VGA or DVI?

[Mark SS]

Originally Posted by sniper's_scope

pixelation can be cause by many things, though with new and old standard alike they never truely support intergration of a pc a a main viewing platform when the lack of drivers aren't produced so the which ever connection you wish connect works correctly, i've tried many graphics cards i've never been able to sync my tv up regardless of what pc-tv connection i use, as tv producers haven't bothered building a driver for they all expect plug&play to work, though it very seldom does work thw way we expect it too..

I disagree. Pixellation on large sets is largely caused by scaling an SD picture to an HD resolution and/or insufficient bit rates. A high bit rate DVD can look quite acceptable on a large screen as the scaler has more to work with, whereas a low bit rate transmission is already suffering from artifacts before the scaler gets to work.

Many TVs are not designed to be connected to a PC and thats hardly a surprise considering the market size. If your buying a new set you need to do the research to find one that works well with a PC i.e. accepts PC resolutions over the VGA, DVI or HDMI connector without over/underscan. The Westy sets are widely used by US users because they do just that. I picked up an Amoi set in the UK because it was also reported to be plug n play for 1080p.

On the connection choice issue, if you have a choice then DVI should in theory give you the best picture quality. Note you may not have a choice as your set may only accept a PC signal correctly over VGA. www.avsforums is a good place for pre and post purchase questions like this.

In reality, its unlikely you'll be able to tell any difference between VGA or DVI/HDMI with a relatively short cable.

Full stops are great!

[jbarr]

So, are you suggesting that if the primary content will be primarily SD recordings, that maybe a larger TV screen may not be a good choice?

[Mark SS]

An SD source on an HD screen will generally look worse than on an SD screen. Software like Nvidias Purevideo and ffdshow go along way to improving this but there are limits. Take a look at the Crystalio scaler to see the lengths (and costs!) some people will go to for those improvements.

The size of the set is just going to magnify the issue. Artifacts from the scaling are going to look much worse on a 50" screen than on a 32". Viewing distance is also going to make a big difference. Watch that 50" HD screen from 15ft away and you're probably not going to notice any problems with an SD source.

If someone buying a TV today was absolutely sure they were only going to watch SD content, they might as well save a stack of cash and buy a top of the range SD plasma. If they thought it would be mostly SD and some HD, consider a 720p screen. If on the other hand they're like me and can't wait to get their hands on HD-DVD or BluRay and HD transmissions, buy a 1080p set and accept that SD will be at best acceptable and in some instances not great.

I have a 1080p 37" LCD, viewed at around 7ft. SD looks ok, HD is amazing.

[mike1961]

Mark - when you say the HD is amazing, how are you watching the HD? Is it with a DVD? In other words, there really are not tuner cards that support HD except the normal OTA (over the air) broadcasts as far as I know.

I also wondering if the MVP network encoder that Sage sells will make the SD look much better on my 46" LCD. Some channels look just fine while others drive my wife nuts.

Thanks,
Mike

[Mark SS]

I'm in the UK so our HD options are limited at the moment. That said, the good old BBC is transmitting 1080i at 20mbit/s on DVB-S (also on DVB-T in a London trial) FTA and its stunning. Very limited programming but what they are showing is fantastic. Watched the world cup this way and the difference was remarkable.

In your case, the difference between the ok and bad channels is almost certainly down to differing bitrate. Depending on how your receiving this you may be able to find out what the bitrates are using another tool e.g. DVBViewer for DVB.

You mentioned that you get 1:1 mapping using VGA but overscan with HDMI. In that case, I'd suggest sticking with the VGA connection. Your not going to improve the picture with HDMI and in fact may make it slightly worse by losing 1:1.

I'd be surprised if an MVP improved your picture much. What video card are you using at the moment? What mpeg2 codec is installed? Have you looked at ffdshow?

[mike1961]

I'm currently using NVidia decoders. Frankly, I still think NVidia, Sage and Cyberlink decoders all look pretty much the same to me. I have an SD DirecTV D10-100 STB and am now recording at DVD Standard 3.2 gb/hour. To me, it looks the same as Fair quality 0.9 gb / hour but to my wife she says there is less pixelation but still does not think the picture looks "sharp." I think I may need to go HD but the problem is I'm just not sure how.

First - I'm thinking that the quality will be better even if the HD is scaled down to 720x480 with my tuner cards than trying to scale up an SD signal with my tuner cards. Is that correct? Someone help me here. The othe problem of course is trying to figure out a way to change the channel of my HD-STB at the server since the new DirecTV STB's don't allow for serial to change the channel (I think).

Thanks,
Mike

[Mark SS]

In the most recent Purevideo release there are controls for sharpness and noise reduction. See how things look with the noise reduction slider at 100 then reduce gradually until you get a picture your happy with. Too high and it can look a bit odd.

Picked up that its a standard 480i capture card your using from the other threads. Unlikely that your going to see much benefit from going as high as DVD standard, probably be the same at 1.5gb/hr.

Your best bet is probably to investigate HD via firewire as mentioned in one of the other threads. Controlling the box is a doddle using a device called USB-UIRT which is fully supported in Sage, assuming there isn't an even simpler solution using serial.