Newb Recording question

[johnnysocko]

So, this is probably a fairly basic question, hopefully I'll get an answer.

If one were just a little unhappy with the "recording quality" what would be the investigation that ensued to see about increasing it?

I'm thinking there are more than one thing to consider.
1. the OTA signal
2. the hardware itself
3. NextPvrs taking what the hardware has to offer it, decoding it, and writing to storage
4. The player which reads the decoded file and renders on the device

So, which ones can I fiddle with, interchange with something else, to see if something works better? I'm assuming #4 I can try to swap a codec on any player. Using NextPVR as the display engine, I'm assuming that's done with the Decoder configuration tab.

Is there anything that can be fiddled with for #2 or #3 if I've got that right? I know #3 has a good, better, best setting. What about what it is using to decode the signal if anything? Or is all decoding done on the hardware, and NPVR is just reading a bit stream and changing the sample rates on what it is reading?

Any suggestions welcome, thanks.

[sub]

Are these analog or digital channels? I'm assuming digital, in which case the capture is already in the best quality possible - ie, a dump of the broadcaster's bits. In this case, if you're not happy with the picture compare to other devices (like you're TV's tuner etc), then it'll come down to the video decoder/renderer you're using, or the quality of the TV output on your videocard.

[Graham]

I assume that you a receiving a digital signal. I seem to recall that the US went all digital a while ago.

Broadcasters encode TV as an MPEG stream and broadcast that stream in a digital signal. The signal is either on or off. The symptoms of poor reception would be rapid fluctuations between on and off which would show as pixellation on screen or as periods of black screen.

The tuner hardware captures the MPEG stream in the same format as it is broadcast. NPVR copies the MPG data from the broadcast stream to the computer disk in the same format as the broadcast.

In short, the data read from the disk of your computer when you playback a recording is the same dat that left the encoding device at the TV station.

The only stuff that you can mess with to improve quality is playback stuff like decoders and renderers and graphics drivers and driver settings.

I wait to be corrected by the more knowledgeable among us. Good luck.

[johnnysocko]

Yes, using OTA digital HD capture via my professionally installed roof mounted antenna. Reception is quite good.

So, if I watch Live TV on my computer using NextPVR as the display renderer, the quality is good.

Judging by your replies, then, I'm assuming "good/best/better" just fools with sample rates of the live stream then.

Not sure if the watching a Recording in Next PVR is as good as live, but I'll try to play with that. Doubtful I'll get better drivers or be able to fool with this somewhat dated ATI card, so looks like I'm just down to fooling with transcoding and playback settings on the target platform, which is Plex media server at this time.

Thanks

[Reddwarf]

Judging by your replies, then, I'm assuming "good/best/better" just fools with sample rates of the live stream then.
Thanks

The good/better/best is for analog reception, which does not apply to your system.

[johnnysocko]

Thanks for that - limits the potential fiddling even more.

[stustunz]

things to try
change resolution of video card output to tv
try a better connection to tv (what are you connected with)

[johnnysocko]

To reduce potential confusion - I'm not streaming from PC to TV. Just replaying recordings.

I've gone through an extensive trial period of streaming solutions for my target platform, Google TV via Sony Blu Ray, and the best I could come up with for me is the Plex media platform.

Plex is hosted on a fairly powerful desktop and is using a wired ethernet 100 mb lan to the TV, so I'm not really considering increasing the oomph in either of those areas.

[stustunz]

Well go ask plex why your recordings look like crap
If you want to use nextpvr to playback recordings then ask here

Just so I get what your doing
You record with nextpvr
But playback is on a pc running plex

[johnnysocko]

Sorry - no offense. That is understood. My question was mostly specifically related to if the actual recording part between the card and what nextpvr gets applied to disc, and really was just trying to learn a little bit about it in the process, which I've done.

And, sorry, I misread your reply, and if that's a real question and not tongue in cheek, that's what I'm doing. Recordings are just tagging along in a separate folder. Plex is primarily serving up the library of ripped dvds currently housed on the same desktop.

I don't know of any readily available solution, which would be easy to setup, for NPVR to stream to the GTV platform.

Appreciate the input.