Picture is blurry and Dim

[dblazer]

The Picture during live TV and playback is somewhat blurry and dim. This is the case on both the computer monitor and when I watch on a TV. I am thinking about purchasing the sonic decoder, will that make much of a difference? I would think the system I have is more than suitable. Any suggestions?

[salsbst]

Don't bother hunting for the best decoder until you've calibrated the recording device(s): http://sage-community.org/index.cgi/wiki/Calibration

[dblazer]

I did this calibration as well, maybe I am expecting too much from what I am seeing. Should the picture be as good as watching it straight from the coax to the tv? Thanks

[salsbst]

Short answer? At 480i, it can look almost as good or better. You're bound to lose a little quality because (a) digitization of analog is imperfect and (b) MPEG2 is lossy. On the other hand, you could theoretically improve the resulting video using ffdshow.

For TVs that have resolutions greater than 480i, the video should look better if it is well-scaled to the higher resolution.

Have you watched DVDs from your computer? If DVDs look fantastic and TV looks not so good then it is most important to keep focusing on the capture settings. Since you've done that, I won't beat that dead horse anymore.

Have you calibrated your TV using a calibration disc? That can make a huge difference.

[mls]

Another important thing is that the MPEG encoder/capture cards require a really good tuner signal also.

If there's any flaws such as interference or snow in the orginal tv signal, those will often show up more (in varying ways) in an MPEG recording than they would on a TV directly receiving the same signal.

One other thing that is starting to show up also is because of all the various digital TV signal encoding and reprocessing thru the TV networks.

There are certain conditions where such reprocess signals will look perfectly fine when received by a TV, but may cause other problems when being encoded back to MPEG (and played back later).

Another problem is if you are watching on a monitor. That will tend to be slightly blurred compared to a standard definition TV because of trying to display an interlaced image in progressive scan. If you have an S-Video out from your vid card (or better yet a PVR-350 or Xcard) to a TV, then it should look pretty close to the original (in fact, almost indentical).

For a monitor, or out to an HDTV, then you may want to investigate other enhancements like ffdshow, dscaler, etc. to improve the image.

[stanger89]

Originally posted by mls
If you have an S-Video out from your vid card (or better yet a PVR-350 or Xcard) to a TV, then it should look pretty close to the original (in fact, almost indentical).

Since it sounds like you don't know this (appologies if you do). Using the S-Video out on 99% of modern video cards does not avoid deinterlacing of the video, nor does it avoid scaling it. In fact it's quite the opposite, the video is deinterlaced, scaled to your windows resolution by your video card/decoders, then it is scaled and interlace back to 480i by the TV encoder. This can actually severely degrade PQ.

Plus there are other problems with TV-outs, for example flicker filters (which attempt to make the desktop easier to read) can actually significantly soften the image.

Much of that can be mitigated by tweaking various aspects of the playback chain.

Back to the original question:

dblazer, Andy had a great suggestion, pop a DVD in and see if it has the same problem, that should tell you if it's a playback or recording issue.

Also if you could give us some details about your setup that would also help:
Decoders?
Renderers?
Video card?
Connection to TV?

[dblazer]

I have the Hauppauge 250 USB2
Computer Specs:
P4 2.4Ghz, 1GB Ram, ATI Radeon 9500 Pro, 80 GB HD.

I have been using the Intervideo Decoder and have tried the Cyberlink decoder as well. The TV is a standard definition 27" but will be hooking it up to my HDTV soon. I am connecting through the S-Video out on the Video Card.

When I watch a DVD the picture looks great which I guess points me to a recording issue?

Thanks for the Help.

[stanger89]

Yeah, if DVDs look good then it's almost certainly a capture issue.

I don't suppose you could post a screenshot, it would be especially helpful if you could get one with the dscaler histogram filter showing.