Please help me to stop this tearing+a couple of other issues (1 Viewer)

[slayer]

Hi Guys

1st off I must say this software looks so promising I've been a long time user of xbmc and this looks like a excellent pc version. I'm mainly going to be using this program for HDTV watching but will branch out into the other areas as time goes on. I've recently upgraded my htpc and have encountered a few issues with MP that I'm hoping you guys can help me with.

Area: Media Portal Program
MP Version: mediaportal-cvs-08-07-2005--00-23.rar
Skin: The Blue one
Windows Version: XP Pro with sp2
CPU Type: A64 3000+ @ 2.5ghz
Memory: 1gb 3200ddr
Motherboard Chipset: DFI NF4 ULTRA
Video Card: Gigabyte 6600gt Passive cooled
Video Card Driver: 77.76_win2kxp_english.exe
Video Render Type: VMR9 renderless + exclusive
Video Codec Type & Version: Nvidia Purevideo
Audio Codec Type & Version: Nvidia Purevideo
TV Card: DNTV Live Dual USB Tuners
TV Card Type: software / hardware / DVB
TV Card Driver: driver version you used for testing
Optional Log: parts of the "/log/MediaPortal.log" which show an issue
Optional References: any reference


The 1st and main problem is tearing of the picture while watching tv. I am using the latest cvs release on a 6600gt (latest drivers) vmr9 renderless + exclusive mode, nvidia decoders, starting in fullscreen and have vsync enabled in windows. Yes I have run searches and from what I can gather I've covered everything yet the tearing still exists It mostly happens in fast moving scenes. I would really love to work this out as the picture quality is fantastic minus the tearing.

The 2nd problem I'm encountering is when I ALT-ENTER to switch from fullscreen to windowed I always get a .NET Framework error which I unfortunately can't view as it hides my mouse I'm not sure if this is a bi-product of running exclusive mode?

Finally every now and then when flicking through channels MP will completely lock up my machine (most often when changing to channel 9HD which is a Sydney based 1080i channel) I can't access task manager and have to hard reset the pc.

Havn't had long to play around with everything else but played back an avi tonight and it played beautifully. If I can get these few issues worked out (mainly the tearing) It will be my primary media application for sure. Ooh one more thing is there any chance of having the DNTV Dual Tiny USB2 tuners added to the cvs capturecard.xml file as currently I have to keep overwriting it with an older custom file (doubt this would cause problems?)

Thanks in advance

 

[vbap]

Re: Please help me to stop this tearing+a couple of other is

The 1st and main problem is tearing of the picture while watching tv.

I get this too - tried a lot of the codecs. Currently, mpeg2dec gives me the best result in terms of low jitter and no dropped frames. However, I still get tearing (esp. in top third of the screen) very noticable in sports (ie footy). [Note, I'm only viewing SD channels]. You might also to check the PCI Latency tip...

The 2nd problem I'm encountering is when I ALT-ENTER to switch from fullscreen to windowed I always get a .NET Framework error

This is a known issue and I thought it had been fixed in latest CVS, but maybe wait until 0.1.4.0 final release (there is a thread or two about this issue)

Finally every now and then when flicking through channels MP will completely lock up my machine

Again, I think this is known issue that will hopefully be put right in 0.1.4.0 with Agree's work in the DVB area. A few threads on this one (look for Taipan's posts).

Ooh one more thing is there any chance of having the DNTV Dual Tiny USB2 tuners added to the cvs capturecard.xml file

I think if you submit your config to DMAN via PM to get the definitions included in the next release - he seems to be the keeper of capturecards.xml

 

[Taipan]

Re: Please help me to stop this tearing+a couple of other is

The 1st and main problem is tearing of the picture while watching tv.

I am not sure what you mean by "tearing".

If you are referring to the discontinuity in vertical lines that appears during horizontal pans, then this is due to the refresh rate of you video card being out of synch with the frame rate of the source material. I suggest that you set your video card refresh rate to a multiple of 25Hz (for PAL TV) and enable the "vertical synch with source" (or whatever it is called) in your video card. But I think you have already done this? The other option is to use the ReClock filter - I have not tried ReClock as I have eliminated the problem by tweaking my video card, as described above.

Or do you mean the blurring that occurs during fast horizontal scans (sports broadcasts) that is very dependent on the de-interlacing quality? I have found that the nVidia Video Decoder gives the best de-interlacing for TV - which is the one you are using, anyway?

 

[slayer]

thankyou very much for the replies guys.

Good to hear that a couple of the issues I'm encountering are on the way to being fixed just weird that this latest cvs didn't help?

Taipan, I hope I'm using the correct terminology but I'm not sure, basically what it looks like is similar to in the old days when you overclocked the video cards ram to far and the image would tear. Basicaly it looks like the screen gets seperate into seperate sections for a split second which mostly happens on fast movement or when the screen is changing from one scene to another. Its a brief but very noticeable tear.

To be honest I'm running my desktop refresh at 60hz which may not be helping, Unfortunately at 50hz the crt flickers to much for my eyes and it doesn't sync at 75 I havn't encountered any tearing in overlay mode using dntvlive if that makes any difference.

I don't think it's a deinterlacing problem as far as I know that tends to look more like watching a interlaced movie with dscaler i.e horizontal black lines breaking up the picture almost like a mesh

As for reclock I've never had any luck in that program (only gave it a few minutes though) basically it just throws my video and audio completely out of sync.

I'm just wondering whether it is actually a mp issue with tearing as a couple of other guys are reporting it or whether its a settings issue which other than the 50hz I think I've covered everything?

thanks again for your assistance guys

update Ok just a quick update, flicked the refresh down to 50hz to see if it helped. Put on kerry anne (no I don't watch it but admittedly the picture quality is amazing) anyways they were spinning a wheel in a competition and when they zoomed in on the wheel a segment of the pictures was flickering away. It also seems to be doing the same on a quick scene change as well. So looks like 50hz didn't help

 

[vbap]

Taipan,

For me, "tearing" = "discontinuity in vertical lines during horizontal panning" (ie Footy Goalposts or the moving vertical bar when pressing "!").
For me, the tearing appears as a kind of "diagonal wave", that moves from top to bottom, but contained in the top third of the screen. It appears periodically (eg every few seconds).

I output my FX5200 to a Dell W1900 LCD TV. It seems this TV only supports 60Hz. I have tried using powerstrip to force 50Hz, but that causes intermittent error messages from the TV.

I guess it is a problem of synching the refresh rates, since I get this affect with every codec used. I will have to keep trying with forcing a 50Hz (or maybe 75hz) refresh rate. I haven't tried reclock, but could also give that a go.

 

[dirtboy]

Re: Please help me to stop this tearing+a couple of other is

I suggest that you set your video card refresh rate to a multiple of 25Hz (for PAL TV) and enable the "vertical synch with source" (or whatever it is called) in your video card.

What rates do you suggest for NTSC?

 

[Taipan]

To be honest I'm running my desktop refresh at 60hz which may not be helping, Unfortunately at 50hz the crt flickers to much for my eyes and it doesn't sync at 75 I havn't encountered any tearing in overlay mode using dntvlive if that makes any difference.

I think that the 60Hz refresh rate is the cause - although I don't understand why you don't see the same tearing in Overlay mode with DNTVLive!. It should be even worse in overlay mode, as I understand that VMR9 does try to sync the frame rate with the refresh rate.

I suggest you try 50HZ again, but set your video card to sync to the source frame rate. I am not sure how you do it with your nVidia card (I have an ATI Radeon, and there is a setting in the CCC). It would also be better if you could run your display at 75 or 100Hz, but that doesn't sound possible? You might want to try ReClock again, but at the 50Hz refresh rate?

 

[Taipan]

Re: Please help me to stop this tearing+a couple of other is

What rates do you suggest for NTSC?

As the frame rate for NTSC is approx 30fps (progressive), then I suggest multiples of 30 Hz (60, 90 120...)

 

[Taipan]

I output my FX5200 to a Dell W1900 LCD TV. It seems this TV only supports 60Hz. I have tried using powerstrip to force 50Hz, but that causes intermittent error messages from the TV.

Mmmm - seems odd that your LCD TV only supports 60Hz, since presumably you are watching PAL TV on it, which has a frame rate of 50Hz (interlaced). Maybe it depends on the interface connection between your video card and the LCD TV?

 

[slayer]

To be honest I'm running my desktop refresh at 60hz which may not be helping, Unfortunately at 50hz the crt flickers to much for my eyes and it doesn't sync at 75 I havn't encountered any tearing in overlay mode using dntvlive if that makes any difference.

I think that the 60Hz refresh rate is the cause - although I don't understand why you don't see the same tearing in Overlay mode with DNTVLive!. It should be even worse in overlay mode, as I understand that VMR9 does try to sync the frame rate with the refresh rate.

I suggest you try 50HZ again, but set your video card to sync to the source frame rate. I am not sure how you do it with your nVidia card (I have an ATI Radeon, and there is a setting in the CCC). It would also be better if you could run your display at 75 or 100Hz, but that doesn't sound possible? You might want to try ReClock again, but at the 50Hz refresh rate?

Hi Mate

Thanks again for your assistance, I updated my original reply after trying 50hz again (vysnc on), in summary it didn't help Running back on 60hz again now and still getting the "Tearing" I must say though the news ticker on channel 7 does seem to be scrolling much smoother than it did on dntv so that must be the vmr doing it's work as you mentioned. I've been using dntv in overlay for about a year now and have never encountered a sync problem so yeah it's a bit weird. I know the 6600's are known for tearing but I thought exclusive mode fixed this?