improve TV connection

[mtags]

I hooked my PVR up to my TV for the first time last night.

The first problem that I had was that the picture was warped and looked terrible. I believe that this was due to my S-Video cable, from my computer to my TV, running along some metal pipes with a bunch of other cables, and I was getting interferance. I later moved my tv right next to my computer and the picture looked great. Do I just need a better S-Video cable that has better shielding?

My other issue was with my video card (Geforce fx5500). When I brought up the guide while in LiveTV full screen mode the audio sometimes would get out of sinc with my video. My computer is at 1Ghz. I have only had the 5500 for a few days and still have a few days left to return it. I think I would like something with a mpeg2 hardware decoder, so that it will take some of the stress off of my CPU (which is running at about 75% during playback). I was thinking of getting the Geforce fx6200 and also by the Nvidea decoders. Will this give me the results I desire? Would the fx6600 give me even better results. Fan noise isn't factor.

The Geforce 5500 is still a great card, I just don't think I have the CPU power.

[Koenie]

I used the GF 6200 in combination with the NVidia decoder and was pritty disappointed to find out that I could not get the hardware acceleration to work. I therefore switched back to my old ATI 7500 which has way better TV-out quality than the NVidia (seems to me that ATI's has better TV-out more or less systematically when i read posts in different forums). Moreover the hardware acceleration works with the ATI card.

I actually use the ATI MPEG codec (needed to add it as a supported codec in the config.xml) but this gives me the best video quality and comes free with the ATI. I would not see it as a problem when the CPU runs at 75% since the capture cards used by GBPVR are all hardware MPEG anyway and generlly are not influenced. My older setup had a Duron 1.3 which never had a problem with CPU overload when watching and capturing from 2 cards at the same time. I only upgraded the system because I use it for a bunch of other tasks as well (skype, lan server, ftp, ...).

[Koenie]

Above post made me realise I needed to update my profile.

[elite]

The first problem that I had was that the picture was warped and looked terrible. I believe that this was due to my S-Video cable, from my computer to my TV, running along some metal pipes with a bunch of other cables, and I was getting interferance. I later moved my tv right next to my computer and the picture looked great. Do I just need a better S-Video cable that has better shielding?

Maybe, but before splashing out try: keeping your cable runs as short as possible and crossing other cables (esp. mains cables) at 90 degrees.

[gEd]

I would not see it as a problem when the CPU runs at 75% since the capture cards used by GBPVR are all hardware MPEG anyway and generlly are not influenced.

As I was reminded recently, all of the cards (excluding those using WDM software recorder plugin) supported by gbpvr use hardware ENcoding. AFAIK, only the pvr-350 supports hardware DEcoding and this card is a) no longer actively supported by Sub and b) causes lots of proplems (hangs) for some people whilst others have no problems at all.

mtags: 1Ghz is a bit weedy m8 - check your cpu load when running live tv and OSD. A pvr-350 would theoretically help but costs lots more that a regular analogue card and due to hanging problems, cannot really be recommended any more.

[charger]

(seems to me that ATI's has better TV-out more or less systematically when i read posts in different forums). Moreover the hardware acceleration works with the ATI card.

i had been using my gforce 5200 and it went out so i put in my brothers old ati 9200(i think it is anyways) and it is so much better and his card didnt have a fan so less noise