Picture Quality question (1 Viewer)

Alander

Portal Member
November 7, 2004
13
0
I was wondering if anyone could tell me of their experience of picture quality when in TV viewing mode.

I've got Media Portal 0.2 RC2 with the CVS from last week and configured up to use my Hauppauge PVR350 (with latest shspvr drivers) to get the VCR scart output of my NTL box to the svideo style input of the card. (well it does go by a switch box but I've tried it direct with no apparent difference)

The problem is that the picture quality looks washed out and in some cases I can see compression blocks(?) - I'm trying to encourage others to use it as a way of watching TV but the picture quality is better directly to the TV via the other scart socket (set to RGB).

I found the contrast, brightness etc. settings in the tv viewing mode on mediaportal and that made it a bit better but it's still different from what I can receive on my tv.

Any ideas?
 

BKCH

MP Donator
  • Premium Supporter
  • July 25, 2005
    287
    12
    Sydney
    Home Country
    My experience is/was that through svideo the drop in quality was maybe 1 to 1.5 points out of 10 - so if it is 9/10 before it might be 7.5-8/10 through my PVR-150.

    Tweaking and codecs make a difference - I downloaded the latest dscaler and it seems to be best for me. (certainly best for sports)

    If you come up with better results please post :)

    The other thing for me is - size does matter (!) - downstairs on my 50" LCD rear projection unit I really notice the difference but upstairs on my 66cm TV the difference is negligable.
     

    Alander

    Portal Member
    November 7, 2004
    13
    0
    Thanks for that - I tried the tweak - it made a bit of an improvement but now I'm seeing ghosting on fast moving items. It's a bit like motion sickness!

    The other part that seemed to show up a problem is on BBC News 24 the ticker at the bottom of the screen is not quite smooth at scrolling. Is this the interlacing? I've set it to Best at the moment.

    Soo many options!

    With regards to the TV I have it connected to a 32" tv so I guess I would see more imperfections on a larger screen, playing videos in My Videos is fine though.

    The video codec is set to InterVideo Noncss Video decoder for Hauppauge - is this not the best option for the PVR350? (Movies Video codec is Mpeg2dec filter)
     

    Alander

    Portal Member
    November 7, 2004
    13
    0
    I've got a ATI RADEON 9550 - did have an onboard Nvidia card but it didn't work well with MP. What's the best option in the Catalyst program?
     

    kalon

    Portal Pro
    October 21, 2005
    71
    1
    Gothenburg
    Home Country
    Sweden Sweden
    Alander said:
    Thanks for that - I tried the tweak - it made a bit of an improvement but now I'm seeing ghosting on fast moving items. It's a bit like motion sickness!

    The other part that seemed to show up a problem is on BBC News 24 the ticker at the bottom of the screen is not quite smooth at scrolling. Is this the interlacing? I've set it to Best at the moment.

    Soo many options!

    With regards to the TV I have it connected to a 32" tv so I guess I would see more imperfections on a larger screen, playing videos in My Videos is fine though.

    The video codec is set to InterVideo Noncss Video decoder for Hauppauge - is this not the best option for the PVR350? (Movies Video codec is Mpeg2dec filter)

    Hi!

    Well, this problem Ive had for several months. I read that many others have the same... I dont know if many people think its ok with the quality but I dont.
    I have a 42" plasma (852x480 physic resolution) and when I watch sports, newstickers, fast movie panorate I get almost seasick. As you say: Newsticker is the easiest way to see the problem . Looks like it scrolls 3 pixels at a time.

    I tried it all (I think) with Vertical sync ON, every resolutions, freq:s, codeqs, graphicdrivers (including Omega) and so on..
    BUT yesterday I had a breakthroug. I set the resolution to 720x576/50 and voila: Smooth scrolling newsticker, perfect quality when watching LOST and so on..
    The only problem then is that my plasma cuts the picture. But that was solved in Screenkalibration in MP.

    The only question I have now is can anybode explaine why it is like this and can I newer run native 852x480?
     

    MisterTee

    Portal Member
    March 25, 2006
    7
    0
    I believe I am having the problem with the vsync issue. I have tried every codec I can find, changed refresh rate/resolution and nothing works. I have a radeon 7500 with the omega drivers loaded. I don't see an option for turning on vsync.

    I guess first I should make sure the problem I am experiencing is the problem you are describing. When watching any video I notice "lines" of distortin going across at different levels with no real patturn. I notice this mostly when viewing fast motion. Its real bad when watching southpark.

    I am usign the nvideo codec and other than that the quality is great. The only available resolutins I have are 800x600 1024x768 and 960x720. 960x720 forces the screen to scroll. Can anyone advise me how to change the resolutin to the setting in the previous post? If that is not the solutin can someone point me in the right direction?

    BTW the video is perfect when viewing in Windows Media Player. It only has distortion in MP.
     

    tourettes

    Retired Team Member
  • Premium Supporter
  • January 7, 2005
    17,301
    4,800
    MisterTee said:
    I believe I am having the problem with the vsync issue. I have tried every codec I can find, changed refresh rate/resolution and nothing works. I have a radeon 7500 with the omega drivers loaded. I don't see an option for turning on vsync.

    I guess first I should make sure the problem I am experiencing is the problem you are describing. When watching any video I notice "lines" of distortin going across at different levels with no real patturn. I notice this mostly when viewing fast motion. Its real bad when watching southpark.

    Have you tried enabling the "Use exclusive DX mode" setting in config?
     

    Users who are viewing this thread

    Top Bottom