ATI 550 setup for maximum quality

[Jarobata]

All I want to do with my Powercolor Ati 550 is watch live tv. I have it working now but the quality is subpar. The image is grainy and blurry. Is there a way to setup GBPVR to display uncompressed television? Are there any key settings I should have for maximum quality? My computer should be able to handle anything, I have 2 gigs of memory and an opteron 144 running at 2.71 ghz. I've seen screenshots with this card and they are much better. I'm also having a problem where the show skips periodically. The audio also doesn't seem to be completely synced. I really appreciate the help, i've been at this for hours and I can't find the information I need.

[replaytv]

Edit direct.ini in the gbpvr folder. You can modify the value for Live TV to whatever ATI 550 pro can handle. I have one ATI 550 pro, but I don't have any problem with the medium quality.

Dan L.

[Jarobata]

Edit direct.ini in the gbpvr folder. You can modify the value for Live TV to whatever ATI 550 pro can handle. I have one ATI 550 pro, but I don't have any problem with the medium quality.

Dan L.

What should I modify?

[replaytv]

In the config at the capture source, select Live TV quality then edit. Click up to see the biggest value you can get for the bitrate. I am not near my computer so I can't see the value in there.

This is the same thing as edit the direct.ini file.

Dan L.

[Jarobata]

Alright I set it to 12,000 though the max for the card is supposed to be 15 mb/s. Any other settings that I can change? The increased bitrate doesn't seem to have increased the quality. It still looks grainy, the image isn't smooth at all.

[replaytv]

what is the source of video? Have you test it with regular TV set? quality of the spliter?

Dan L.

[Jarobata]

what is the source of video? Have you test it with regular TV set? quality of the spliter?

Dan L.

It's coming straight from the wall in my dorm. I haven't tested my specific source but I have seen other tv's on the floor.

[Jarobata]

Does anyone have their 550's operating at tv quality? I have a distorted bar at the top of the screen, how do I fix that?

[pBS]

sounds like the decoder you're using,not the encoding...
if you can burn a dvd with one of the files and look at it on a dvd player..
or just try a different mpeg2 decoder....[probably the issue]
nvidia looks best but is pay...[they have a trial] or cyberlink is also good [both have hardware acceleration]
medium should be fine for quality and no more than 6000-8000k as that should be the top rate the card needs to capture full frame rate raw..
[or try playing in WMPlayer..]

[allsighs]

With my latest and newest build i too have had issues with the 550 quality. I know it is not source because I have switched out and used the cable line going into my Haup 150mce. The picture with the pvr150mce is immaculate using either cable. Using either cable on my ATI 550pro (pci-e version) is grainy to say the least. there is a bit of color banding and bright colors will tend to result in blocky artifacts. I have played the recordings in different players and they appear the same. I have tried toying around with the ATI Tuner control panel and find that the standard settings are the best option, but still subpar to the pvr150mce. I am using a nvidia 6150 component output to SD tv. Currently using the Purevideo codec. Im using the most up-to-date drivers, but may attempt reverting to older drivers. Will also try downloading the newest version of PowerDVD7 for their newest codec. This is the codec that ATI has decided to use for their Hardware and the newest is now enabled for the Purevideo features. With the micoratx mobo, my pci slots are at a premium and would prefer to keep the 550 pro in the pci-e rather than plop in my other 150mce.