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)
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)
Frank Z
[COLOR="Gray"]
I used to ask 'why?' Now I just reinstall...
[SIZE="1"]______________________________________________
Author: ZTools: ZProcess, MVPServerChecker; UltraXMLTV Enhancer, Renamer, Manager; [/SIZE]
[/COLOR]
[COLOR="Gray"]
I used to ask 'why?' Now I just reinstall...
[SIZE="1"]______________________________________________
Author: ZTools: ZProcess, MVPServerChecker; UltraXMLTV Enhancer, Renamer, Manager; [/SIZE]
[/COLOR]