PVR 150 Dark is to dark

[layoric]

I have a PVR 150, using Nvidea card, output via composite direct to standard TV. Are all these Dark issues everyone has with these cards due to the fact that we're using a standard television as the display device?

What if we used an LCD TV with a standard VGA connection? That way, it'd be just as a computer display and one mode of translation would be eliminated (the TV). Just a thought, but the LCD TV I would buy is a 32" and those are at least $600.

Having just watched a recording of DOOM from HBO, almost the entire video was unwatchable. I was playing with the settings throughout the movie, going from full screen to window mode, adjusting my overlay settings to the absolute brightest, but this for some reason, made no difference, although the overlay mode was selected within the video setup for SageTV. Highly irritating, and I want a fix. Come on Sage!

Kirk

* Moved out of the MVP darkness thread, since this isn't MVP related. *

[layoric]

I have a PVR 150, using Nvidea card, output via composite direct to standard TV. Are all these Dark issues everyone has with these cards due to the fact that we're using a standard television as the display device?

What if we used an LCD TV with a standard VGA connection? That way, it'd be just as a computer display and one mode of translation would be eliminated (the TV). Just a thought, but the LCD TV I would buy is a 32" and those are at least $600.

Having just watched a recording of DOOM from HBO, almost the entire video was unwatchable. I was playing with the settings throughout the movie, going from full screen to window mode, adjusting my overlay settings to the absolute brightest, but this for some reason, made no difference, although the overlay mode was selected within the video setup for SageTV. Highly irritating, and I want a fix. Come on Sage!

Kirk

[blade]

No offense, but you need to read up on calibration instead of blaming Sage. Your the first I've seen complaining about PVR150 brightness issues. The capture settings for that card are fully adjustable within Sage.

First you need to calibrate your display with something like Avia and ideally you should also calibrate your capture device. There are plenty of links and threads explaining how to do this. The playback settings on the HTPC are the last settings you should be messing with to correct calibration issues.

[layoric]

No offense, but you need to read the previous posts, of which there are plenty, all over this forum, not just this section...

I've adjusted everything everywhere to no avail. Nvidea overlay/desktop, sage video source, tv, drivers...

That is why I asked the question if it has more to do with output to television. Does anyone have any constructive ideas?

Kirk

[smarty]

It would sure be nice if there we a "Sticky" somewhere that gave a step by step for fighting this darkness issue.

[MeInMaui]

layoric,

Are just the recordings from your pvr150 too dark? Do you have any other tuners, and if so are they also too dark? Is DVD playback too dark as well? If you play the .mpg file recorded on your pvr150 in another player (like windows media player) is it too dark there also? Lastly, if you choose a different video decoder for playback, is it then also still too dark? I'm just trying to determine where in the chain your problem might be.

Aloha,
Mike

[blade]

Originally Posted by layoric

No offense, but you need to read the previous posts, of which there are plenty, all over this forum, not just this section...

I've adjusted everything everywhere to no avail. Nvidea overlay/desktop, sage video source, tv, drivers...

That is why I asked the question if it has more to do with output to television. Does anyone have any constructive ideas?

Kirk

I read practically every post that is made to the forums and don't recall any involving the PVR150 and brightness. Maybe I just missed them, but perhaps you could provide some links. I've heard of a brightness issue with the MVP, but not with the PVR150. At least not any that weren't resolvable by properly calibrating things.

If you're having problems there isn't much more you can do other than properly calibrating your display and capture card. Then if absolutely necessary adjust your HTPC.

[Opus4]

layoric: I moved your original post out of the MVP darkness thread, since that is a separate issue. Like the others said, you can adjust the 150 from within SageTV. There is also an adjustment tool in the sticky hardware utilities thread in this forum section, though I don't know if that is still up to date. You may also want to try other drivers for your 150, and/or try making recordings with the Hauppauge software to see whether there is an issue with the tuner's hardware.

- Andy

[layoric]

Originally Posted by MeInMaui

layoric,

Are just the recordings from your pvr150 too dark? Do you have any other tuners, and if so are they also too dark? Is DVD playback too dark as well? If you play the .mpg file recorded on your pvr150 in another player (like windows media player) is it too dark there also? Lastly, if you choose a different video decoder for playback, is it then also still too dark? I'm just trying to determine where in the chain your problem might be.

Aloha,
Mike

Mike - It's dark everywhere, DVDs, Sage playback, other playback software, etc. Other decoders as well.

Kirk

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by layoric

Mike - It's dark everywhere, DVDs, Sage playback, other playback software, etc. Other decoders as well.

Kirk

Ok, now we're getting somewhere. This sounds like a messed up setting in your nvidia drivers. I would recommend updating to the latest forceware drivers. You can correct the brightness and/or gamma in the nvidia video and TV color correction section, but I think it is a known issue with one of the recent driver releases that your settings will revert back when you exit. There is a short thread here that discusses this issue a bit. I hope this helps.

Aloha,
Mike

[layoric]

Originally Posted by MeInMaui

Ok, now we're getting somewhere. This sounds like a messed up setting in your nvidia drivers. I would recommend updating to the latest forceware drivers. You can correct the brightness and/or gamma in the nvidia video and TV color correction section, but I think it is a known issue with one of the recent driver releases that your settings will revert back when you exit. There is a short thread here that discusses this issue a bit. I hope this helps.

Aloha,
Mike

This is an Nvidia GeForce 6200 AGP card with 128mb ram, so I don't believe it is running with those drivers you speak of, it's an older card, but just recently purchased new. It's version states 7.7.7.7, with date: 7/20/05.

I DID just again, update the video display settings within sage source setup, and it brightened up the DVD video being played (actually I set it to bright!) but the recordings are still to dark. I'm about to scrap everything and start from scratch with new equipment...

Kirk

[blade]

Originally Posted by layoric

This is an Nvidia GeForce 6200 AGP card with 128mb ram, so I don't believe it is running with those drivers you speak of, it's an older card, but just recently purchased new. It's version states 7.7.7.7, with date: 7/20/05.

Nvidia uses unified drivers so all the cards run the same driver. Your's are very old. The most recent drivers are Nov. 2 of 2006 and are version 93.71.

I DID just again, update the video display settings within sage source setup, and it brightened up the DVD video being played (actually I set it to bright!) but the recordings are still to dark. I'm about to scrap everything and start from scratch with new equipment...

What you need is to have updated drivers and everything at default settings. This includes capture card, decoder settings, video card driver settings, and display. The default settings for video card, decoder, and capture card are usually reasonably close. You can't compensate for one setting by boosting or lowering something else or you'll end up with a mess. For example if the display is too dark increasing the capture or dvd decoder settings might increase it some, but you'll never get it as good as if you fixed the actual problem. You need the default settings and to go through everything step by step instead of randomly making various adjustments.

I'll say it again, adjusting the playback settings on the HTPC is always the last place you want to make any adjustments. Many people suggest not adjusting the HTPC playback at all. For one thing it can be tricky to figure out the proper settings and another thing is sometimes updating drivers will revert the settings back to default. Also if you've changed the settings in the decoder switching to another decoder will throw things off again or updating the decoder may cause the settings to revert back to the default settings and you have to start over again.

If you want to properly calibrate everything there plenty of guides, threads, and people who could help you go through it step by step. If not it's going to be difficult to get the correct settings.

Edit: You mentioned in another thread that your TV was dying and to the point of having halos. I'd say the first thing you should do is buy a new display.

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by blade

Edit: You mentioned in another thread that your TV was dying and to the point of having halos. I'd say the first thing you should do is buy a new display.

Kirk,

All of blade's points are good. Regarding the possibility of a failing display, are your menus and desktop also too dark or is it just video playback?

Aloha,
Mike