Poor picture?

[Merlin]

The picture quality that is coming in is pretty bad, for example: http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/6281/untitledyn8.jpg

I have cable box connected to a splitter that goes to my TV and to my PVR 150 card. The TV image looks great, so I believe it is an issue with the the card, SageTV, or the nvidia decoder.

Not sure what to do next to fix this issue. Any suggestions?

[Rogue9]

That looks more like a "source" issue than a problem with the card.

Try swapping the cables from the splitter. Take the cable thats connected to the TV and hook it up the the tuner card. See if it makes a difference. Could just be a bad cable.

Also, if your cable box has S-video or Composite outputs, try using those to connect your turner, instead of splitting the output. Basically, the fewer splits you have, the better.

[lotusvball]

I had issues like that before and I put my pvr card in a different PCI slot and it took care of it.

[stevech]

flakey cable or connector on the coax to the tuner card? (use the wiggle test with a live TV (but delayed a few seconds, so wiggle-wait).

I have a couple of channels that are slightly noisy (slight snow). The mpeg encoding/decoding "amplifies" that slight noise due to the block-sizes in mpeg.

[MattJackson86]

I just have a question kinda related to this. Has anyone used a signal booster (http://broadband.motorola.com/consum...ignal_booster/)

Do these make any difference/improvements?

[Polypro]

Do the 150's have Samsung tuners also? Is that a lower numbered channel (2-6)?

P

[blade]

Originally Posted by Polypro

Do the 150's have Samsung tuners also? Is that a lower numbered channel (2-6)?

P

Someone posted a link the other day to a thread over at BTV (I think that was the forum) where users had found if they removed the cover from the Samsung tuner on the PVR500s it greatly improved their reception. Seems like the cover was actually touching something it shouldn't, which caused reception problems. I don't have Samsung tuners so I haven't tried it myself, but it shouldn't be hard to find the thread. No idea if it helps with the PVR150 or even works at all.

[stevech]

Originally Posted by MattJackson86

I just have a question kinda related to this. Has anyone used a signal booster (http://broadband.motorola.com/consum...ignal_booster/)

Do these make any difference/improvements?

that's merely an ordinary amplifier with a return path. And a price premium for the Moto logo on an import.
There are zillions on the market. If you have a snowy picture to begin with, this will make it worse. An amplifier may help if your weak signal at at given feed point is due to several splitters, if the incoming signal to the whole house is marginal. If so install the amplifier such that it is ahead of all splitters.

Be sure to use an amplifier that has a return path capability - for upstream signals like cable modems, STBs. Most have zero gain (or a small loss) on the return path (low freqs).

Spend a lot of $ on an amp to get one with a good/low noise figure. The cheap ones often add so much noise that they are not beneficial.

[mike1961]

I seem to recall reading a while back that the latest drivers caused lines like that in the PVR500 (I think it was the xx348 but I can't remember for sure what revision). So if all the others suggestions fail you may want to consider installing older drivers since it could also be a problem with the Hauppauge 150. I'm still a NVidia Dual TV tuner finatic until something even better comes out.

Mike

[Merlin]

I swapped out the cables, the splitter, tried a direct connection, as well as cleaned and reinstalled the drivers (complete uninstall/clean, and then reinstall). Unfortunately I cannot remove my other PCI cards, because each one requires quite a bit of configuration each time the card moves to another slot.

So.... I RMA'd the PVR 150 and just put in the new one.

The image still doesn't look as good as it does on my TV, but it is still much better than it was before.

I'm using the nVidia Decoder that came with my bundle, here's another screenshot: http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/1082/untitled2xd2.jpg

[mike1961]

I don't think you read my post right. I didn't say to reinstall the drivers; I said the xx348 latest drivers may have bugs in them and to consider using an older driver from their website. Otherwise, you could do what I did and just junk the card and get another card like the NVidia Dual TV tuner. If you have cable, you could call your cable company and have them come out and put new connectors on at the main box. Sometimes that makes a difference. But, that is only if you also have poor picture quality without going through the tuner and directly to the TV as well.

Mike

[Merlin]

I don't think you read my post right.

- I didn't say you told me to do it, I was just telling everyone everything I did. One of the suggestions from the place I bought my card from, was to clean the drivers and do a fresh install.

If you have cable, you could call your cable company and have them come out and put new connectors on at the main box

- I have Cox and for some reason they want to charge me for another box in order to run dual inputs. They can't just add an output onto the box...

I have a pretty good signal going from my box to my TV, but when I go from my box to my Tuner card, it isn't as good. Dunno if this is a card problem, or just normal...

[smith55js]

Originally Posted by MattJackson86

I just have a question kinda related to this. Has anyone used a signal booster (http://broadband.motorola.com/consum...ignal_booster/)

Do these make any difference/improvements?

They can make a difference. You just have to be careful if you also have cable internet. The signal booster can cause problems with cable modems if the signal goes too high or if it's not a bi-directional amplifier.