Suggestions on improving TV signal? (1 Viewer)

[timofcourse]

MediaPortal Version: .0.2.2
MediaPortal Skin: ReVision
Windows Version: Windows XP
CPU Type: AMD Athlon 3600+ 1.9 Brisbane AM2
HDD: Maxtor 60GB
Memory: 1GB
Motherboard: MSI
Motherboard Chipset: nVidia
Video Card: GeForce 7100
Sound Card: SB Audigy
1. TV Card: ATI TV Wonder Elite
MPEG2 Video Codec: MPV
MPEG2 Audio Codec: MPA
Satelite/CableTV Provider: Time Warner Cable
HTPC Case: Silverstone LC14M
Power Supply: OCZ 500W
Remote: Firefly
TV: Panasonic 50'' Plasma
TV - HTPC Connection: DVI -> HDMI

Hey all... not sure where I should start investigating this one, be here or ATI's forums, but Id see if anyone here have any thoughts.

Ive noticed that many of my cable channels are significantly lower in quality than when my cable is plugged directly into my TV. In fact some shows dont come in at all and MP reports "tv signal not found" or something along those lines.

I was wondering if theres anyway to improve the quality to get on par with when its plugged in normally.

Are there codecs that help better than others? Hardware solutions (i.e. an amplifier perhaps?)? Or is it just because of the quality of the card (although I did read a bunch of reviews prior to buying it and it seemed to be a top contender)?

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Marcusb]

The latest drivers for your tuner card may help, but probably not.
I'd say it would come down to how sensitive your card is. Jsut like with TVs, all tuners are not created equal.

May be worth asking around on the forum to see if anyone can recommend a card with great reception.

Also check all your TV cables and leads. MAke sure they are all good quality and in good condition (but don't go paying 100's of dollars for them.

 

[mrkaras]

Of the 3 tuners I have only one picks up the signal as well (in fact slightly better I think) as my TV direct is the "DNTV! Live Dual Hybrid PCIe". That probably doesn't help you much as it is a DVB-T card but the company does have cable models, also I'm not sure weather it is available out side of Australia.

 

[Marcusb]

thanks for the info, mrkaras.
I don't get a very strong signal and saw that DNTV live claims to be very strong at receiving. I wasn't sure if it was marketing hype or not.Guess I'll get one now, then ;-)

 

[timofcourse]

Do Codecs matter at all? I saw a post mentioning something about the nVidia platinum one; would that help with my signal strength issue?

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

Do Codecs matter at all? I saw a post mentioning something about the nVidia platinum one; would that help with my signal strength issue?

Would make no difference what so ever, a codec only transcodes a received signal, to a output, it does not change the signal quality, which is hardware driven.

 

[timofcourse]

Well again, the normal signal is fine... plugged directly into my TV it looks perfect. Its only when I try to watch the channels through my TVTuner in MP that the quality is reduced.

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

Well again, the normal signal is fine... plugged directly into my TV it looks perfect. Its only when I try to watch the channels through my TVTuner in MP that the quality is reduced

In that case a different codec or changing settings to suite your TV within a existing codec can immensely improve picture quality.

look at FAQ's and Tips and Tricks relating to possible codec improvements, for my money, not a lot of difference now between Nvidia and PowerDVD7 codecs.

 

[mrkaras]

thanks for the info, mrkaras.
I don't get a very strong signal and saw that DNTV live claims to be very strong at receiving. I wasn't sure if it was marketing hype or not.Guess I'll get one now, then ;-)

Yes, unless there is some other issue I am not aware of( like MP not tuning properly or something) I found
direct to TV: all digital channels work fine.
with either of my first TV tuners (added one at a time):
7 and 9 are fine
10 is mostly fine but sometimes has problems
ABC and SBS sometimes miss more than they get
with my DNTV card:
all channels are fine, I did see some problems on channel 10 the other night (still very watchable) but I suspect I were probably getting particularly bad reception for some reason.
also, all the analogue channels (using there software because analogue doesn't work in MP) seem to be a bit better than straight to the TV.

I am using the TVE3, unless it has been added recently TVE2 won't have support for it. I can't get FM or analogue to work in mediaportal, hopefully that will be fixed before too long.