toslink) you need to re-install drivers. They've been variously called "Intel" and "sigmaTel" drivers on Sony's download page (they're back to "SigmaTel" now).

But did it fix the problem? And why are you only getting 1080i thru HDMI?

As far as the Monitor Flaking out when I turn it off...That is yet to be determined.

On the Other Hand...I'm an Idiot! I had to go into the sound properties and turn some stuff off like the higher frequency sound rates. Now it works!

As for 1080i...Well I only have Windows Home Premium installed.

Some day...I'll be brave enough to tear down the system and install Ultimate I guess.

D.C., I am totally confused. Are you unaware of relobe's 1080p fix (page 7 of this thread), or did it not work in your system? Remember, Ultimate = no digital cable (and according to some sources, no Blu-Ray). We have strong evidence that the only difference between Home's 1080i and Ultimate's 1080p is the registry change relobe identified.

Interesting that having the high frequency stuff causes HDMI to go silent. On my system (Toslink aka SPDIF) it works but high frequency transmissions sound like old-fashion modem handshake tones.

[quote=rjeffb;12604702]Are you unaware of relobe's 1080p fix (page 7 of this thread), or did it not work in your system? QUOTE]

I'm aware of relobes reg fix but...My Panny is well over 3 years old. As far as I can tell the highest resolution it supports is 1080i according to the manual. So I don't know if relobes fix would serve me any purpose.

On the other hand...As of this morning I went to turn on the panny and I still get the blank screen via HDMI after I shut the panny off overnight.

So...I put the system into sleep via the the WMC remote and I'm gonna wait an hour or so to see if I can bring it out of sleep mode and hopefully that will reactivate the panny monitor. If not, the next step would be to set the Power button to "Restart Mode" in the Power control panel. What a pain!

>>I'm aware of relobes reg fix but...My Panny is well over 3 years old. As far as I can tell the highest resolution it supports is 1080i according to the manual. So I don't know if relobes fix would serve me any purpose.

OK, but then installing Ultimate wouldn't solve your problem, would it?

I was playing around with a Sony 52" and found that it has all sorts of well-hidden HDMI wakeup settings, including the ability to turn other things on and off and the ability for other things to turn it on and off. I hadn't seen that menu item on other monitors.

I like your idea of reprogramming a hard button to reset. I have an alternative idea: if you have a full version of NVidia control panel, I believe you can program a shortcut key combination to activate a preset profile. My idea is you could temporarily activate a different profile (say 1024x768x16) to wake up the HDMI and then immediately switch back to 1920x1080x32. Before fooling with setting that up (or determiing if it is even possible under NVida, I know for fact it can be done with ATI's Catalyst control panel), figure out the exact set of keystroke needed to manually switch resolution and jot it down. The next time you have the HDMI issue, type that sequence of keystrokes in (thereby activating a new resolution) and see if it wakes up the system. If it does, then you now have another option. It's still a kludge but it's faster than restarting the system plus it won't interupt an ongoing recording.

I stand corrected...I thought I could set the power button to restart the machine in the power control panel but there in no option for that. I'll try your option with the nvidia control panel.

On another note...I tried unplugging the HDMI cable and then replugged it. The monitor did come back on BUT it was just a bunch of garbage. Horizontal Bars across the lower half of the screen. I had to shut down via the power Button to get out of it. ((sigh))
"It Always Something!"

For those of you that have/had a problem with your Plasma or LCD tv losing it's signal after you shut it down for more then 6 hours or so, (See post # 223 This Thread)I think I've found the solution. It seems that this problems stemming from Power settings Control Panel. Even though I had it set to "Maximum Performance" with just about every power saving sub menu either turned off or set Max Performance it still didn't make any difference.

So, What's a Poor boy to do? Investigate! Just for the heck of it I decided to look up Power Plans in Alan Simpson's Windows Vista Bible. I came across something called "Create a Power Plan" which is shown in the left side pane of window when you open the Control Panel >Power Options.

I clicked on "Create a power plan" And it gives you a Plan Name Field at the bottom of the window. In my case I entered the plan name as Vaio Power Plan.

The funny thing is that In the advanced settings everything looked as if they were the same as I had set them in the Windows "Maximum Performance" power plan.

Setting aside the obvious generic things such as Turn Off Display" to Never and " Put the computer to Sleep" Never. It's a good Idea to use a screen saver just so you know the monitor is working when you turn it back on after an extended period of being off.

Bottom Line... Try creating a new personalized power plan with every sleep, hard drive spin down option etc. set to never. Use "Maximum Performance" where it applies. If need be I could post pictures of my control panel settings if that you think that would help.

I have tried the new HDMI update from Sony and it seems to be giving my system some problems. When I ran the executable, it re-flashed the firmware from 2.7 to 2.6, then it proceeded to install a driver that took a while and resulted in a blank black screen...even after rebooting. It screwed up the system such that when I did successfully bring up the desktop it was all screwed up as in bad grainy display. I tried re-installing this update several times and ended up with the same result. At some point the update screwed things up such that HDMI stopped displaying completely, I had to use component to display it and roll back the HDMI driver although the firmware still remains changed to the latest one. I really don't know what the issues is with this thing.

Did anyone experience the same issues?



Techworxs, LLC - Computer, Network, VoIP, & Technology Solutions for Homes and Businesses.™

I read this at TGB...It seems that the tv has to be on at the time of the firmware flash.

"Also beware: if you have a TV with the new HDMI, do not install the new drivers
(the last 2 releases),
before flashing the video card. The new drivers are very dependant on the
communication with the TV.
After the the PC reboots the first time, after the update. The PC thinks the TV
is off and tries to turn
it on, while the the TV thinks the PC is off and turns itself off. this happens
repeatedly and causes
the screen to flash rapidly for a while, until the TV finally gets pissed off,
and shuts down the PC while
it is booting. It crashes the OS and is practically non recoverable."
http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/229815.aspx

In my case, I had the 06/07/2007 Video NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 6600/7600 GT Display Driver Installed from sony http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu...=2797&os_id=28

I did not seem to have any problems. You might want to install this driver and then do the HDMI flash.

Correction...Install the driver, Shut down and then change to HDMI and power up the vaio. See if that fixes the problem.

A note about Vaio Video Drivers.
I read somewhere that "Sony's Engineering dept. has throughly tested these drivers for compatibility with The Sony Vaio."

In the case of the HDMI Update this may stand true. If you look at Nvidias latest driver update 169.25 http://www.nvidia.com/object/winvist...9.25_whql.html you will notice that under "products supported" the GeForce 7600 GTL is not listed. Yeah you see a GeForce 7600 GT Listed But no GTL. So what could it be then? Nvidia made this card special for the Vaio is the only explanation.

rjeffb, Can you tell me what version NVIDIA driver and what version NVIDIA Control Panel you are using? I can't seem to be able to get1080P to work on my PC.

UPDATED 1/4/08

D.C., the GTL isn't Sony-specific, but it is indeed an OEM model not generally available through retail. Until recently, the Niveus Denali Limited HDPC also used a 7600GTL (it now comes with an 8600GTS, which is showing up on a lot of HDPCs lately and by all accounts is a vastly superior card). BTW, the Niveus web page shows a screenshot of Media Center with a customized wallpaper - anybody know how to do that? Come to think of it, it might be a video playing in the background made to LOOK like wallpaper. That would explain how the stock background incorporates those gently shifting visual effects...I'll see if I can find a corresponding video or .SCR file. UPDATE: verrry interesting. No video file or screensaver, but in the registry under Media Center there's an Extensibility > Categories group containing a key "Background =." Mine's blank, and I bet the Denali's isn't. Unable to find anything on Microsoft or TGB on this, looks like a secret only shared with OEMs. I'd love to see what's in that file on a Niveus machine; see attachment for screenshot. Mind you, it could just be a Live TV running as background, but that would be pretty misleading of them to post that screenshot. UPDATE: I'm 99% certain that it's a real background; after some experimenting, I'm pretty sure that there is no way to have a live video running in the background at the main Media Center menu (as opposed to within Guide, which is easy) as shown in the attachment.

There's supposed to be a program called MediaCenterFX to do this (sort of a super PowerToy) but its web site still isn't functional.

Tech, how did you make out? Taken a sledgehammer to your XL3 yet?

John, I don't use a separate control panel, just the practically nonfunctional one that comes with the video driver. I seriously doubt that the version or lack of the control panel matters; techieg got 1080P to work with the NVidia control panel, and I got it to work through Vista's display properties.

The driver version, on the other hand, might make a difference. I'll update this post shortly with the exact driver number on my machine; others on this thread have also gotten the 1080P fix to work and it's unlikely that we all have exactly the same driver version. UPDATE: driver # is 7.15.10.9752 dated 12/13/2006 (so not exactly the latest one). Again, this is what Vista reports about the core minidriver; I don't know what version of the NVidia download package it is, and I can't seem to find the archived driver page for the 7600 to cross-index it (it may have been removed or it may just be well-hidden, but all I can find now are archived XP drivers). You may want to check out techieg's link below which includes some additional instructions on setting the 1080P (BTW Tech, IMHO you should attribute the discovery of the fix to relobe in that thread, credit where credit is due).

rjeffb, I finally found a working solution to the HDMI audio/video loss. The solution is in the power settings, check out where I documented it; http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hlight=vgx-xl3 , now I don't have any issues at all with my XL3, all is fine...when I switched away for a long period of time and even when I turned off the TV and the HDMI A/V system last night (while the XL3 remained on) and turned them on this morning I was able to switch to the XL3 with full HD audio/video...no audio or video loss. I'm good to go.



Techworxs, LLC - Computer, Network, VoIP, & Technology Solutions for Homes and Businesses.™

Took me a while to figure out why I couldn't get 1080p with the editreg fix. My XL3 was connected first to a JVC AV receiver which has 2 HDMI inputs and a HDMI output to my Sharp Aquos LCD TV. The 2 HDMI inputs are from the XL3 and the Dishnetwork box. With this hook up, the XL3 did not see the Sharp Aquos but only saw the AV receiver as an ordinary monitor without 1080p capability. Once I connected the XL3 directly to the Sharp with HMDI without going thru the JVC, the 1080p choices appeared and I got 1080p. My present hook up is direct HDMI from the XL3 to the Sharp for video and digital sound via fiber optic from the XL3 to the JVC.

1080p is awesome, digital photos look much better, blu-ray is better and it solves the Media Center Slideshow problem. Before, I could not do photo slideshow with 1080i.

Audio and video with HDMI is problematic sometimes. In the past, I would lose audio for no apparent reason. Unplug and plug sometimes would fix it. I have now changed the power setting as recommended by Techieg and with my present setup of getting sound thru digital output from the XL3 to my AV receiver, I should not have any more problem.

Thank you guys for all the good fixes posted.

dannyalh, you may want to read the post about the power settings again, I just added an update to it that may help your situation with the audio and video loss.

Next step for me is to install a Cablecard on my perfect XL3, hopefully that goes without a hitch...I shall find out tomorrow. And then perhaps I will explore the option of adding an extra tuner and stop paying for my cable provider DVR.



Techworxs, LLC - Computer, Network, VoIP, & Technology Solutions for Homes and Businesses.™