Audio popping and letterboxing

[BiSHGoD]

Hello,

This is my setup:
Media Center is Windows XP SP2 with newest Sage Client. Video card is nVidia 7600gs (with HDMI out). Tuner is HVR-1600. No sound-card, using onboard audio.

Everyday TV viewing without PVR:
Outside Cable -> Coax -> Motorola HD DCT2000 Cable box -> Component -> HD TV

Recorded TV viewing:
Outside Cable -> Coax -> Motorola HD DCT2000 -> Coax -> Media PC -> HDMI -> HD TV

Audio is going from Media PC using a PC audio cable (1/8" I think) to RCA converter cable. My Audio Reciever only has the analog red/white inputs, so digital isn't really an option.

My first problem is whenever LiveTV starts, channels change, LiveTV closes, etc, the speakers make a popping noise (maybe clipping is a better word...). This is only in SageTV, in Windows it's very clear (by using MP3s/DVDs). I've messed with the audio levels in Windows/Sage/Reciever.

I can play DVDs through Sage and it sounds normal, no popping. It seems like it's only when recording through the tuner card. I'm not using any sort of audio cable from the tuner to an input on the onboard audio.


Second problem is I get letterboxes when viewing widescreen content. I have a 32" Widescreen LCD HD monitor. If I view fullscreen channels in Sage it fills the TV up. If I view a widescreen channel it puts the letterboxes on top. If I watch a WS DVD in Sage I also get letterboxes on top.

I set Sage to be widescreen or source and it does the same thing, letterboxes.

I set the resolution of the monitor to it's native resolution, 1368x768 as I recall.

Thanks in advance!

Andy

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by aosborn

If I view fullscreen channels in Sage it fills the TV up. If I view a widescreen channel it puts the letterboxes on top.

Are you saying that 4x3 content is stretched horizontally to fill your 16x9 screen? And 16x9 content is squashed vertically to make room for letterbox bars? If so, then it sounds like you have your Display Aspect Ratio set incorrectly in Sage. Look for this setting under Detailed Setup > Multimedia. This is a separate setting from the Aspect Ratio Mode setting.

Also, since you've connected your STB to Sage via coax, the signal is probably being downconverted from HD to SD inside the STB, and what you're recording in Sage is SD. So your 16x9 content is probably being recorded in 4x3 letterboxed format. When you play it back with the proper display aspect ratio, you're probably going to see bars all around (letterboxed and pillarboxed). To correct this, choose one of the aspect ratio modes (such as Fill) and set it to 133% vertical zoom. Obviously this won't restore it to HD quality, but it will fill the screen.

[BiSHGoD]

Thanks for the reply.

Would using something other than coax make it record in a different format (such as widescreen)? My tuner has cable-in, atsc antenna, s-video in, and it comes with a s-video to composite (yellow plug) adapter.

I know my cable box has s-video which I haven't tried yet (not quite sure why). Would that fix the issue? I'd like to record in the best possible format, without squishing/zooming the picture during playback.

Thanks!

[GKusnick]

S-video would probably be better than coax in terms of image quality, but it's still SD, not HD. To record in HD you'd need something like a Firewire or USB digital output from your cable box. Try searching the forum for "DCT2000 Firewire".

Another option for HD is to get yourself a supported QAM tuner like the HDHomeRun and connect your cable directly to that, bypassing the STB.

Either way, though, if your picture is being distorted (stretched or squashed) then you have an aspect ratio issue during playback. For tips on setting your aspect ratio correctly, click here.

[BiSHGoD]

Does anyone have any suggestions on the audio issue? That's the last problem I have which is unresolved.

Thanks!

[BiSHGoD]

The audio problem was actually fixed 2 different ways.

First using S-Video and then normal AV cables instead of coax.

It was then fixed later using coax by reinstalling the Hauppauge driver, but using the HWCLEAR.exe utility first.

Thanks!