SageTV Media Extender Brightness Control

[Opus4]

After removing some fresh rehashing of older posts, I thought I would say that while I am all for getting to the bottom of an issue, simply picking old posts to quote and add new comments in an attempt to try to antagonize people so that they continue an argument which appears to be over doesn't seem very productive to me.

Please refrain from trying to provoke a response through irritation on this forum.

(Of course, if there is something useful to add about this issue, please do so.)

- Andy

[joe123]

I just received two emails from two different folks at Hauppauge Computer Works saying that they have a "FIX" for the darkness problem on the MVPs.

I will be testing the "fixes" and will report back when I get more data. To me, these fixes don't seem "right" and they are short on details, but lets see.

[Stuntman]

Originally Posted by joe123

I just received two emails from two different folks at Hauppauge Computer Works saying that they have a "FIX" for the darkness problem on the MVPs.

I will be testing the "fixes" and will report back when I get more data. To me, these fixes don't seem "right" and they are short on details, but lets see.

Are these 'fixes' secret? Do share..

[joe123]

Originally Posted by Stuntman

Are these 'fixes' secret? Do share..

No secrets.

The fix was to use "MediaMVPSetup_2.5.23363" software version from them.

The info was short on details since I said I was using Sage. I am still testing it, but I did not see any differences after shutting down Sage and installing this software. Images are still dark.

[Stuntman]

Originally Posted by joe123

No secrets.

The fix was to use "MediaMVPSetup_2.5.23363" software version from them.

The info was short on details since I said I was using Sage. I am still testing it, but I did not see any differences after shutting down Sage and installing this software. Images are still dark.

Okay.. thanks! I don't have much of a problem with it anymore.. I was able to tweak my TV's settings and the recording levels of the Hauppauge cards to get a good playback..

I'm hoping they will one day release a bios 1.1x to address some of these issues, or release the bios code to Sage so that other engineers could take a whack at improvements..

[joe123]

Originally Posted by Stuntman

Okay.. thanks! I don't have much of a problem with it anymore.. I was able to tweak my TV's settings and the recording levels of the Hauppauge cards to get a good playback.. .

I too have adjusted my WinTV PVR 150 to have more brightness and contrast so that the recordings show up "normal" on the MVPs, however, the recordings appear washed and/or over exposed on my PC.

Are you having the same thing? Or are all recordings not over exposed? What settings did you end up with that is working for you?

[Stuntman]

Originally Posted by joe123

I too have adjusted my WinTV PVR 150 to have more brightness and contrast so that the recordings show up "normal" on the MVPs, however, the recordings appear washed and/or over exposed on my PC.

Are you having the same thing? Or are all recordings not over exposed? What settings did you end up with that is working for you?

I think I stated before that I do notice a significant darkness to video played back on both my MVP's.. but I don't notice it at all except for in scenes that are already dark to begin with.. on the TV I just boosted the brightness and tweaked the other settings.. since I usually watch TV through my MVP it doesn't present much of an issue as far as settings for the MVP messing up the regular TV images... and like I said, it seems to only be a problem in certain situations.. and until you mentioned it, I hadn't even noticed it. I have faith that a solution will be found.. perhaps something that can be done inside the MVP code and controlled via the GUI and stored in the properties file for each unit.. Dunno

I am quite happy with it as is, but welcome each and every improvement to it.. and as it gets better, I get more excited and 'sell' it to every friend and family member I know with just that much for zest..

[joe123]

Originally Posted by Stuntman

I am quite happy with it as is, but welcome each and every improvement to it.. and as it gets better, I get more excited and 'sell' it to every friend and family member I know with just that much for zest..

I do agree that for the money, these little box are very good. No noise, no fans and small.

[blackbeltdbz]

Does anyone know of something cheap that could be used between the MVP output and the TV to adjust the brightness/contrast? Something inline...

[joe123]

Originally Posted by blackbeltdbz

Does anyone know of something cheap that could be used between the MVP output and the TV to adjust the brightness/contrast? Something inline...

This may help (I have not tried any of these):

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...67&postcount=7

[willemse]

Originally Posted by Opus4

17 Januari 2006: I just thought I would mention that SageTV is aware of the brightness issue with some MVPs & is looking into it to see what might be able to be done.

- Andy

Andy

Any News on a solution??

[ryan711]

i have this problem as well, any news on a fix

[valnar]

I sent my MediaMVP into Hauppauge for a fix and it came back looking almost the same. I think the redness issue is mostly gone, but it's still outputting 20% darker than it should.

Did anyone find a permanent hardware fix for this thing?

Robert

[valnar]

Originally Posted by valnar

I sent my MediaMVP into Hauppauge for a fix and it came back looking almost the same. I think the redness issue is mostly gone, but it's still outputting 20% darker than it should.

Did anyone find a permanent hardware fix for this thing?

Robert

Everybody is putting up with the subpar video quality of these MediaMVP units and not complaining? I find this hard to believe. It irks me every time I use it.

Robert

[reggie14]

Not *everyone* is having a problem with brightness. It seems just right on my MVP, without even tweaking the tuner card settings or the TV brightness settings.

That being said, I don't think the MVPs are particularly high-quality devices. But, they're certainly the cheapest. If the HD media extender ever comes out I expect it will be higher quality, although significantly more expensive.

[gatkinso]

I have read through this entire thread as I too have issues with a dark and over saturated picture, so I did a test.

I installed the latest version of Hauppage's MVP server software onto a spare machine in the hope that it would update the firmware (not sure if it did or not) and connected to that server from a cold boot. Despite the shock in how basic the Hauppage UI is even after all this time, I went into the settings menu and changed the video output from composite to S-video. Wow! what a transformation - much better and brighter picture (I am using the UK version with a scart lead). I thought I had fixed the problem. Further soft and hard boots back to the same server all worked great. However, when I changed the preferred server in the boot setup, the MVP reverts back to composite output (or at least that is my assumpton) because the picture starts off bright and then dims when showing "starting SageTV media extender".

So it seems to me that what is needed is a way to tell the MVP what output to use when connected to the SageTV server.

Any ideas? I appreciate that the majority of this thread is nearly 3 years old but maybe some still track it.

Thanks.

G

using sageTV MC 6.5.7.201 and a wired MVP rev H4

[valnar]

Originally Posted by gatkinso

I appreciate that the majority of this thread is nearly 3 years old but maybe some still track it.

Yep, I'm still subscribed. And the answer now is to ditch the MediaMVP and buy a new HD extender.

[Stuntman]

Originally Posted by valnar

Yep, I'm still subscribed. And the answer now is to ditch the MediaMVP and buy a new HD extender.

I'm hopeful there is still some support from SageTV about the MVP too.. yeah, one solution would be to throw $200 at a new extender.. but would that be a financially wise move for my 15 year old 19" TV in my garage that I put on when I'm working there? I don't get HD in there, and the MVP works pretty well.. but if something could be done to clean that little bugger up just a bit, that would be of great benefit to those of us that don't need the HD or the expense.. at the moment.

I'd suggest sending an email to SageTV Support on that one.. they are very responsive, generally, to user problems and complaints.

[valnar]

FWIW, the HD extender's output in SD is also light years better than the MVP. It's as good as any provider's DVR (ie. good enough to actually watch TV all the time through it, if you wanted to). Of course, YMMV depending on your Sage server's tuners.

[Stuntman]

Originally Posted by valnar

FWIW, the HD extender's output in SD is also light years better than the MVP. It's as good as any provider's DVR (ie. good enough to actually watch TV all the time through it, if you wanted to). Of course, YMMV depending on your Sage server's tuners.

Oh, I don't doubt that at all.. the weak spot is the TV in my case.. you can only make an image look so good on an old 19" TV! No need to spend a fortune on a HD decoder that has to transcode way down.. when the MVP does a good job at 'high' quality.. with no additional cost beyond what I've already put into it..

In a perfect world I'd replace the TV and get a HD Extender!