In search of Picture quality - Part 2

[garyellis]

I'm narrowing down the picture quality problems...

Calibration of the tuner cards and cable input signal strength are definately the key.

Having said that...my sports shows are still showing a blurring on distance shots. Not terrible, but not good either. I noticed when I watch basketball on a local channel through cable to my tuner card, it is not as blurry as when I watch a game on ESPN or ESPN 2. It seems like some of the higher numbered channels don't have as much signal strength or something...

Does that make sense? and how do I compensate or fix it?

Gary Ellis

pvr 150 pvr 500 Nvidia 6200TC anthlon 3200+

[blade]

Sounds like you're getting there.

Unfortunately I don't have any answers to your specific question. I'll give my 0.02 cents worth though. Hopefully you haven't already done all of this and maybe some of it will be useful.

I see you've calibrated your capture card. Did you adjust the spatial and temporal settings using the Hauppauge Tweak Tool? I should mention the global settings under the 150/500 Advanced tab didn't work the last time I checked. You needed to select the Encoder from the drop down box at the bottom of that tab and adjust it from there.

Not to change the subject, but the next thing I would suggest is to calibrate the display if you haven't already. Once you have a good capture and a properly calibrated display fine tuning the HTPC is much easier.

Once the display is calibrated I'd focus on playback. Since you're using a Nvidia card I'm assuming you're using the Nvidia decoder. To get proper deinterlacing you need to run in smart mode. Despite what Nvidia says your card does in fact support IVTC and Bad Edit Detection (at least both my agp and pci-e 6200's do). These features will only be used when smart mode is selected. If you experience the "flicker bug" you'll have to switch back to automatic and won't be able to take advantage of the features. Having the content treated properly should increase the level of detail and PQ.

I did increase the actual sharpness in my video drivers and used the Edge Enhancement post processing to make the image look a little tighter. I didn't really have a well laid out approach. Once I had my capture card and display calibrated I used a jpeg or bmp (I forget which) test pattern to adjust the overall sharpness. This actually made a huge difference with my desktop, but I am using a rear projection HD crt so there was a lot of room for improvement there. Then I played back some captures and ripped dvds and played around with the edge enhancement until I was satisfied.

[paulbeers]

What recording level are you using? If you are using Great (2.0 GB p/hr), I would recommend switching to DVD? (whatever the 3.2 GB p/hr option is). That should help with screens with lots of movement (which sounds like your problem).

[hemicuda]

I was using DVD-ELP for awhile, but when I started recording NASCAR races it just wasn't enough bits to hold the motion. Ended up going w/ the 3.2GB/Hr and it helped a lot; not completely sharp, but much better. Now I'm getting stuttering/dropped frames on the MVP so I may go back to a lower bitrate til the season starts next year.

[blade]

I also need at least 3gb/hr. Anything less and I can notice artifacts.

[garyellis]

Thanks for all the feedback...

I have tweaked the temporal and spatial setting in the tweak tool, but only on the advanced tab rather than down below...I'll try that...It seemed to make a big difference when I move temporal from 0 to 4..Now, I moved from 4 to 8 and not much difference...

I've not seen the edge enhancement setting..I'll look for that in my Nvidia settings. I believe I am set to "smart", but I'll check.

I have never played with display calibration...other than minor tweaks on the TV menu...I just downloaded a free application to try..so, I'll do that next.

I record at the "great" setting. When I switched to 3.2 GB, I did not see a change.

I still believe that the signal strength may be an issue...Since on lower channels I get better PQ than on higher numbered channels..

The signal is coming through Time Warner digital cable...

Thanks for the discussion...gives me some more things to try..

Gary Ellis

[blade]

Originally Posted by garyellis

I've not seen the edge enhancement setting..I'll look for that in my Nvidia settings.

Look in the new Nvidia Control Panel (driver settings). Click on Video and Television. Then click Adjust video color settings and it is on the enhancements tab.

I still believe that the signal strength may be an issue...Since on lower channels I get better PQ than on higher numbered channels..

The signal is coming through Time Warner digital cable...

It could be. I didn't mention it before because I don't know that much about how everything is broadcast, but I was wondering if it was how the content is filmed, compressed, or something that is being done to it during the broadcast process that is causing the differences.

I have noticed certain channels and sometimes just certain shows on typically good channels are much worse than others for me.

[MattJackson86]

http://broadband.motorola.com/consum...ignal_booster/

Anyone tried these? And if so, how do they perform?

[sleepyG]

it is a common a problem for higher numbered channels to have issues especially if there are long cable runs (>150') involved. I haven't used one before but something like this might do the trick http://www.cabletvamps.com/Products/EDA-EQ3100.htm