New system - old TV

[mcbinder]

I have built a new system that really works well - see signature for system details. I built it and debugged it using a 17 inch LCD pc screen and it looked great.

Now, I have it my feeding my TV using the composite out from the video card to the composite in on the TV. I expected it to be worse, but it's REALLY poor video.

I used the default resolution for output. I think it was 800x600.

Any suggestions on making it look better until I get the TV for which it was built? That will be a 42in plasma HDTV.

Mike

[camus]

Originally Posted by mcbinder

I have built a new system that really works well - see signature for system details. I built it and debugged it using a 17 inch LCD pc screen and it looked great.

Now, I have it my feeding my TV using the composite out from the video card to the composite in on the TV. I expected it to be worse, but it's REALLY poor video.

I used the default resolution for output. I think it was 800x600.

Any suggestions on making it look better until I get the TV for which it was built? That will be a 42in plasma HDTV.

Mike

Try 640x480.

[paulbeers]

What doesn't look right? The whole image? or just video playbck?

Since you are using an nvidia card, I am pretty sure there is a 480i option under TV out. That should be your native resolution.

If it is video playback, what codecs are you using? Just the basic Sage ones?

Also, composite is the second worst input type, next to regular Coax. It is not going to look right. I am assuming no svideo or component inputs?

[mcbinder]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

What doesn't look right? The whole image? or just video playbck?

Since you are using an nvidia card, I am pretty sure there is a 480i option under TV out. That should be your native resolution.

If it is video playback, what codecs are you using? Just the basic Sage ones?

Also, composite is the second worst input type, next to regular Coax. It is not going to look right. I am assuming no svideo or component inputs?

The whole thing looks bad - hard to read text, fuzzy playback, etc.
I just installed Sage5 with no changes, except remote codes, XML-TV, WX, directories, etc. I did not see a 480i, but I will look.

No, No S-Video. Wish there was. May try my other less old TV that has S-Video or just speed up the HDTV acquisition. Should I go S-Video from the STB to Win TV 150 card? I used composite there too.

Mike

[paulbeers]

First off, use svideo whenever possible. I find it makes a much clearer picture....This is the general rule of thumb for connections:

low to high:
cable coax
composite
svideo
component
dvi/hdmi

I would try hooking your computer upto another tv to see if it is the vid card or the tv. I would especially try one with svideo.

[Menehune]

What brand/size TV are you using?
My parent's Sharp 13" TV using a s-video to composite adaptor has a noticably worse picture than my sony 13" TV using the same s-video to composite adaptor. I haven't tried hooking the system up to the upstairs Sharp 19" TV to see if the picture is better or worse.

Sage looks Ok considering they are viewing the 13" TV from 10 feet away, but if I ever have to do maintenance on the PC, I need to switch the UI to 640x480 high contrast to even have a hope to see any characters on the screen.
I really need to install VNC on the living room machine so I never need to access win2k from the living room again

[mcbinder]

Originally Posted by Menehune

What brand/size TV are you using?
My parent's Sharp 13" TV using a s-video to composite adaptor has a noticably worse picture than my sony 13" TV using the same s-video to composite adaptor. I haven't tried hooking the system up to the upstairs Sharp 19" TV to see if the picture is better or worse.

Sage looks Ok considering they are viewing the 13" TV from 10 feet away, but if I ever have to do maintenance on the PC, I need to switch the UI to 640x480 high contrast to even have a hope to see any characters on the screen.
I really need to install VNC on the living room machine so I never need to access win2k from the living room again

I think it's a 27 inch GE. Like I said pretty old. No S-Video. Composite/L/R are the only inputs.

I did switch the STB -> Sage TV PVR connection from composite to S-Video and that made a bit of difference. I think it's OK for now.

As you said, to debug / update, etc. it's really hard to read.
I'll have to try my remote SW to the main machine and see if that's better.
I use LogMeIn. Is VNC better / easier ?

mcb

[Menehune]

The few times I used VNC I liked it since it goes directly between the two computers and no internet connection to the LogMeIn servers is required.
I.e. VNC can be used on computers that are not networked to the outside world.

[mcbinder]

Originally Posted by mcbinder

I have built a new system that really works well - see signature for system details. I built it and debugged it using a 17 inch LCD PC screen and it looked great.

Now, I have it my feeding my TV using the composite out from the video card to the composite in on the TV. I expected it to be worse, but it's REALLY poor video.

I used the default resolution for output. I think it was 800x600.

Any suggestions on making it look better until I get the TV for which it was built? That will be a 42in plasma HDTV.

OK - the price dropped enough, so I got the plasma...
Panasonic TH42PX60U HDTV

The picture is STILL not good from SageTV.
Too dark on live TV and jagged horizontal lines. WAF is 0.
Awesome from other sources though!

I'm sure there's LOTS of tweaking I need to do.
Where do I start?

I have my eVGA Nvidia display set to 1024x768, which should match the TV and I feed it from the DVI port to TV HDMI input with a conversion cable. When I am looking at a windows XP screen, the desktop edges are all off the screen. There must be some over scan value set wrong or something. Does driver over scan affect the Sage display? What about the dark live TV picture? I tried video cal brightness on video source setup to no good effect.

I was thinking of trying component video instead of HDMI, but can't see how that would change the SageTV picture.

Thanks,
Mike