OTA ATSC PVR solution

[zehd]

2. SD ATSC (480i) recordings usually have something like static at the top of the picture (top 2 or 3 lines; its possible a TV won't show it).

I'll bet that that's the closed captioning information. Usually not seen because of overscan..

I have forgotten about that because I use PVR150s which don't record the closed captioning info...

[congenictv]

Its more likely his nvidia 6200 isnt keeping up, rather than his AMD CPU. Most people reckon a 6600 is recommended minimum for any HDTV stuff (although some have claimed success overclocking their 6200).

Ohhh good point Sub! Thanks

[stoenjes]

I'm running XP PRO, 2 Meg memory.

After a little testing with all of the video renderers, I've decided VMR9 Custom works best for HD viewing with my setup. Using DVR-MS, CPU utilization averages around 25% with occasional peaks at ~ 45% for 1080i 5.1 sound (FFDSHOW audio decoder is also running). That 45% is on one of the CPU's, overall utilization stays under 50%. (720p peaks at ~ 40%). I don't know if an upgraded card takes some of the load off of the CPU.


Stan

[sub]

I'm running XP PRO, 2 Meg memory.

After a little testing with all of the video renderers, I've decided VMR9 Custom works best for HD viewing with my setup. Using DVR-MS, CPU utilization averages around 25% with occasional peaks at ~ 45% for 1080i 5.1 sound (FFDSHOW audio decoder is also running). That 45% is on one of the CPU's, overall utilization stays under 50%. (720p peaks at ~ 40%). I don't know if an upgraded card takes some of the load off of the CPU.

Stan

Even if it didnt reduce the CPU, newer models can move more video frame data to the screen in the same time older models could, which is particularly helpful for keeping things smooth.

That said, the VMR9 Fullscreen Exclusive may also be able to make things smoother in this respect.

[wtg]

There are so many variables it can be quite frustrating. CPU, video card, decoders and video mode all play a factor and it can be difficult tracking down problems. Even more esoteric things like your hard drive DMA mode and shared IRQs can introduce hitches into the PCI bus that screw up playback.

I had an AGP 6200 and couldn't get stutter-free performance out of it, even using the PureVideo decoders. I upgraded to a ATI x1600 Pro and couldn't get decent performance out of it using it's Avivo decoders either. But using the PureVideo decoders with the ATI card, in overlay mode, my AMD 2500 can decode 1080i using 20-30% CPU. If I switch to VMR9, it's 65-70% CPU usage, but only stutter-free in VMR9 mode if I downgrade the quartz.dll file to DirectX 9b.

I bet I spent 30 hours or more trying to tune my system for good HD playback. I'm very happy with what I have now, but I'm petrified to touch anything because I know how easily one little change can mess things up.

You can get good results without too beefy of a processor and too expensive of a video card, but you should definitely be prepared to do some tuning.

[stoenjes]

There are so many variables it can be quite frustrating. CPU, video card, decoders and video mode all play a factor and it can be difficult tracking down problems. Even more esoteric things like your hard drive DMA mode and shared IRQs can introduce hitches into the PCI bus that screw up playback.

I'm getting good video playback with my 6200, with occasional sound interruptions.

Another variable is the bitrate of the source material. Each TV station makes a business decision on how to allocate its OTA digital broadcast bandwidth (at least in the US). So viewing can vary from channel to channel because of HD video resolution, audio properties as well as bitrate differences.

Stan