Sage native recording VS. xvid files

[tvmaster2]

Any idea why very small xvid recordings of off-air material would look WAY better than off-air native SageTV / Hauppauge recordings, when played back through Sage Media Center?

And if this post is in the wrong area (It seems to be a software issue: codecs and all), the please let me know where the "right" area is before deleting it. Thanks.

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

Any idea why very small xvid recordings of off-air material would look WAY better than off-air native SageTV / Hauppauge recordings, when played back through Sage Media Center?

And if this post is in the wrong area (It seems to be a software issue: codecs and all), the please let me know where the "right" area is before deleting it. Thanks.

I think we need to discuss how these are captured. Most "off-air" xvids that I think you are talking about start out by capturing first with a High definition tuner and then downconverted (that is why they are 16x9 sourced). Now is your "hauppauge" capture device an HD capable device (HVR1600/1800, HDPVR, etc?). When I have compared those xvids to HD capture using say my HDHomerun, the xvid loses every time. First the resolution is considerably lower and I can see artifacts from the conversion in about every scene. When I compare the xvid to say a show I captured using my PVR500 (SD analog capture), the Xvid wins. This is because basic SD Analog capture (especially OTA) is a very poor source to capture from.

Basically it all comes down to how you originally captured the video....no conversion is going to make a grainy picture look perfect, but if the source file is perfect (aka bit stream capture of HD), then the resultant picture after conversion looks pretty decent (even with some quality loss).

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

I think we need to discuss how these are captured.

... and if you ("you" means whoever happens to be posting) didn't capture them and are referring to downloaded copyrighted files, then I don't want to hear about it on this forum, due to the forum rule about keeping talk of sharing copyrighted content off this forum. I'm adding this comment because I keep having to delete such posts fairly often lately.

- Andy

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by Opus4

... and if you ("you" means whoever happens to be posting) didn't capture them and are referring to downloaded copyrighted files, then I don't want to hear about it on this forum, due to the forum rule about keeping talk of sharing copyrighted content off this forum. I'm adding this comment because I keep having to delete such posts fairly often lately.

- Andy

fair enough. Are files I capture over the air with my Samsung HD tuner and convert to xvid viable for discussion?

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

Are files I capture over the air with my Samsung HD tuner and convert to xvid viable for discussion?

Of course. Those are files you've recorded & can use for own personal use. I was referring to the sharing of those files with others.

I've just had to delete several comments about downloaded TV shows from various people lately... I normally cover that via PM, but felt I should post another reminder publicly after there were so many such posts.

- Andy