Help! Need help on how best to set video

[StylinLP]

Ive been playing around with the Video menu in Detailed options to get the best image quality. Do we have to SHUT DOWN the SageTV program everytime we make a change? Everyime I choose a differant video option I see no changes. Im using DirectTV with S-Video input to a Hauppauge 350 card out the DVI on Radeon9600pro set at 1280x768 @60hz

I have the newest IntervideononCSS decoder, sonic from TheaterTek and Elecard. Even when I choose Elecard I get all those Dscaler plug in options. But everytime I try one I dont see a differance. Should I try and use Double Rate? 1st Frame? Which dscaler plugin for watching normal tv or HBO movies.

Appreaite assistance for tonights tv watching.

[eruji]

you dont need to restart sage, just put it to sleep then maximize and you will see the differences.

if you rewind the current feed of video you should be able to see exactly when the changes take effect.

[StylinLP]

I see what what you mean about seeing the changes take effect when playing back. So the changes we make are not imediately apparent until the part we recorded come up. Thats why I didnt see any changes? Also I didnt put SageTV asleep. Gues I have to look that comand up i thecommands window

[StylinLP]

errr...I simply do not see any differance in any settings I try in SageTV video menu. Well. I did see the image go noticably bad when I tried using the Sonic filters from Theater Tek. But all the Dscaler plug ins all look the same under the Elecard filter/codex/imager....what ever they call these things.

I can see visiable horizontal scan lines across the picture. Its like looking thru a screen door. THere is a blurry film laying over the image. I tried Composite inputs, s-video inputs, coax satellite feed input. Actually the Sat coax input looks slightly cleaner. But those scan lines that blue the image are still there.

I even tried Hauppauges WinTV program that came with the card and got the same problems. I also tried switching from DVI to RGB out and back again on the Radeon9600pro. I even downloaded and installed Powerstrip and switched the screen hf from 60hz to 71.964 !! Nothing. No change.

Maybe all those artifacts and scan lines are from the satellite box. Its about 5 years old. 1st generation. I bought a new box and hopefully will be here tomarrow to try out. The Satellite Dish is at 82% signal strenght. DIrectTV.

[mlbdude]

You need to put SageTV to Sleep after every change (you may be doing that). It has nothing to do with getting the recorded part (you are only altering the playback. Nothing new is hapening with encoding).

There is not a night and day difference between any of the codecs. You should be able to notice the deinterlacing differences between them though if you look closesly. Try using BOB on the IneterVideo codecs. That is a realy bad setting for TV's so you should see it at its worst then. Things to look for are ghosting, and image blurring - expecially during motion scenes. Tune to a channel that has a ticker of text on the bottom. That is a good test.

Also, make sure you are using a high bitrate for encoding.

[StylinLP]

Wish they ELecard or Sage would have put a discription on what those dcaler plug ins do. I don't even know what I should be trying or not. I remember reading once that Weave and BOB are suppose to be used only for video or movie sources. I don't remember which matchs with which. Don't see much differance except when its a really bad choice like the Sonic filter in Default mode. Its all very frustrating when you see no differance between settings at all. THe two choices on the front Video menu at the bottom Im not sure what they do. One is called Double ScanRate and the other is called 1st frame start. Or somethign like that. Its the last two choices to select in the Dscaler front menu

[StylinLP]

What is that link to set the brightness contrast and sharpness? I assume they were talking about the Hauppauge settings. Someone said they are horribly incorrect factory defaults.

[gplasky]

Keep in mind when you change the encoder settings should should exit all the way out of Sage and then restart it to see the change.


Gerry

[StylinLP]

I can't beleive it. I bought a new Sat receiver SDTV box and the pic looks alot better quality on a normal TV set 27" but still looks horrible on a 50" Pioneer Plasma screen with DVI out at 1280x768 @60hz and @72hz

The pic does look a little better but still horrible. I tried alot of Elecard combinations with no differance seen in any settings. I do reboot SageTV. Beleive it or not the standard Intervideo drivers that come with Hauppuage looks better. Sigh. I have all the newest drivers installed correctly for the pvr350 card. I followed the directions well

Im trying to find that link on this website for setting the video levels in Registery of the Hauppauge card. Can I get the link please?

[dkardatzke]

It's one of the sticky posts at the top in the General Discussion forum.

[eruji]

It has nothing to do with getting the recorded part (you are only altering the playback. Nothing new is hapening with encoding).

mlbdude, hmm.. i could have swarn that i saw a change of picture quality when i changed codecs, put sage to sleep, maximized, and then rewound about 10 seconds and watched. ill have to try that again.

but what your saying is its just playback settings not encoding. What about when you adjust the video settings in the video proc tab from the advanced menu? is that playback or capture?

and why dont those settings stick, everytime i reboot my pc they are back to the defaults? which is way to bright and oversaturated.

[mlbdude]

Those quality settings are adjusting the Hauppauge cards encodeing settings so they will affect the MPEG2 stream that is created. I don't know why they dont' stick (very anoying). However, you can edit the values in the registry and they will stick from what I have seen in the forums. If you do a search you should find some posts with registry locations and suck.

[eruji]

found it:


good thread, cant believe i didnt read it before.


thanks mlb.

http://forums.freytechnologies.com/f...pture+settings

[StylinLP]

I read it! Thank you. I will hack the registery first thing saturday morning IF i can get SageTV to play DVD VIdeo Essentials which it can't. Error: Does not decode MPEG2 decoding encrypted wrong somethingoranother.

Got another question. ProAc video menu: bit rate? I see I can raise the bit rate all the way up from 8 where it was at to 12mps

Any advice on this? There sure is alot of other settings there but the manual does not explain when they are for. In fact, there is ALOT of settings EVERYWHERE in the menu's that has no explanation. Another example is the DVD and VIDEO menu's. There is a setting for MPEG playback method A B C D and default. Have no clue what that is for.

[mlbdude]

ProAc video menu: bit rate

As far as I know Sage will override that with your selected recording quality.

[salsbst]

StylinLP, you want to play Video Essentials into your 350 from a standalone DVD player if you're trying to calibrate the 350's encoding settings (which are the ones that are so f-ed up at their defaults). Playing back the DVD from within SageTV will only allow you to calibrate your video card and display (which, BTW, is a good first step to do before calibrating the 350).

For those feeling ambitious, here is a way to get the calibration settings to be adjustable in real time, which should make calibrating to a DVD a whole lot easier (I still haven't gotten around to trying it after building the graph, but the graph does work): http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthr...&threadid=1699

Regards,
Stuart

[StylinLP]

Im sorry. I really don't understand that thread. I never used a program called ffdshow, dscalers histogram filter

[StylinLP]

Now that I think about it, using an external DVD player as a source to set the Hauppauge PreAC doesnt sound logical. A DVD source and Satelitte source are playing back at two differant levels. They both have differant brightness, contrast, hue, black levels, saturation and signal strenght. So calibrating to an external DVD player would not mean that the Hauppauge would be optimized for a Satellite TV feed.

I guess the only way to do this is to adjust the ProAc settings by eyeball watching your best channel on Satellite. Save it by doing the registery hacks explained in that other thread. THEN use the VIdeo Essentials DVD and adjust the Plasma screen using the Plasma's video level settings.
Thats how I understand things. Please explain if im wrong.

[salsbst]

You're right that you'd be calibrating to the DVD player and not the satellite receiver, and if they are significantly different then that's not necessarily a good thing. That's why people like it when stations broadcast color bars. Too bad they don't just broadcast the calibration DVD!

I was just trying to point out that playing back the DVD from within SageTV does nothing to help you calibrate the ProcAmp settings on your 350. Out of the box, the WinTV PVR cards settings are so aweful that it is the weakest link, and so calibrating it, even if to the wrong source, may still be worth while.

Good luck!