Problems with image quality (1 Viewer)

[archimede]

Hi,

I have just installed the Rel. 1 and I have to say that it's a very good job, what you all have done
I had to adapt a couple of things (plugins not yet ported), but in general everything's fine.

I have only one big issue with the image quality: in the videos there is a kind of posterization effect, as the number of rendered colors were less than they should be.
Even in the main screen there is something similar (see enclosed snapshot).
I had before the Rel. 0.2.3.0 and I never had such an effect.
Beside MP, I haven't touched anything else.

Any idea where this can come from?
How do I find which render is using MP?
Can I force something different?
Thanks for helping.

Vic

 

[geov]

I've had this same problem for a long! long! time...but I thought it was only me because nobody else had complained about this until now

 

[vvulture]

I know its a long shot, but make sure that you have 32bit colour set in display settings...

cheers

 

[Lotsofjazz]

I have this too, in another post I called it banding, like a bad processed JPG image, I also posted the home screen of blue3wide.

I think it has to do with the Video card settings, but I still cant find the button I have to push to make this better, it is where colors should fade from one shade to another, like a blue sky that gets lighter near the sun or a dark shady colors in nightly scenes. In stead of fading you see bands of colors. Should be nice if someone knows what the problem is..

I checked the color depth, but is already at 32bit, so must be is something else.

Lots

 

[geov]

It is where colors should fade from one shade to another, like a blue sky that gets lighter near the sun or a dark shady colors in nightly scenes. In stead of fading you see bands of colors.
Lots

Yes, that is exactly the problem that I have.... This is only a problem in MediaPortal, all other apps like Vista Media Center has perfect color....

 

[Mantis]

yep, same problem here running MP 1.0 + Vista 32 bit + purevideo decoder and lates Nvidia driver on a geforce 8500 over HDMI.

Same lack of color depth in video and graphics. Running h264 with Coreavc doesnt seem to have the same problem.

/Mantis

 

[archimede]

@vvulture
The colour depth is already @ 32 bit


Afaik, that effect is called posterization and happens when the number of visible colours is reduced.
The fading between different color levels is not "fluid" but with "banding".

I have noticed that when MP loads, the background (same as in the main screen of Blue3wide) looks perfect!
As soon as the main menu appears, the background "changes" into the bad one...

From my experience this could depend on the render used for the 3D and/or for the videos.
This is the reason why I have asked how to check the render in MP.

BTW, I can play videos with KMPlayer w/o any issue (Haali render).
Therefore I assume the problem is in MP (rendering engine?).

Vic

 

[Langers]

Banding

Hi guys,

I get the effect too. I only noticed it when I played an episode of Lost (xvid 624x352 resolution), I have previously only been watching high def rips and its less noticeable on those. If I use Windows Media Player the effect is not present, WMP uses the same video decoder as Media Portal (FFD Show).

I came to same conclusion as you archimede, it must be MP so I have started looking for different Media Center software. I doubt I will find one as fully featured as this or thats on a final release! I have just downloaded FreeVo so will give this a try, has anyone already given this a whirl? If so I'd appreciate your feedback. Likewise, I if I make any progress I'll be sure to post my findings here.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys

Langers

 

[grubi]

You also have a similar effect if the colorspace output of the graphic card does not match what the display expects (is capable of).
See if your graphic card driver gives you the ablity to change it (CCC does).
I also had a similar problem and for me switching from RGB PC-Level to YCbCr 4:4:4 solves the problem.

 

[Lotsofjazz]

I also solved it by setting the color depth from 16 to 32, somehow it was changed.. I also notice that sometimes it is worse then others, most of the time a reboot then solves the problem.