TV-card distorted sound

Fjoms · 2008-02-11, 16:05

I recently installed MP on a new computer, but the sound in the TV-card is not good. I have the Hauppauge! WinTV-PVR-150. The sound is slightly distorted, enough to make it rather annoying.

The problem is not MP-specific, as it is the same with the software included with the TV-card (WinTV2000). Also, strangely enough, one TV channel has very bad signal for the picture. My regular TV is right next to the computer, using exactly the same signals, and has perfect sound and picture on all channels.

Does anyone have experience or tips regarding problems like this? Do you think it is caused by a bad combination of software/drivers, or is it more likely to be a production error on my TV-card?

My system consists of an Asus Pundit P1-AH2 Barebone (nForce430+Geforce6150 ,Socket-AM2) with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ 2.1GHz processor, 1GB ram, a Samsung SpinPoint SATA2 harddrive, and Samsung DVD recorder. I am running Windows XP Pro SP2.

The problem has been there from the very start since I installed the system, also before I installed MP. I tried to search the web for similar problems, but didn't quite find anything that looks similar. That's why I suspect there to be a hardware problem with my card. Thought I should post here anyway, before I start the process of returning it.

gemx · 2008-02-11, 17:11

Hmm, i have a Technisat SkyStar2 DVB-S card with BDA drivers and sometimes if TVServer crashes during testing i have these stuttering too. Also while playing back just mp3's via Windows Media Player.
The only way to solve this is to shut down windows and remove the power from the pc, so it is totally powerless.
Then count to 10, reconnect power and let Windows boot. After that all is fine again

dman_lfc · 2008-02-11, 18:36

Yes I have seen this too hence I stick to WDM

DMAN

Lotsofjazz · 2008-02-14, 20:27

Could be a codec issue.. Ever considered to install Vista? It solved many of my video problems.

If you have installed Mediaportal, and leave the codecs MPV and Descaler checked, I am pretty sure Dscaler is messing up your sound!.. Unregister Descaler, and you are done, because then the proper audio codecs are used.. I had the same problem in XP Pro! Descaler was decoding after AC3filter was done decoding allready.. and no way I tried to set the merits lower, it stubburnly loaded no matter if another codec was doing the work allready (check with graphedit, while playing the movie in Mediaportal, open Graphedit, file>connect to remote application).. So you MUST uninstall the Dscaler codec to get rid of this problem.. dont be afraid you mess up, because you probably have much better codecs installed.

download Radlight to manage your codecs, Open radlight, click plus in front of directshow filters, scroll down to the dscaler audio codec, select it and click on the Unregister button below. Restart your computer, play movie.. did it help? Also if you have MPV codecs installed, lower the merits to NORMAL. This also can be done using Radlight.. you must restart your computer to effect the merit changes!!

As for codecs if have the following (no guarantee it works for you, because you have a completely different system):

For movies in media portal setup:
Mpeg2 codec: Cyberlink Video decoder/SD PDVD7 (hardware acelleration ON in directshow filters, mediaportal setup), this codec comes with PowerDVD Ultra (you can download a trial)
Mpeg4/H264 codec: ffdshow (somehow cyberlink H264 codec doesn work properly, lot of stutter and blocking with some movies)
Audio: MPA audio codec (comes with Mediaportal), somehow with other codecs, they dont get the signal to the SPDIF, with MPA it just works as it should, dont ask me why AC3Filter/ffdshow Audio Codec, doesnt work in Vista anymore (it did in XP Pro), yes I checked to passthrough to SPDIF for AC3 and DTS (DTS worked, AC3 did NOT under Vista!)

For TV I have the same, except for H264 I do use the hardware accelleration of the cyberlink H264 codec... here ffdshow doesnt work with live TV and just shows a blank screen.. I think this is because ffdshow builds a buffer before actually showing the picture, and this interferes with the timeshifting function also trying to build a file at the same time. Somehow the Cyberlink H264 does work perfectly with TV, smooth playback of National Geographic HD signal at 1080i/50Hz (PAL) output at 720P/50Hz on HDMI to JVC LT32S60

Something else to consider:

Make sure your Input TV signal matches the TV refresh rate. If you are in PAL broadcast area(europe) it should be a multitude of 25, otherwise you get the phenomenon called tearing, like a part of the picture is shifted along a line(tear) horizontally more to the right or left then the rest of the picture.

Also you should set Vsync to Allways on.. in my display driver setup software this could be found under 3D settings, normally only interesting for gamers, but with (digital) video this is also a very important setting. If you cant find Vsync, try Wait for vertical Refresh, or search on the support website of your graphics card for the term Vsync..

At least this helps to smoothen your videoplayback, and with that also the audio playback should improve.

One more thing you could try is to install an extra strip of 1Gb memory, 1Gb is a little low for High Def video playback

I hope this helps!

2008-02-11, 16:05	#1 (permalink)
Fjoms Portal Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 7 Thanks: 1 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country: My System	TV-card distorted sound I recently installed MP on a new computer, but the sound in the TV-card is not good. I have the Hauppauge! WinTV-PVR-150. The sound is slightly distorted, enough to make it rather annoying. The problem is not MP-specific, as it is the same with the software included with the TV-card (WinTV2000). Also, strangely enough, one TV channel has very bad signal for the picture. My regular TV is right next to the computer, using exactly the same signals, and has perfect sound and picture on all channels. Does anyone have experience or tips regarding problems like this? Do you think it is caused by a bad combination of software/drivers, or is it more likely to be a production error on my TV-card? My system consists of an Asus Pundit P1-AH2 Barebone (nForce430+Geforce6150 ,Socket-AM2) with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ 2.1GHz processor, 1GB ram, a Samsung SpinPoint SATA2 harddrive, and Samsung DVD recorder. I am running Windows XP Pro SP2. The problem has been there from the very start since I installed the system, also before I installed MP. I tried to search the web for similar problems, but didn't quite find anything that looks similar. That's why I suspect there to be a hardware problem with my card. Thought I should post here anyway, before I start the process of returning it. Last edited by Fjoms; 2008-02-11 at 16:12.

2008-02-11, 17:11	#2 (permalink)
gemx Portal Developer Join Date: Oct 2006 Age: 32 Posts: 1,300 Thanks: 25 Thanked 198 Times in 105 Posts Country: My System	Hmm, i have a Technisat SkyStar2 DVB-S card with BDA drivers and sometimes if TVServer crashes during testing i have these stuttering too. Also while playing back just mp3's via Windows Media Player. The only way to solve this is to shut down windows and remove the power from the pc, so it is totally powerless. Then count to 10, reconnect power and let Windows boot. After that all is fine again __________________ ACCENT HT-100 \| 2x16 VFD \| ADM Athlon 64 3500+ \| Win XP SP2 \| SkyStar 2 DVB-S PCI \| TT connect S2-3600

2008-02-11, 18:36	#3 (permalink)
dman_lfc Portal Manager Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: UK Posts: 1,673 Thanks: 0 Thanked 25 Times in 21 Posts Country: My System	Yes I have seen this too hence I stick to WDM DMAN __________________ Hardware: Core2 Duo 3.0GHz, Nvidia 8500GS (256MB), 1GB DDR2, Intel DG33TL MB, 2x FireDTV DVB-S2 cards & Nova 500-T in a Antec Fusion case with VFD & iMon remote. Software: Windows XP MCE2005, PureVideo codecs & Cyberlink PowerDVD 7.x codecs.

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2008-02-14, 20:27	#4 (permalink)
Lotsofjazz Portal Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Age: 43 Posts: 163 Thanks: 2 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts Country: My System	Could be a codec issue.. Ever considered to install Vista? It solved many of my video problems. If you have installed Mediaportal, and leave the codecs MPV and Descaler checked, I am pretty sure Dscaler is messing up your sound!.. Unregister Descaler, and you are done, because then the proper audio codecs are used.. I had the same problem in XP Pro! Descaler was decoding after AC3filter was done decoding allready.. and no way I tried to set the merits lower, it stubburnly loaded no matter if another codec was doing the work allready (check with graphedit, while playing the movie in Mediaportal, open Graphedit, file>connect to remote application).. So you MUST uninstall the Dscaler codec to get rid of this problem.. dont be afraid you mess up, because you probably have much better codecs installed. download Radlight to manage your codecs, Open radlight, click plus in front of directshow filters, scroll down to the dscaler audio codec, select it and click on the Unregister button below. Restart your computer, play movie.. did it help? Also if you have MPV codecs installed, lower the merits to NORMAL. This also can be done using Radlight.. you must restart your computer to effect the merit changes!! As for codecs if have the following (no guarantee it works for you, because you have a completely different system): For movies in media portal setup: Mpeg2 codec: Cyberlink Video decoder/SD PDVD7 (hardware acelleration ON in directshow filters, mediaportal setup), this codec comes with PowerDVD Ultra (you can download a trial) Mpeg4/H264 codec: ffdshow (somehow cyberlink H264 codec doesn work properly, lot of stutter and blocking with some movies) Audio: MPA audio codec (comes with Mediaportal), somehow with other codecs, they dont get the signal to the SPDIF, with MPA it just works as it should, dont ask me why AC3Filter/ffdshow Audio Codec, doesnt work in Vista anymore (it did in XP Pro), yes I checked to passthrough to SPDIF for AC3 and DTS (DTS worked, AC3 did NOT under Vista!) For TV I have the same, except for H264 I do use the hardware accelleration of the cyberlink H264 codec... here ffdshow doesnt work with live TV and just shows a blank screen.. I think this is because ffdshow builds a buffer before actually showing the picture, and this interferes with the timeshifting function also trying to build a file at the same time. Somehow the Cyberlink H264 does work perfectly with TV, smooth playback of National Geographic HD signal at 1080i/50Hz (PAL) output at 720P/50Hz on HDMI to JVC LT32S60 Something else to consider: Make sure your Input TV signal matches the TV refresh rate. If you are in PAL broadcast area(europe) it should be a multitude of 25, otherwise you get the phenomenon called tearing, like a part of the picture is shifted along a line(tear) horizontally more to the right or left then the rest of the picture. Also you should set Vsync to Allways on.. in my display driver setup software this could be found under 3D settings, normally only interesting for gamers, but with (digital) video this is also a very important setting. If you cant find Vsync, try Wait for vertical Refresh, or search on the support website of your graphics card for the term Vsync.. At least this helps to smoothen your videoplayback, and with that also the audio playback should improve. One more thing you could try is to install an extra strip of 1Gb memory, 1Gb is a little low for High Def video playback I hope this helps!