HTPC Picture Quality

[Rogue9]

My current HTPC setup is as follows:

AMD Duron 1.6 Ghz
ECS 741GX-M MicroATX Motherboard w/ on-board audio
-Realtek ALC655 6-Channel audio CODEC
-Compliant with AC’97 2.3 specification
384 MB PC2100
128 MB 9600 Radeon Sapphire Atlantis (Fanless version)
WinTV PVR250MCE

It works fine on my 15” LCD monitor. And it even worked ok on my 27” SDTV. But I recently got my new 51” Hitachi 16:9 HDTV and I wanted to hook up my HTPC to it. So I got a DVI > HDMI Cable and hooked it up and had no problems in default 640X480. So I fired up SageTV and tried to watch a little Live TV. I was really disappointed with the picture quality. It was very pixelated, and kinda washed out. I’ve watched some DVD’s of my recorded shows on the new TV and they look fine, so I don’t think it’s a problem with the quality of the recordings. I think its just my decoder or my output settings. I have tried FFDShow in the past, and it does help the image quality, but I just don’t have enough horsepower. But, my new Athlon XP 2800+ (Barton) should be in today or tomorrow.

My questions are:

1) Will the new processor and the 9600 Radeon be enough horsepower to give me good picture quality on my new TV using FFDShow or the new NVDVD Decoders?

2) Should I go for the combo of the new decoders and ffdshow, or would my video card be capable of using DXVA to take the place of ffdshow?

3) Do you guys have any particular settings you would recommend for this type of setup?



Also, I’m very seriously considering getting a 6600GT card for my HTPC. My 6800OC is just awesome on my gaming rig, and I’m very pleased with it. Would a 6600GT and the DVI>HDMI cable eliminate the need for PowerStrip, or at least be a little easier to configure. I messed around some with PowerStrip settings on my big screen the other day, and was having hell getting a working resolution, and/or eliminating overscan. How much of an improvement in image quality and ease of setup would I be getting for that $200 or so price tag?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[korben_dallas]

Are you already using the Nvidia DVD/MPEG-2 decoder? The new one ($20 online), not the one that comes w/ NVDVD.

Is it a 9600 or 9600 Pro? It may just not have enough umph to output the resolution you want. Does your HDTV have component inputs? Maybe you should get the ATI Component dongle and try the analog route.

The 6600GT is going to be lightyears ahead of your 9600, if you want to spend the $, it will be a good investment. Get one that comes with the component breakout cable.

[Rogue9]

Sorry, should have clarified.

9600 non-Pro

Yes, I have the $20 Nvidia 1.00.67 (I think, just got them Saturday) decoders. I just haven't tried them on the new TV yet to see how they look compared to the InterVideo ones in SageTV.

Yes, my TV has component inputs, but I was under the impression that the DVI/HDMI interface gave a cleaner/better picture. Was I wrong about that?

Also, which 6600GT's are AGP with component breakout? Is that what they are refering to as "S-video to Component?"

[mdmint]

Originally Posted by Rogue9

Sorry, should have clarified.

9600 non-Pro

Yes, I have the $20 Nvidia 1.00.67 (I think, just got them Saturday) decoders. I just haven't tried them on the new TV yet to see how they look compared to the InterVideo ones in SageTV.

Yes, my TV has component inputs, but I was under the impression that the DVI/HDMI interface gave a cleaner/better picture. Was I wrong about that?

Also, which 6600GT's are AGP with component breakout? Is that what they are refering to as "S-video to Component?"

I replaced my ATI 9600 with MSI NX6600GT AGP, comes with component dongle. While it plugs into Svid port on card it's not converting Svid to component, port is designed for both. Don't recall it's DVI capabilities since my 3yr old Toshiba 55" doesn't do DVI.

I'm much happier with the 6600GT output than I was with ATI9600.

[kny3twalker]

first run the DVI/HDMI at a higher resolution than 640x480 1280x720 is probably a good choice
and then try DVI and component to see which you like better
and the nvidia decoders whether with overlay or VMR9 should clean up the picture alot

[Rogue9]

first run the DVI/HDMI at a higher resolution than 640x480 1280x720 is probably a good choice

Yea, I tried that, and was able to get 1280X720 to work (my TV supports 480p, 540p, 720p, and 1080i input), but I had a lot of overscan. I managed to play around with Powerstip some (Please tell me there's an easier way...) and reduced it a little bit. But when I tried to enter SageTV, I got some really wierd graphics/artifact issues, and got scared I was gonna blow my new TV up so I promptly exited out of everything and disconnected it from my TV, heh. I haven't hooked it up since. So I didn't get to see what the video looked like at the higher resolutions.

I'm definately going to try again this week with my new processor and the new decoders. I really hope I can get this working this week. I'm looking forward to watching some up-scaled DVD's on my TV!

[kny3twalker]

with ATI card no
you will need to use powerstrip
with nvidia there is underscan adjustment built-into the drivers for 67.66 and other newer than 66.93 drivers

[CyRex]

Couldn't you just use the OSD overscan settings and apect ratio percentages that are in the Sage setup menu?

[kny3twalker]

yes but that would not change the desktop image
the taskbar will still be out of view and the desktop icons long the edge of the windows screen will be hidden

[CyRex]

Good point... my HTPC is pretty much dedicated to Sage, so desktop overscan isn't a problem for me, but I'm also not viewing on a nice big flat screen...

[kny3twalker]

hey I do not care about overscan
I run my TV at native
but I have a pc monitor connected for all other pc needs other than games and SageTV