I looked @ the wiki entry for the black screen and tried what was on it to no avail.

I got everything working to the point where it is on my TV screen for everything. Menus work fine, when i go to live TV i can bring up the guide and see the live TV through the guide. But when the guide goes off so does the ability to see the video.

PVR 350
P4 1.8ghz
512 ram
inspiron 4550

I you know that you're capturing video successfully then lack of Xv support as mentioned at the end of the BlackScreenWatchingTV troubleshooting page is the next place to look. See the CheckingLogFiles page as recommended there for what to look for to debug this. In your case you probably need to complete the PVR350 setup. Do you have the checkbox under TV Setup for "use the PVR-350 output" checked? I forget the exact location, but it's not that hard to find.

I got it to work. there was for some reason a glitch...I just looked @ the PVR 350 menu and changed what device it was and it fixed...then i changed it back and it still works!