Alternative to FSE to avoid screen tearing

[mikeh49]

Previous guidance in the forum from csy who is pretty dang knowledgeable (search for posts by him) was that NTSC (North America) SD should use 720X480 resolution. This worked very well for me on a SD CRT TV using S-video out of the video card. I had no tearing with a Geforce 6200. When I upped the resolution to 1366X768 for a new LCD TV, I had tearing. This is with playback of SD recordings using VMR9 Custom in PVRX2. (I went to PVRX2 when I got the new TV.)

That said, the 720X480 was terrible for the Windows desktop, so I used a little utility to quickly change the resolution when I was doing maintenance, and then set it back to 720X480 for GBPVR. This was OK for a dedicated HTPC box, but probably would be inconvenient if you want a multi-purpose rig.

[johnsonx42]

Well maybe I should expirement with 720x480 via component-out a bit. It is a dedicated HTPC, but not everything I want it to do is within GB-PVR. I want/need to be able to access Hulu via a web browser (custom task), and in my limited tests it was all but unusable at 720x480 (the video playback itself is fine, but finding a video, starting a video, switching it to full screen is rather difficult when half the site is always off the edge of the screen).

But if I knew that 720x480 fixes other problems, I could see what I could do to make Hulu usable at that res. Whurlston has mentioned he MIGHT work on a Hulu plugin next year, so if I could work around it until then and he does come through then problem solved.

[stustunz]

the thing is you want to try and match the resolution to what you are recording
it should be able to upscale or downscale but its another thing to tick off to seeing if it sorts your problem or not
only issue is some of the new drivers dont let you put in low resolutions

[johnsonx42]

only issue is some of the new drivers dont let you put in low resolutions

fortunately ATI has TV resolutions pre-defined in CCC. 720x480, 640x480, somethingx576 (pal), they're all there. You can even add your own.

Unfortunately, for the moment I'm feeling fed up with the whole thing and haven't even turned on my gb-pvr box in a couple of days.

[johnsonx42]

720x480 is smooth as silk in VMR9 Custom... no tearing, no stutters.

So, thanks to those who suggested using a lower resolution.

I'm hoping though that this is a side-effect of using TV-Out, and/or a driver problem that will get resolved later on (the HD4550 is very new). One day I will be switching to a real HD set, and I hope not to have to go through a similar bunch of hassles then.

It's rather frustrating as the ancient AGP 9500Pro I had in my test rig had no problem running 1024x768 to s-video. I have a PCIe X800XL in a box (as in cardboard) somewhere, but it's noisy as hell so trying it would be potentially interesting but pointless.

The downsides as expected are that Hulu is rather difficult to use, and I haven't been able to tweak it much - 720 just isn't enough horizontal resolution. Ironically once I switch to 720x480, the OK/Apply/Cancel buttons are off the screen in Catalyst Control Center, which means I can't adjust the overscan. I guess I'll have to hook up a regular monitor to tweak things.

[stustunz]

does your tv have component in if it does then you can go to a higher resolution and it may be smooth aswell
you may also want to change the frequency with a higher resolution and turn off all extra crap in video card settings
its very random as to what works on one wont work on another
also interlacing and try force weave or force bob in your decoder settings

[johnsonx42]

My current TV is an SD set, the only signal it will take on component is 480i. In that output mode, the highest resolution the ATI control panel will let me pick is 720x480. I might get a slightly better picture though, so I may try that later now that I know that resolution works.

I had messed with interlacing settings before to no avail.

I'm going to forge ahead at 720x480. This project may yet succeed...

[johnsonx42]

looks like I can get the best of both worlds thanks to reso-matic and maybe even catalyst control center itself:

http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?t=39019

I'll just have it switch to 1024x768 when I launch Hulu, and switch back when I exit Hulu. Done and Done.