pvr150 picture quality

[garyeuph]

You are correct, DXVA and Hardware deinterlacing. Will probably get an 9550 or 9600 (passively cooled) off ebay.

Thanks for the help

[csy]

So it was a hardware fault in the end ?

Well I was premature with that statement. Legend said they tested my returned card and found it was faulty, and that was what i based my statement on. Today after 2 months I received the replacement card and I have just tried it out, and it is exhibiting the same fault. What is worse, the card appears to have a capacitor broken off the board (evidence of broken solder joints). This is the final straw, I'm going to ask for my money back.

I don't know what I'll do for a video card now. I recently purchased a widescreen LCD monitor/TV, and the ATI9550 is exhibiting a very bad studder on the higher resolution (1280x720). I think this is because I have the 9550SE chip which only has 64bit memory interface.

I like the Nvidia cards because they sync the 50Hz refresh rate to the video field-rate. ATI cards can be forced to 50Hz via Powerstrip but cannot sync the 50Hz to the video field-rate, resuting in a momentary studder every time the field order reverses (every 30sec in my case).

I have also discovered that LCD displays have a different gamma curve to CRT's and require "S" shaped gamma correction curve to fix the well known LCD issue of all the dark greys merging into black and the whites too bright. Nvidia can do "S" shaped gamma correction but ATI cannot.

So I do need a Nvidia card, but I'm a bit hesitent to buy another Nvidia card in case it is the combination of components in my system that is causing my problems.

Edit:
Also tried ShiningDragon's recommendation of Forceware 81.98 with Purevideo 1.02.185, but that unfortunately made the jumpiness worse, resulting in very bad shimmer every few seconds. I also noted the de-interlacing is significantly poorer (scrolling horizontal text very blurred) on Forceware 81.98, and the CPU utilisation is exactly the same as Forceware 91.31

[daza67]

Csy,

I did some digging on your mobo and found this.http://forums.viaarena.com/messageview.a...erthread=y

Edit: See you already tried setting AGP 4x

[csy]

Thanks Daza, I appreciate your effort. I have discovered the Nvidia/VIA/AGP combo is prone to video problems, and the 6600GT is especially prone to problems, as reflected in the Nvidia forum. There is a wide variety of solutions and work-arounds ranging from using a particular Forceware version through to custom configuring the AGP timing. I have spent a huge amount of time working on this fault (at the expense of time with my family), and now do not wish to waste any more time on this fault (family more important).

Anyway I just wanted to say thanks for your effort on my behalf.

[dvasco]

A key limiting factor regarding video quality is the capability of you video card to support MPEG2 hardware acceleration (DXVA) and hardware deinterlacing.

On ATI cards, DXVA+deinterlacing starts on the 9550 and upwards.

I did some research on the Nvidia cards this morning and found that the Purevideo features (DXVA+deinterlacing) officially starts on the GeForce6 series and upwards.
The GeForceFX series does support DXVA but not hardware deinterlacing.
The GeForceMX series does not support DXVA or hardware deinterlacing.
(that I'm aware of)

The key point being that hardware deinterlacing is required to provide a sharp and clear video. If your card does not support hardware deinterlacing then you will not be able you obtain a sharp and clear video unless you use a dedicated 3rd party software deinterlace filter (eg FFDshow), and software deinterlacing is very CPU intensive.

Which PCI Express cards have hardware acceleration (DXVA) and hardware deinterlacing? This would be for a friend's computer, not mine.

[csy]

Which PCI Express cards have hardware acceleration (DXVA) and hardware deinterlacing? This would be for a friend's computer, not mine.

In the ATI range, any card that supports DirectX9 and associated DirectX-VA

In the Nvidia range; any card that supports Purevideo

[dvasco]

I had forgot to ask where would I find info on which cards support DXVA and hardware deinterlacing besides through you?

[csy]

ATI: http://www.ati.com/products/home-office.html
Look for cards that support DirectX9 and associated DirectX-VA

Nvidia: http://www.nvidia.com/page/purevideo_support.html

[danIrl]

Quick question: Use the pvr-150 with the Purevideo decoder with an ATI card (9550) anyhow notice that sometimes when you fast forward, the picture start to stuuter/shake when object move fast? Like en a hand wave is stuttery? Fastforwarding again can fix the problem, sometimes!

[garyeuph]

Not my lucky day - got my shiny new 9600 and it fails in VMR9 - diagnostics show it also fails all the dxdiag direct3D tests; another return and back to my 9200SE in the interim