Calibration..

[zehd]

In another post I mentioned I got a new Flat panel and started to use it on my server, so I had a nice dvi/hdmi connection. And I said everything was fine.

That was until I connected my MVP and viewed the same content both recorded mpegs and non mpg stuff. It all looked much better. But no way looked as sharp as a straight coax cable into my TV.

As far as the analog Cable coax, it's running through a video amp into a three way spliiter. It's one of those splitters that's optimized with a minimum of 3.5 db loss on two of the ports and up to 7db for the third. I use the 7 for the direct to TV and the two matched 3.5db loss outs to my two PVR150 cards... In theory I should have better signal to my computer than the TV, and still the TV looks better.

So, the straight TV has better brightness and contrast. The PVR150s recordings don't look the same I think. I can use the Hauppauge tweak tool a little bit, and keep popping into liveTV to check my changes... I think the cards are still introducing some artifacts. I think I have to learn more about the pre and post processing amps in the cards, and learn about spatial and temporal filters. It seems that with the latest haup drivers, that all of the settings in the Tweak tool can't be adjusted...

But if I leave that for a bit, there's MPEG decoder disaplaying recorded content (or liveTV). I was using nVidia PureVideo, because it DID look the best. But there were so many blocks and artifacts...

It is tough to know where those artifacts are coming from: the encoding on the PVR150 or the decoding in the MPG decoder. It's like chasing a tail.

So I started using the CyberLink decoder from a codec pack. It seems to be much better, and doesn't stutter or hog the cpu. But I don't have much output contrast and brightness and saturation control. In fact I can't get the sliders moving at all. But aside from the picture being just a tad less dynamic and sharp than I would like, It's a very good picture. (Still nothing like straight broadcast TV)

Then there's watching non MPGs, mostly divx and xvid. The Codec pack gave me the option to use ffdshow for divx or xvid, or I could use the respective decoders. I found that having divx and ffdshow disabled, xvid looks better even on the divx movies (I have divx support enabled in the xvid decoder)

Anyway, I'm close. But then I can't really tell if some of the blocking or compression artifacts in the divx/xvids are from poor rates chosen by the ripper, or if the decoder could be tweaked (or replaced)

So, I'm starting to think the best thing would be to get a baseline, sort of a calibration software. Something that would have a DVD Mpg, and maybe I high quality rip into both divx and xvid. I don't know...

I know a few things about all this, but I also know that I'm kinda floundering. Maybe there are other's with different aproaches that I might try?

(I'm actually looking at this from more a white paper point of view too. If I get a better handle on what I'm doing or not doing right, I would want to write something for the wiki)

[stustunz]

the pvr 150 will never look as good as the broadcast (always a bit blurry)
but reading the rest is pretty much the same conclusions i have come to (power dvd8 for video and nvidia pure video for sound )

[zehd]

the pvr 150 will never look as good as the broadcast (always a bit blurry)
but reading the rest is pretty much the same conclusions i have come to (power dvd8 for video and nvidia pure video for sound )

I am getting good results with ffdshow for sound. That hasn't been a problem.

I suspect it's time for me to hang out at the Happauge forum and get some stuff on tweaking...

But then I am also thinking of going Satellite with a couple of cards. Maybe that's going to be sooner than later...

[stustunz]

i found that lip sync ran out after a while with ffdshow/power dvd
yeah i run both sat and analog
the signal in has to be really strong seems to make the picture alot sharper but since you are using cable i am unsure how that works exactly we dont have that here(where i live anyway)

[pBS]

spatial filters blur the picture, temporal makes trails on motion...
i turn temporal off unless i want really low bitrate recordings..
spatial can actually remove some blockiness, but too much leads to blur...
so i set that to first or second notch or leave off...play with it to see diffs
also play with sharpness in direct.ini...i like it pretty high..but it does lead to artifacts...
has a similar effect to spatial, but not as good...

ffdshow bad sync can be if you use 'high quality color conversion' checked...and use
libmpeg2 instead of avcodec codec....

are you using any hi def?
dscaler looks fantastic if you only do sd, looks great on hd too but doesn't work right for livetv..only timeshift and playback..

as for tweaking the pvr150, just make a graphedit graph and add the rec source, and adjust properties there..they usually stick...
also can just find them in registry and mod directly..that's how it do now..future driver proof.. [they just keep changing locations]

just keep in mind it'll never be 'exactly' the same as straight connect, cuz you're re-compressing an already compressed signal..so any noise/blocks on input will be magnified by mpeg compression..cleanest source in = cleanest out..

[zehd]

Thanks for turning me on to graphedit. I've seen a lot of people using it, but never dug in.

I now have matched tuners, with quite good definition although to get rid of some of the artifacts, I softened the image a bit. Certainly on the big screen it's better to see some softness then tonnes of blemishes.

I'm thinking of writing out what I did so that it can help the uninitiated...

[mikeh49]

I'd like to hear your settings and how you got there. I went through a similar experience in the transition from a 27" CRT SDTV to a 40" LCD with PVR 150 recording SDTV. I'm not sure I'm there yet.

I never thought of using graphedit to make the PVR 150 adjustments. How to ensure they "stick" for GBPVR is not entirely clear either, especially considering how Hauppauge seems to change registry locations with each driver version.

So, document away. I'll help if I can.