Does Windows Media Center have its own screen saver setting?

[yoda313]

I have an odd problem with Vista Media Center (Vista Home Premium). Everything is technically working fine but after leaving the mouse alone for a half hour the video goes blank. I have checked and I first disabled the windows screen saver. I then tried setting it for more than 100 minutes and both times it went blank after a half hour - it restores to normal with a mouse button press.

FYI I am using a ATI all-in-wonder HD pci-e 512mb video card. I am using the audio out from my sound card and a svideo to rca adapter to connect the pc to my vcr's input. I believe I am using the one that was supplied with the adapter (fyi 2 - it is the ati adapter input card, it has a svideo in and out and component out and a audio input jack).

Has anyone else experienced a similar half hour timer on the video? Also everything looks fine when I'm using the mouse and even when I just use the remote without a mouse. It's after a half hour that I lose the video, the audio keeps going. What happens is the video just blanks out and leaves me with the blank blue screen of my vcrs input channel.

Suggestions are welcome. Thanks.

---------------

What my title is asking is there a seperate screen saver built in to windows media center? If so how do I access this? And does it matter that I'm preffering to leave MCE in media only mode? FYI for those that don't know media only mode locks you out of the desktop leaving the MCE interface as the default mode - it can be quickly disabled allowing access to normal desktop activities.

---fyi I haven't done a test yet to know if the media only mode might be causing this. I'll have to test that as well by watching more than a half hour while in both media only and non-media modes.

[TJohns]

In the Windows screensaver section, check the POWER button options. Sounds like it might be te screen actually being turned off rather than a screen saver per se.

[yoda313]

In the Windows screensaver section, check the POWER button options. Sounds like it might be te screen actually being turned off rather than a screen saver per se.

Thanks I'll look into that.

EDIT - I just checked and the power setting option was set to ENERGY STAR setting. I checked that and it was set to turn the computer off after a half hour. So I changed that to 3 hours and each of the other power settings to three hours.

I don't really watch really long movies on the computer. I use my high def tv and surround sound for that task. The media center pc is now in another room connected to an analog set. This is mostly for sitcom reruns and the like, throw away recordings. But I will be watching stuff thats longer than a half hour so that is annoying.

I can't confirm a 100% yet if that was the culprit or not. I will test that out and get back with a final report. Thanks for the insight TJOHNS.

[redwudz]

Just for information, with Vista you can change the regular power settings to 'High Performance' and then go in and change the individual settings. But a blue screen doesn't sound like a screen saver, though it may be with MCE. Or maybe a BIOS setting? With some energy settings, your CPU is ran at a lower speed and lower performance level, though it should speed up when needed. That and other 'green' settings can have a affect on performance.

I've never left MCE on that long on my Vista computers, so haven't encountered that problem.

[yoda313]

I'll respond to your comments in a moment Redwudz.

First off I can confirm that TJohns was correct about the power settings. I changed it to two or three hours and I was able to watch more than a half hour without the monitor shutting off. However my first test was invalid as I did not realize there were two settings - one for monitor and one for the whole computer. Once I got that straightened out I was all set.

Now to Redwudz:

I've never left MCE on that long on my Vista computers, so haven't encountered that problem

So how do you watch your programs? Are you streaming them to an extender like a 360? I did see there was a sub power setting for allowing the computer to stay in some kind of power mode and allowing media sharing. Is that the setting you're using?

-------------------

I do have a follow up question:

How do you program the computer so it will automatically shut down after MCE has finished recording a program?

I had thought that was an automatic feature in MCE but now I see that it was set up for a half hour shut down in the Energy Star function. I have moved that to two hours now so I can actually watch a full length movie successfully. The downside is that will mean that while recording a program it will take another two hours to shut down after the recording is finished.

I'd like to make this mimick a standalone dvr and shut down when it is not in use. Is there an automated way to that?

I know I can manually put the MCE in a sleep mode through the onscreen menu. I'd just like to do it automatically while I'm not there or when its recording something late at night.

Any insights are welcome.

(P.S - where in the BIOS setup would such a setting be located and what would it be called?)


EDIT - [quote ="redwudz"]But a blue screen doesn't sound like a screen saver, though it may be with MCE. [/quote]

FYI I've figured out that effect was from the energy saver setting disabling the monitor out. Thus the input to the vcr was cut off and it went to its internal blue screen it shows when there is no active signal. It is not a windows thing in and of itself but a function the vcr uses when no signal is being inputted. Hope that clarifies it

[redwudz]

I almost never use MCE. When it refused to recognize my LAN tuner, I quit using it entirely. But it did work with it in the past. I don't know if there is a separate MCE setting to blank the screen. I should mention that 'screen savers' don't save much of anything. The monitor is still running at full power. But if you blank the screen instead, it runs at idle power. You can tell the difference by the amount of heat it puts out.

I use MPCHC and VLC for watching most video. Cyberlink Power DVD for Blu-ray. VLC also works with my LAN tuner for display, but I rarely watch OTA TV or the SD cable system here. Mostly just movies. I access them over the LAN from the video server computers.

For most of my computers, I turn all the power saving off as I only run them when I need to. I do use CPU throttling on the HTPC as it doesn't do much except display video, and most are set to blank the screen with about a half hour of inactivity. The servers only use their monitor if I turn it on. I don't use screen savers either. The servers are only on when I want to watch a video.

Vista has quite a few power setting choices after you select a plan option and open the settings page. There are also a few in BIOS with some motherboards, though most of them are for fan control and CPU throttling. But you can set the monitor blanking method there. And the motherboard drivers disc may have some optional power setting programs available.

They have moved towards the 'green PC' philosophy in the last year and some systems are set that way by default. It may take a bit of digging to find what the default settings are.

[yoda313]

Thanks redwudz.