Tearing?

[wodger]

Thanks hoborg. SAF was very helpful here. Although what I was seeing was nowhere near as bad as your example pics.

SAF was the thing that most noticably improved (fixed even) the symptoms I described and had the biggest impact on stu's ticker tape test. I did try CCCP and ffdshow (and changing the settings myself) but SAF and its having everything set up and ready was excellent.

[wodger]

Thanks stustunz. That was very helpful. Now running 258.96. The resolution for my TV seems to be 640 x 480 as when I connect the comptuer to it by VGA (it has a VGA input), it complains when the resolution is higher than that. The nvidia control panel proved to be very temporamental (tried different driver versions as well) and the most annoying part was the inability to add a custom resolution for the TV device. I have since played with the settings and lost the 640 x 480 option. Currently it's on 480i, 720 x 480 (recommended) @ 29Hz. I don't remember how I got it in the first place. I see the TV Format is currently set to M/NTSC, where it was PAL earlier, so I think this has changed ... it is a very confusing area of the control panel!

Also I found I can only get 25Hz or 29 Hz in the nvidia control panel for my TV?

[wodger]

The only other problems I'm having are
1. graphics and text in npvr is ghosting slightly and
2. graphics and text in npvr appear slightly textured - horizontal lines are visible.

This is visible in Windows Media Centre as well. Any ideas? (haven't searched yet, so not creating a new thread yet).

Thanks again for everyone's help.

[mikeh49]

If you're using the S-video out to the TV (which is analog TV resolution), then I think you should try to get the output resolution set to 720X576 (assuming you're on PAL). When I was using S-video out to a CRT TV, I used 720X480 for NTSC for the best picture. I used an Nvidia 6200 and I think I had to do something "special" to get that resolution. It was about 3 years ago, so I don't remember very well. I think there was a small command line utility that could set the resolution. You might try Googling for something like that. Then again, maybe it could be set in the Nvidia control panel of that day.

[stustunz]

The pal/25hz thing is important so check to see if there is a setting on your tv to force pal then go back to Nvidia control panel and see if you can select a better res as this will get rid of both things
Keep trying you will get it

[wodger]

The pal/25hz thing is important so check to see if there is a setting on your tv to force pal then go back to Nvidia control panel and see if you can select a better res as this will get rid of both things
Keep trying you will get it

Ah. Forcing PAL on the TV made it easy to set 576i, 720 x 480 @ 25Hz. Text quality is quite a bit better now. Text quality of the weather ticker tape is better too. I did change SAF's ffdshow interlacing setting as you recommended - NV12 (nv10 not an option?) and disabled the others, force bob and top field first. Picture quality re. edges etc seems alot better.

Auto/Progressive/100Hz Mode. There is no noticable difference between Auto and 100Hz, so I guess it never/rarely chooses Progressive when set to Auto. And I suppose Auto only chooses between Progressive and 100Hz - or maybe there are hidden options that I can't select manually.

Now the issue is that the ticker tape is speeding up and slowing down - was better before. It is noticable in other programs where there is a slow pan etc. I see you said that's a refresh rate problem? Any suggestion from here? Very grateful for all the help so far

[stustunz]

you should increase your resolution 720x480 is ntsc resolution
some to try would be 720x576@50hz 800x600@50hz or even 100hz as you said the tv has a 100hz setting
another res is 1024x576 @50hz or 100hz

its just a matter of finding the sweet spot you will know when you hit it as the ticker tape will be smooth no jitter or speed up slow down

sorry about the nv12 setting memory isnt always the best

[wodger]

@stustunz. Thanks for all the help. I couldn't find much info about the TV on the net (re resolution and frequencies supported), unless I wanted to pay $15 for a manual. Also I didn't have much luck with forcing custom resolutions (though I didnt' try too hard).

I fixed it though, with your help of course. In the end the issue was my monitor - I had a 17" LCD connected via VGA and the TV connected via tv-out/S-Video. Removing the monitor, rebooting and reconfiguring it all with just the TV did the trick. This was hard becuase the first time I booted without the monitor, the TV resolution was very wonky and the nvidia control panel wouldn't fit on the screen. Anyhoo with the monitor out of the equation it was easy to get 576i, 720 x 576 @ 25Hz, NZ PAL. I guess the card just couldn't handle the extra load.

Text quality leaves a tiny bit to be desired (though fine from a distance), and the ghosting is still visible (only if you're really looking), but the ticker tape speed and edges (people's arms/sleeves etc as they walk around, or the scene as it pans across) are PERFECT. Perhaps a true technophile would settle for calling it "perfectly watchable"

Thanks again for you help. You too, hoborg. One day I might look again at the resolution, but I have lots to do and have missed out on this year's seasons starting already. Don't want the WAF to take too much more of a hit. I don't think my wife could see a difference the entire time, but I sure could.

Next missions: importing recordings, setting up the remote and then putting the box back on its shelf under the floor

[stustunz]

I thought you were on vga
if on svideo you cant increase the res any higher (it cant handle the bandwidth or some crap)
also if you are on windows 7 make sure you are using evr (even on xp its better if you have the grunt)

[wodger]

Nah, the TV can't handle a VGA signal over 640 x 480 so I knew that wasn't going to work. Was gutted when I got it home and found that limitation (bought it off my old employer for $200 few years ago).

Each post I did said s-video - it's in my sig Good to know that about s-video's limitation. I suppose its only theoretical but enforced by nvidia.

Thanks anyway, your advice has been really helpful.