Video playback quality tweaks

[tsitalon1]

Hey guys,

I have sage 5.0.4 with the current hardware/drivers/settings:

Hardware:

TV Sony 50" DLP model KF-50XBR800
Video card Nividia 6200 turbo cache (msi MS-7125) w/256mb
Tuner card Hauppage 150 MCE
Cable box Motorola 6400 series

Software/drivers:

Nividia Forceware 91.47
Nividia Pure Video Decoder 1.02-223


Settings:

Video resolution 1176 x 664
Nvidia HD output 720p
Sage Settings:
Video Renderer "Default"
Mpeg 2 video decoder filter "default"
DXVA mPEG mode "Default"
DXVA deinterlacing "default"
Dscaler deinterlacing filter "default"
Audio renderer "default"
Mpeg2 audio decoder filter "Sagetv audio mpeg decoder"


Overall the quality is ok. However, it is considerably better quality on the STB with some channels. The sagetv is slightly blurry, not bad, but it's there. Convincing the wife to drop cable for Sage is a little difficult with a slightly blurry picture. Is there any tweaks that could be done to make a difference in the playback quality, perhaps, make it crisper? I don't mind spending the money if it's going to come out right.

Currently the STB is connected to the tuner via S-Video cable. I do not believe ther are any tuners available on the market that accept HD or component inputs right?

Thanks,
James

[blade]

Two things that come to mind right off the bat,

1) Use the hauppauge tweak tool to reduce the spatial and temporal settings of your capture card. I don't recall what the defaults are, but I run mine at Spatial -0 and Temporal -4. The default settings cause a lot of motion blur. This is a required adjustment IMO.

I don't have time to look for any links at the moment, but you should be able to find some info on making the adjustments if you search the forum. If not maybe someone else can point you in the right direction.

2) Make sure the Nvidia decoder is set to use smart instead of automatic or you won't get proper deinterlacing. If you start to see strange artifacts then you'll have to revert back to automatic. It is a known bug in the decoder that only some people experience. You can change this in the tray icon while playing back a video. The difference may not be easily noticed if you don't know what you're looking for, but it is there.

[tsitalon1]

This is the best I can muster. Does this look about normal for tnt hd through stb/150mce over s-video?

http://www.montgomerycomputeraid.com/pq1.doc

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by tsitalon1

Video Renderer "Default"
Mpeg 2 video decoder filter "default"
DXVA mPEG mode "Default"
DXVA deinterlacing "default"
Dscaler deinterlacing filter "default"
Audio renderer "default"
Mpeg2 audio decoder filter "Sagetv audio mpeg decoder"

First thing that stands out to me is this. This is bad, bad setup (OK I'm exagerating), but it's far from ideal, the reason being you have no idea what your getting.

Unless you know what you're doing, it's always better to explicitly set decoders and renderers. You've got the nVidia decoders and a 6 series, you should make sure you're using them by setting Video Decoder to nVidia Video Decoder, and Video Renderer to VMR9.

From your picture that doesn't look too bad, though you might want to try turning the quality up a bit, and doing the tweaks blade mentioned.

[tsitalon1]

I used DECCHECK to verify that Purevideo is the "preferred decoder"

So by setting the renderer and filter in Sagetv to "default" I should be using the purevideo decoder, right?

I have the purevideo decoder settings as such:

Display type = Anamorhic/Raw Aspect
Hardware acceleration = enabled
De-Inter;ace Control = Smart
De-Interlace Mode = VMR pixel adaptive
Enhanced nView support = Prefer VMR9

Should I be concerned that the "Bitrate (Mbps)" being displayed is less than 2 during playback.

You mention turning the quality up, where? which setting are you referring to?

[blade]

Originally Posted by tsitalon1

I used DECCHECK to verify that Purevideo is the "preferred decoder"

So by setting the renderer and filter in Sagetv to "default" I should be using the purevideo decoder, right?

Setting the renderer to default in Sage is going to use VMR7 instead of overlay or VMR9.

It should use the purevideo for the decoder when set to default since it's the default decoder. Like stanger said, you're better off selecting it by name. The last decoder installed will be set as the default decoder. So if another decoder gets installed the purevideo will get bumped. Selecting it by name is just better IMO because there is less chance of something getting out of whack.

I have the purevideo decoder settings as such:

Display type = Anamorhic/Raw Aspect
Hardware acceleration = enabled
De-Inter;ace Control = Smart
De-Interlace Mode = VMR pixel adaptive
Enhanced nView support = Prefer VMR9

You should be running content default instead of anamorphic, at least if you want to maintain the proper aspect ratio.

As far as I know nView support isn't going to have any effect. As I said before you're actually running VMR7 instead of 9 when you set the renderer to Default in Sage.

Should I be concerned that the "Bitrate (Mbps)" being displayed is less than 2 during playback.

It depends on how clean your source is, size of the display, and personal taste. On my 57" I can start to see artifacts with anything below around 6 mbit/sec so for me 2mbit/sec would be way too low.

You mention turning the quality up, where? which setting are you referring to?

In detailed setup under the multimedia section. Anything around 3 gb/hr should be pretty good. You can go lower or higher depending on personal taste, but that's a good starting point IMO.

Making the adjustments with the hauppauge tweak tool can sometimes make a huge difference if you haven't done it already.

[garyellis]

I asked the same questions over the last couple of months and both Blade and Stanger gave me good answers that seemed to help...I just got the wife to agree to disconnect the cable box. We've not taken it back to Time Warner yet....(1 step at a time)...

Anyway... 3 things seemed to work the best for me...

1) cable signal strength (I thought "no way" could this be a problem given the set top box was so strong)..but it was the biggest of the problems. I had 3 different splitters taking signals around to different places in the house. I removed the extra splitters and now just have 1 that splits incoming cable 4 ways (1 of those ways goes to a PVR 500 which internally splits it again)..This helped significantly. I considered getting a signal amplifier also, but haven't needed it yet. I also had the cable company come out and test the signal strength and they found that it was low. They installed a new "heavy duty" cable and it significantly increased the signal strength.

2) color calibration on the Hauppauge tuner cards....you can adjust it right in sage under "setup video sources" > click on the tuner card and color calibration. I just tweaked these setting until I liked what I saw. I also read a bunch on the internet about the settings to help me understand them.

3) Hauppauge Tweak tools....the final touch was exactly what was said above. I used the spatial and temporal settings at 0 and 4.

I already had some of the other things said above like "smart setting" and VMR etc...

As you can see, I think its the input that causes the problems, not as much the output. So, there is where you should focus.

I have the same 6200TC card and use S-video,also. I will go to a higher end card and use component cable once I get an HD tuner card.

Hope this helps,

Gary