Detailed Setup - Video

[ToonGal]

Completed upgraded from v1 to v2 and the quality of the recordings is decidedly worse for my new v2 install, and I'm guessing it's because of the settings. After initial install of v2, none of the files played back, and I switched all 'video' and 'audio' settings to 'default'.

I've done a search on the various fields, but most other posts require core competancy to understand them. I have the latest PVR250 drivers (from SHS) and they worked on v1 well enough, so I'm confident it is not a h/w or f/w issue, but just configuration of v2.

Anybody have any recommendations on settings, or at least, worst case, a good set of definitions of what some of this stuff is?

Thanks in advance for the help, gang!

[xlr8shun]

this info can be found on pages 15 and 16 of the 'SageTV Setup and Configuration.pdf' included during install.

[ToonGal]

Originally posted by xlr8shun
this info can be found on pages 15 and 16 of the 'SageTV Setup and Configuration.pdf' included during install.

Been there; read that. Here's what I meant about 'require core competancy to understand them' from my initial post. For example, from page 16:

DXVA MPEG Mode & Deinterlacing:
Here you can modify the MPEG settings as they relate to Video Acceleration. Choose a MPEG mode and then specify whether or not you want to use a specific Deinterlacing mode. Leave this setting at default unless you are experiencing problems with Video Acceleration.

The terms 'video acceleration' and 'deinterlacing' sound simple, but aren't. Don't even ask me what DXVA MPEG mode means.

All I know is that I seem to 'experience problems', but no true frame of reference as to exactly what's going on. Everything set to 'default' seems to work on my ATI 9600, but the quality is lesser than it was before. Changing some of these to non-default has either caused issue (some warning crash) or no visual change.

[mlbdude]

Can you explain what is worse? What decoder, decoder DXVA settings (in the decoder not Sage), renderer, and 3D Acceleration setting are you using?

[ToonGal]

By 'worse', I'd say the picture is faded and slightly hazy. For frame of reference, I tape "Between the Lions" for my son daily and am editing them down to collect the entire set. I have a week's worth of eps raw recorded on by v1 and today's ep on v2 and the quality is different. The video is crisper on yesterday's ep (for example) and the audio is perceptively lower.

The computer, cable connection, channel/shows, monitor, drivers, vid/cap cards, etc. are all the same, with the only (major) change in the last week is the v1->v2 upgrade. It's taped about 7 hours of stuff in the last 24+ all recordings seem to be lesser than their v1 counterparts, mostly video issues.

I used whatever the default settings were on install in v1, and they worked well. After installing v2, using the old wiz.* files, it didn't play back files with the loaded settings. I read the manual and it suggested switching to 'default' for everything. Did that, and it played back just fine. Ironically, even when it didn't play back with the settings, it seemed to record just fine during that 30+ minute period. I'm guessing 'codecs' etc. are merely required for playback, and the settings for the recording are handled differently / elsewhere (on the card? in the registry? other?)

Hope that gives a more thorough description of the 'worse' issue. As it pertains to the rest of your post, I don't even know how to begin, especially with the 'in the decoder not Sage' part. I'm very computer literate (h/w, s/w, programming, debugging), but possess no practical knowledge about the internals of the video side of things (codecs, etc.). I have installed the HCW drivers and some DivX ones, but other than that, don't even know how to approach answering the question.

Is there a utility I can run to show this information? Sage itself has a 'system information', but doesn't include any of those things. I can transcribe the available options for each in Sage, but don't know how it picks 'default'.

Hope that helps you help me more. Thanks for the quick reply.

[salsbst]

You might be seeing the result of differences between overlay and VMR9 renderers. They are calibrated in different places. The overlay is calibrated using "overlay color controls" in the video cards property pages, while VMR9 is calibrated using the "desktop color controls".

If you are set to VMR9 Video Renderer, switch it to Overlay and see if things look like they used to. If so, you can choose whether to stick with overlay or to calibrate your video card and/or TV for VMR9.

If you have it set to Overlay already, forget everything I just wrote.

[kny3twalker]

she said she has everything at default


do you have any DVD programs installed like winDVD, powerDVD etc or have you just installed the decoder that comes with the pvr 250s
also since you have an ATI video card the CD that came with the card has a decoder you can use in sage
it is made by cyberlink (powerDVD people) and it better than the hauppauge intervideo decoder in my opinion(it can at least do DVD)

well first do not use default

video rendering should be either overlay or VMR9 (you have to enable 3 d acceleration for it to work) if you want the transparent blue menus

also choose the video decoder from the list that you wish to use

most are simliar in overlay mode in quality but in VMR9 some are definitely better than others
what options do you have?

also for your audio, it depends on what setup you have
connected to a stereo
stereo computer speakers
5.1 computer speakers etc

but default is ok for DXVA mode and deinterlacing
the most important thing is to choose the rendering and decoders
you can mess with the other later when you have time

[mlbdude]

Don't forget to do Color Calibration (click on a source in the Setup wizard) with your sources. The first line leads me to believe it is either that or you are using VMR9 with 3D Acceleration. However, since you say all is default try the Color Calibration.

A great help would be a screen cap of your Video configuration screen.

[kny3twalker]

yeah you should definitely adjust the color calibration before messing with the video card settings which only work for overlay
Stanger89 has an awesome article on how to do it (color calibration)well in the FAQs

[ToonGal]

Originally posted by mlbdude
A great help would be a screen cap of your Video configuration screen.

http://toongal.superherokicks.com/HTPC/colors.html

I tried to encompass as much info as I could on my quick whipped up web page. I took a screen shot of a v1 vs. v2 video frame to show the quality difference. I can do an audio sample from each if that is of use.

I took comprehensive screen shots of each audio / video configuration menu to show where it currently stands. It originally was all 'default', but I've been playing with some settings to test. I took a screen shot of each of the potential options of what I have installed and if anyone has a recommended set of things to select.

Any help greatly appreciated, as taping Between the Lions has been a 5+ month project and it'll be 5-6 months before the current episodes will re-air.

Thanks again for all the info, gang. Going to play around more on this side tonight, so any posts welcome.

[kny3twalker]

thats because of VMR9 rendering like mlbdude thought it might be
NVDVD decoder does a better job of the color issue with VMR9 than most
try using either overlay or default (VMR7) rendering instead of VMR9
unless like I said you like the transparent blue menus
then you should look into other decoders but I tried them all and only NVDVD can represent the colors closely to normal , non faded

also the sound issue I asked one specific question are you using a stereo reciever, computer speakers, or 5.1 computer speakers?

there is a registry edit you can do if you just want the volume louder

the registry edit is for a 6 decibal gain but it is in the recording as well so when you play them on DVD in a stand alone DVD payer it will be louder than pervious recordings


one other thing the recording themself are not dim, it is just the rendering of video you choose

[mlbdude]

Change Sage to Overlay (though check and make sure 3D Acceleration is enabled, if it is not you are already using Overlay)and you should see the colors and contrast come back. As kny3twalker says so far that I have seen only NVDVD has color controls to compensate for VMR9's lack luster color performance.