Standard Definition Upscaling

[NumberFive]

Hi,

Just wondering can anyone advise settings to upscale SD TV for a HDTV set in NPVR? The channels look fine on my Panasonic TVs own tuner and upscaler, but they look blocky through NPVR I assume because the video is linearly stretched.

Thanks for any advice

[stustunz]

it shouldn't
what decoder are you using
and what resolution do you have the video card set to
whats the connection you are using between the tv and pc

[gEd]

Hi,

Just wondering can anyone advise settings to upscale SD TV for a HDTV set in NPVR? The channels look fine on my Panasonic TVs own tuner and upscaler, but they look blocky through NPVR I assume because the video is linearly stretched.

Thanks for any advice

My SD picture looks as good or slightly better that the native SD in my Sony Z5500, a TV that has the best upscaled image I had seen (one of the main reasons I bought it).
The factors that affect the quality of your tv output are

desktop resolution - make sure it is set to the native res of your tv
video decoder - which one are you using? I use the cyberlink pdvd codec that comes with the unlocked SAF codec pack.
If you stick with ffdshow, it has upscaling and other postprocessing features (although these will need a reasonably powerful pc)

graphics card - what card to you have and are you using HDMI connection to the TV?
Some of the really old cards did provide a soft and blocky image.
My ATI drivers have a gpu upscaling option (although I am not sure this option does anything compared to being disabled)

or.....

buy a HD card if you can now get HD. SD looks so crap after you have watched HD for a while.

[stustunz]

also turn off all extra shit like image sharpening etc in video card settings and on the tv

[NumberFive]

Hi, I mainly notice the issue on text (embedded subtitles, for instance). They're perfectly smooth on the TVs own processing, but jaggy on the media centre.

My system is as follows:

Windows 7 / NPVR 2.4.3 / Core 2 Duo CPU / 2 GB RAM / ATI HD5450 GPU

Connected by HDMI-to-HDMI, operating at 1920x1080 @50 Hz (Native resolution of Panasonic Plasma set).

Have tried the Microsoft DTV / Cyberlink PDVD10 and LAV Video decoders (LAV set to use HW acceleration) and I still get jaggy text on subtitles, "small print" on adverts and such.

The picture is by no means bad, its just not nearly as good as the TV set manages.

I do have a HD card and the HD channels do look amazing, but the majority of channels are still SD of course.

I wonder have I done something wrong somewhere. :S

[stustunz]

yeah thats the sharpness thing normally
go looking

I think there are other things in the ati settings also
forget the names they use
just set almost all of them to off
only leave force wait for vertical sync on

[NumberFive]

Hi,

I've turned off all the graphics card enhancements and that seems to have helped dramatically!

Thanks for your help

[imilne]

Don't turn off deinterlacing - set that to the highest value there is (or use auto). Everything else can and should be binned.

Iain