Better TV output

[kaudley]

Hi,

Just as the topic suggests, I'm looking for information on getting a better picture out of my TV when using SageTV. It looks better than any of the other PVR software I have tried (GBPVR, Myth, Freevo, BTV) with SageTV - but I'm sure it can still be better.

I experience faint vertical lines on the TV when watching live or recorded video. I also find the picture to be kind of smudged or blurry at some points. This is especially true if there is a lot of fast movement and brightness on the screen. A hockey game is a perfect example, with GBPVR my picture clipped constantly when watching Hockey. With SageTV it's a thousand times better, but still not as good as when I sent my satellite picture directly to the TV.

Second issue - I get alot of stuttering when using my client on my laptop, both nic's are getting 54mbps over my wireless G network. I record at the 3.0 Gig/hour setting.

Does anyone have any Suggestions on things I could try to allieviate these issues?

Here are my specs:

SageTV 4.1.3 full and Client. (client machine is an IBM T41 Laptop running XP Pro)
P4 2.8
2 GB PC2700 DDR Ram
30 GB HD - host WinXP Pro
150 GB HD - Recorded TV/Live TV
120 GB HD - Archived Media
Intel Chipset Motherboard
Gforce 4 mx 440 AGP Video Card with tv out
Hauppauge PVR 150 Retail and IR Blaster
Via ENVY 24 7.1 sound card with S/PDIF out.
Dlink G520 Wireless Nic

[AboveUnrefined]

Try a different MPEG2 codec and decide which one performs the best for you -- a lot of people seem to like nVidia's codec. Your wireless hardware may not be good enough to handle MPEG2 streams or your notebook isn't powerful enough to play the video - test it on a wired connection to find out.

[kaudley]

Sorry I should have clarified that. The stuttering on my Laptop is random, sometimes when I first start watching LiveTV via the client it stutters, other times it plays great. I can watch LiveTV, or Time Shifted TV for 2 or 3 hours with no problems, then suddenly it'll start to stutter.. drives me nuts.

I don't believe this is a "Hardware not up to task" issue as it plays fine most times.

But I'll try another Codec. When I looked deeper into the nvidia one I read that it's really just optimized for output to a PC Monitor.. not for a TV....

I'm currently using sageTV's Mpeg Codec, and vmr9 I think.

[Polypro]

Vertical lines: No one knows for sure, but it may be too strong a signal (analog from the wall to the RF input?). A BTV poster attenuated the signal ~10db and the lines disappeared. (See HTPC News>Capture Card board).

Picture: Download the Hauppauge Tweak Tool. Go to the last tab and set or verify the main filtering boxes are Static filtering, 6 or 7 Temporal (OEM is 8) and 0 or 1 Spatial (OEM is 0) Then in the dropdown box for Encoder settings, move the filtering sliders to the same settings. I check the boxes and hit Save settings on the main page, then go to the dropdown and hit Apply for each tuner. Re-start, re-open, and verify the settings stuck. Mine have always stuck no matter what driver version I've used...some have had problems with certain driver versions

P

[ke6guj]

You should try to eliminate the wireless as the problem regarding stuttering. Temporarily hardwire your laptop into the network with zero wireless between it and the server.

Wireless, even 54Mps G can cause issues like you are experiencing.

[kaudley]

Hmmm... that kind of sucks about the Vertical Lines Polypro - thats the most anoying problem as far as the TV Picture is concerned.

I'm going to try upgrading the Driver to the newest one that SHS PVR has on they're site, the mini CD Version. Then I'll install the Intervideo Decoder as I don't think I installed it initially when I installed my PVR150. Then I'll run the tweak tool and try those settings. Thanks!

[kaudley]

So I tried a few things last night....

I checked my setup and how the cables were run, and noticed that the composite out cable was wrapped around the power cable for my HTPC. I seperated the two and voila - Vertical lines are now gone.... I had no idea it could be something as simple as that. Problem 1 solved.

I went into sage, in advnced properties and checked the Codec I was using - it was set to SageTV MPEG something or other, and I had no other choices. I ran the Hauppauge setup CD again and checked off the "Install SW Decoders" Box, rebooted and checked again - Now I have the Intervideo nonCSS decoder. So I chose that - noticed a *big* improvement in picture, as far as brightness, contrast, saturation goes. That issue seems to be fixed now.

Here is the part where I'm still a little confused - I downloaded and ran the Hauppauge Tweak Tool - this was the suggestion:

Picture: Download the Hauppauge Tweak Tool. Go to the last tab and set or verify the main filtering boxes are Static filtering, 6 or 7 Temporal (OEM is 8) and 0 or 1 Spatial (OEM is 0) Then in the dropdown box for Encoder settings, move the filtering sliders to the same settings. I check the boxes and hit Save settings on the main page, then go to the dropdown and hit Apply for each tuner. Re-start, re-open, and verify the settings stuck.

If I go 6,7 or 8 in temporal it looks horrid.... cenes actaully appear almost as if they were shot in slow motion they are so blurred out, the lower I go the worse it gets. I seem to have it somewhat acceptable but it's set at 16 right now. What does this setting do, and by increasing it what am I changing? The spatial is set to 1.

Thanks!

[ozfiles]

Originally Posted by AboveUnrefined

-- a lot of people seem to like nVidia's codec.

I can confirm that the nVidia codec gives a noticable picture enhancement. After using the Intervideo Video codec, I read this post and thought I would give the nVideo codec a try and the results were impressive.
Thanks for the hint.

regards.

[kaudley]

Wow... holy crap batman!

I installed the pure video codec... I can't believe the difference in picture quality - this is deffinitly the best thing you can do for your HTPC...

[MikeT]

What's the name of the Codec and where do I get one?
Mike

[stevech]

does this mean that this codec produces better playback quality, given the encoder is in hardware (in my Hauppauge USB)?

Does this codec require a certain video card in the PC? meaning it's N/A for my ATI card?

"NVIDIA PureVideo Decoder is also the best way to experience NVIDIA PureVideo on your NVIDIA® GeForce™ 6 and 7 Series GPUs, enabling smooth, vibrant, and vivid videos. "