How can we make better the TV quality !?!? (1 Viewer)

bali0000

Portal Member
February 23, 2007
9
0
Home Country
Hungary Hungary
I realized the analog TV (on the HTPC) is worse than without HTPC (just see the TV). I would like to make better quality. I waiting a lot of contribution,observation,experience what can we do,if we want to make better quality!!!!! (codecs, post filtering method...,etc,etc)
 

funkychicken

Portal Member
November 10, 2006
24
0
You may want to investigate replacing yout analogue card with a digital one if possible. for example, if you have cable, investigate using a DVB-C so that the digital signal is terminated directly on your HTPC instead of through an STB.
 

knutinh

Portal Pro
September 4, 2005
558
2
[analog cable/antenna] -> [HTPC] -> [CRT-tv]
[analog cable/antenna] -> [HTPC] -> [LCD-tv]
[analog cable/antenna] -> [CRT-tv]
[analog cable/antenna] -> [LCD-tv]

[DVB-S/C/T] -> [HTPC] -> [CRT-tv]
[DVB-S/C/T] -> [HTPC] -> [LCD-tv]

[DVB-S/C/T] -> [STB] -> [HTPC] -> [CRT-tv]
[DVB-S/C/T] -> [STB] -> [HTPC] -> [LCD-tv]

There are many possible configurations. I would say that analog cable/antenna is probably the most difficult case. Especially if you are using an analog crt-tv, it seems that it is difficult for a HTPC-based solution to beat a crt-tv connected directly to the analog source. If the source is noisy, MPEG2 compression works very poor, and given MPs compression-oriented approach, you may not get optimal results.

There are various DScaler stuff that may help you optimise your post-processing etc.

Please ensure that your desktop is set to 50Hz (europe) or 60 Hz (US/Japan) to avoid flickering issues with PAL and NTSC video. If you are using a crt-tv, check that the desktop resolution is the same as the source video and try disabling deinterlacing of tv signals.


In the end, presenting poor video (with analog artefacts or multiple passes of digital compression) captured at 576x720 pixels 25 times/second (or 288x720 pixels 50 times/second) on a 50" 1080p HD-display is bound to reveal things about the source video.

-k
 

rsbrux

Documentation Group
  • Team MediaPortal
  • April 15, 2007
    1,137
    117
    Home Country
    Switzerland Switzerland
    [analog cable/antenna] -> [HTPC] -> [CRT-tv]
    [analog cable/antenna] -> [HTPC] -> [LCD-tv]
    [analog cable/antenna] -> [CRT-tv]
    [analog cable/antenna] -> [LCD-tv]

    [DVB-S/C/T] -> [HTPC] -> [CRT-tv]
    [DVB-S/C/T] -> [HTPC] -> [LCD-tv]

    [DVB-S/C/T] -> [STB] -> [HTPC] -> [CRT-tv]
    [DVB-S/C/T] -> [STB] -> [HTPC] -> [LCD-tv]

    There are many possible configurations. I would say that analog cable/antenna is probably the most difficult case. Especially if you are using an analog crt-tv, it seems that it is difficult for a HTPC-based solution to beat a crt-tv connected directly to the analog source. If the source is noisy, MPEG2 compression works very poor, and given MPs compression-oriented approach, you may not get optimal results.

    There are various DScaler stuff that may help you optimise your post-processing etc.

    Please ensure that your desktop is set to 50Hz (europe) or 60 Hz (US/Japan) to avoid flickering issues with PAL and NTSC video. If you are using a crt-tv, check that the desktop resolution is the same as the source video and try disabling deinterlacing of tv signals.


    In the end, presenting poor video (with analog artefacts or multiple passes of digital compression) captured at 576x720 pixels 25 times/second (or 288x720 pixels 50 times/second) on a 50" 1080p HD-display is bound to reveal things about the source video.

    -k

    I have a similar problem, and don't think it is fair to blame it on the analog signal.
    My 40" LCD shows a significantly better picture (though still not perfect) with the built-in tuner.
    In particular, MP gives me occasional stuttering and frequent motion artefacts (particularly noticeable on human faces), neither of which are noticeable with the built-in tuner.
    Digital cable (or sattelite) is a non-starter (spousal veto), and the current video performance of MP has an unaccepably low WAF.
    One factor may be that the LCD supports only 60 Hz refresh rate from digital inputs (in my case DVI) in native resolution (1280x768). Since I live in Europe, the available signal sources tend to be 50 Hz (PAL). Nonetheless, from reading in several fora, it seems that my rig (see my system spec) should be capable of better performance.
    Where can I find out more about the dscaler options you mentioned above?
    What other factors should I look at for better performance?
     

    Spragleknas

    Moderator
  • Team MediaPortal
  • December 21, 2005
    9,474
    1,822
    Located
    Home Country
    Norway Norway
    Digging up an old thread here :D

    A couple of tips/thoughts (I'm on analogue myself ATM):
    - Make sure to use the built-in quality control (thx, MisterD)
    - I never think I have ever seen a LCD with 1280x768 native res. before :confused: No way to get 1:1 pixelmapping, meaning you picture is scaled many times
    - You should be able to force a 50 Hz refresh using ATi CCC
    - I see you use ATI codecs (AVIVO) - I think they give a good PQ, but you could also try PowerDVD.
     

    rsbrux

    Documentation Group
  • Team MediaPortal
  • April 15, 2007
    1,137
    117
    Home Country
    Switzerland Switzerland
    Thanks for responding to such an old thread. Just found it with "search" and didn't notice how old it was.
    I have always run "Check" on the Quality Control tab, but left the settings at their defaults, since I don't understand them.
    What should I try our here? WHere can I find information about the settings?
    Searching both forum and wiki, I couldn't find anything helpful.

    P.S. Just changed the settings under "Bitrate playback" and recording from "Default" to "high". I'll check this out before trying PowerDVD codecs and report back on the results.
    My ATI card doesn't seem to support less than 60 Hz in 1280 x 768 (using Windows Display Properties - Advanced).
    Telling it to display all modes shows 75 and 80 Hz, but no 50.
    I don't have CCC installed, because I didn't seem to need it, and want to keep resident programs to a minimum to get the best possible MP performance.
    Even if it supported 50 Hz, I'd be afraid to use it for fear of damaging the TV, although I guess this is not so much a concern as it used to be with analog technology.
     

    Spragleknas

    Moderator
  • Team MediaPortal
  • December 21, 2005
    9,474
    1,822
    Located
    Home Country
    Norway Norway
    I think you need the CCC to get the "force" options (Force 720p50).
    You really need 50 Hz to get smooth movement! I would think that lowering Hz (60->50) should not damage,as normaly the Hz is given in max - BUT DON'T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT!

    IIRC the best usage of QC is Var. bitrate - average or peak (can't remember, and not at home ATM). I set 'em @ 100 (%):D
     

    rsbrux

    Documentation Group
  • Team MediaPortal
  • April 15, 2007
    1,137
    117
    Home Country
    Switzerland Switzerland
    My LCD-TV doesn't have a 720 line mode, so I'm not sure if forcing 720p50 is a good idea.
    Since I had only installed the driver, I took advantage of the situation by installing the complete Catalyst suite 8.9.
    I have also updated to MP 1.0 RC3. I am starting as close to the default settings and only changing them step by step.
    So far I have better results than before, using the MPV decoder. I want to compare this with the ATI decoder as well as PowerDVD, as you suggest above
    I don't have a PowerDVD installation disk, but I have an installation on a different machine.
    How can I extract the codecs from this installation for use on my HTPC?
     

    Users who are viewing this thread

    Top Bottom