Live tv quality vs recorded play back quality...icky! ;)

[maxxcool7421]

Maybe its the beta nature of sage atm but i have noticed on the ati550 card i bought that the "live tv" quality is significantly lower than the recorded quality..

ie i watch family guy and there are significant "blocks" (line resolution, ie like no AA) in the characters and where ever a black line exists. on other channles not featureing animation there is still some blocking. if i cancel the recording and then view what i was just watching (recorded at 3.2gph) the image is superb.

my assumtption is that the vrm9 render is displaying a "card level default", and when i view the recoding as a recording i am seeing the finished result of the filters and bitrate that i selected... the question is this was a oem card... and the drivers are just that wdm drivers. is there any way to change the bitrate/quality of the "live" tv image to match the finished video?

note that no other mode besides vrm9 seems to work for the video which was question #2, as i have heard that overlay is the best but am unable to see any image in that mode... is this know with the 550 series ?

Maxx

[ldavis]

my assumtption is that the vrm9 render is displaying a "card level default", and when i view the recoding as a recording i am seeing the finished result of the filters and bitrate that i selected... the question is this was a oem card... and the drivers are just that wdm drivers. is there any way to change the bitrate/quality of the "live" tv image to match the finished video?

Not true. There is no such thing as "live tv" with Sage. Everything is recorded to a file using the default recording quality. It may be played back from the file immeidately at nearly live tv but nothing comes directly from the card. There must be some other reason for the difference. For favorites/manual recording you can set the recording quality at something other than default so maybe that is what you are experiencing.

[maxxcool7421]

hmmm when do the filters and encoding apply then? i have currently set both recording levels to 3.2gph "great" with no percievable difference to the image displayed while watching tv "live" (buffered)... yet if i stop recording and play the file in sage the image becomes clear without any blocking...

[maxxcool7421]

Originally Posted by ldavis

Not true. There is no such thing as "live tv" with Sage. Everything is recorded to a file using the default recording quality. It may be played back from the file immeidately at nearly live tv but nothing comes directly from the card. There must be some other reason for the difference. For favorites/manual recording you can set the recording quality at something other than default so maybe that is what you are experiencing.

When you say favorites/manual what are your refeering to? *curious* the recordings are great, its when im just watching tv that the picture seems bitrate limited/macro blocky....

[maxxcool7421]

genral question #3, are there any other bitrate/quality settings aside from the detailed setup > Video / audio > recoding quality settings?

i will have a few screen caps later, im at work right now.... but once someone sees the screencap im willing to bet this is something im missing..

[Mike Young]

You are not imagining it.
In my experience, Some degragation of PQ is normal operation while watching live tV (though I usually dont get blocking), Which is why I NEVER watch liveTV with Sage. I think the difference is just the extra overhead of displaying while recording. (even with DVXA on) and even though your cpu useage may be minimal.
It was one of the first things I noticed when I built my system.
Additionally your effect may be enhanced because you are using a card that combines encoding with TV out ?
I have learned to accept this as a feature, allthough I know for many, watching liveTV is an important part of thier system.
I would try to tune your system as much as possible - 64K blocks and try some different decoders. I think others have written guides on optimal settings.
make sure you cpu useage is as low as possible.

mike/

[mlbdude]

Since I am playing back a recording just a few seconds behind, I get whatever my quality settings are at. Never seen a difference.

[maxxcool7421]

*nods* k comfirmation is good too i have two tuners and i noticed it with both, but was hopping it was a setting.

maybe im insane but i think the image displayed is somehow not as filtered or proccessed as the image on the drive when played out of "live mode"... but its the same file... huh *scratches head*

maybe the issue is that the render is displaying the image prior to proccessing ? but its the same file still. erg.

boy this is going to give me a headache... when time ah i got it .... time shifting!!.. thats it...

does nayone know how to set the quality of the time shifting ?

i think what i am seeing is that the time shifting bitrate or quality differs somehow.

yeah thats got to be it i had the same issue with winfasts pvr software... with winfast live tv was fine, recording was fine but timeshifting even ah "high quality" was blocky...

any thoughts?

[mlbdude]

Timeshifting uses your Default recording quality.

[maxxcool7421]

thats what it is then, the cards default timeshifting quality is lower than my 3.2gph setting.. that explained tons.

well then! 50$ tuner = 50$ tuner


ok next card will be a hauppage 500 series dual tuner card

[maxxcool7421]

any settings i can add to the properties file to overide the timeshiftings card default quality ? or anyone know of a reg hack to change the defualt rates of the 550 card with wdm standard drivers ?

Maxx!

[mlbdude]

Check out page 135 (around there) of the manual for quality settings. Default quality will be used for all new recordings (including LiveTV) and should generally be set pretty high (I use 3.2 myself). Then, if you need lower quality for a favorite or manual recording set it for that recording specifically.

[maxxcool7421]

gotcha... *looking now*

[maxxcool7421]

yep both are set to 3.2 (great quality). hmmm seems odd that the time shifting is lower quality... i need to get into the registry and see if theres something im missing. or maybe some ati tools that i need installed.

only the time shifting is affected... hmmm *goes to lunch*

[maxxcool7421]

formating and going to windows 2000.... not related to sage... will reinstall and retest..


Maxx

[Ryokurin]

if it wont do overlay thats usually is a codec issue if not a card issue. what codec are you using?

and if you can, try a higher mode. I can tell the difference between the modes (even on my crappy 10 year old 19 inch magnavox) I HAVE to view normal TV at max quality or otherwise I notice the artifacts. the lowest I go (and always record at anyhow) is dvd standard play which to me looks like digital cable. The codec you use may also have some play too. I can tell the difference between Intervideos and Nvidia even at max quality. The funny thing is both are more than acceptable on normal mpeg-2 things.

I dont know if a 550 has registry keys or a program that allows it but you can try tweaking the setings there. or even the brightness and contrast.