Live TV picture quality depends on recording quality setting?

[resc]

Hi,

I just purchased SageTV and it seems to work well with my Visiontek TVwonder 650 USB.
However, the picture quality of live TV is ONLY good in "SVCD Extra Longplay" mode.
If I change the recording quality to any other setting, the live TV picture becomes very blocky.
To get rid of the blocky picture, I need to change the settings back to "SVCD Extra Longplay" mode AND reboot the PC.
Any suggestions on how to fix the issue?
Below are some of my system specs. All Drivers are up to date.

Intel Quad Core 6600
Intel DG965WH motherboard
2 GB RAM
Windows Vista Ultimate
Geforce 8800 GTX
Soundblaster X-Fi Elite
ATI TVwonder 650 USB
PoverDVD Ultra

***I receive analog cable***
My SageTV settings are:
Video Renderer: VMR9
MPEG2 Video Decoder Filter: Cybelink
MPEG2 Adio Decoder Filter: AC3 Filter

On a side note, "SVCD Extra Longplay" is supposed to need about 0.7GB storage space per hour. If I record 1 hour in this mode, the file size is close to 2.5GB.

Your feedback and advice is greatly appreciated!

[resc]

I am watching TV on a LCD monitor with a resolution of 1920x1200 if it matters...

[Opus4]

My guess is that the tuner isn't fully supported by SageTV, so it isn't able to properly control the recording quality on it. You could try contacting SageTV to see if they have more info about using it.

- Andy

[resc]

Andy, thanks for the tip!

I just noticed that the 'default' recording quality also works which is the best MPEG2 setting.

[resc]

Why has this threat been moved from "Sage TV software"??

I do not have any hardware issues!

[resc]

Does recording quality setting affect the Live TV picture quality?

I just purchased SageTV and it seems to work well with my Visiontek TVwonder 650 USB.
However, the picture quality of live TV is ONLY good in "SVCD Extra Longplay" mode.
If I change the recording quality to any other setting, the live TV picture becomes very blocky.
To get rid of the blocky picture, I need to change the settings back to "SVCD Extra Longplay" mode AND reboot the PC.

On a side note, "SVCD Extra Longplay" is supposed to need about 0.7GB storage space per hour. If I record 1 hour in this mode, the file size is close to 2.5GB.

Today, I installed a Hauppauge 1800 and I am having a very similar issue: If I
switch to lower recording quality, the LiveTV picture is very blocky. In addition, now there are bars framing the picture (Black bars on top & bottom, dark grey ones on the sides. Their size varies, depending on the settings of the recording quality (lower quality, smaller picture).

This issue appears to be SageTV related, any suggestions on how to fix it?
Below are some of my system specs. All Drivers are up to date.

Intel Quad Core 6600
Intel DG965WH motherboard
2 GB RAM
Windows Vista Ultimate
Geforce 8800 GTX
Soundblaster X-Fi Elite
ATI TVwonder 650 USB
PoverDVD Ultra

***I receive analog cable***
My SageTV settings are:
Video Renderer: VMR9
MPEG2 Video Decoder Filter: Cyberlink
MPEG2 Audio Decoder Filter: AC3 Filter

Your feedback and advice is greatly appreciated!

* merged with existing topic *

[resc]

This is obviously not a hardware issue, unless the moderator thinks that both TV tuners are defective.

Please move it back to SageTV.

Thanks!

[GKusnick]

The short answer to your question is that yes, live TV is a recording (that's why you can pause and rewind it) and is therefore subject to recording quality. If you set the default quality very low, you're going to get low-quality live TV.

You might try looking at the Recording Detail screen for the program you're watching to see if the file format shown there matches the quality you think you're using. If not, you could have a driver issue that prevents the quality setting from taking effect.

Originally Posted by resc

This is obviously not a hardware issue, unless the moderator thinks that both TV tuners are defective.

According to the description at the top of the page, this forum is for "Anything relating to capture cards," not just for issues involving defective hardware. Since recording quality is a capture card setting, the mods presumably feel that this is the right place for that discussion. It's their forum, so they get to define what the categories mean.

[resc]

Greg, your reply clears things up quite a bit, thanks very much!

SageTV support was able to repeat the problem: "...when you pick the "SVCD Extra Long Play" (1152000 bits rate VBR quality), ATI Wonder doesn't support this setting, it goes to a default quality setting (better quality, but uses a lot space).." In this mode, it uses about 2.3GB per hour. Now, that I know that watching LiveTV isn't actually 'live' but a slightly delayed recording, the change in picture quality makes sense.

Thanks also to the SageTV support personnel (Greg and Qian) who were extremely responsive and knowledgeable!

I am doing some testing tonight between the TVWonder 650 and the Hauppauge 1800 and I'll keep you posted.

Question: Is there a way to record in mpeg4 mode even the tuner card does not support it in hardware?

Thanks again!

[Opus4]

It sounds like you are using the analog tuners, since the recording quality made a difference, otherwise a digital stream is simply saved as it arrives.

It may help to specify how the tuners are connected & configured in SageTV and what type of tuner is being used on each one -- there may be different issues for the analog vs. digital tuner sides.

(Does the ATI tuner even have a hardware encoder for the analog side? If not, you will be much better off using a different tuner for analog recordings, or else it is using cpu time for encoding. The 650 is not listed as a supported tuner, so there could easily be issues trying to use it with SageTV. I believe support knows more about the 650 than I do, so unless other users have more to add about it, continue with tech support for that card.)

The Hauppauge 1800 should work in SageTV, since lots of people use it, but I don't know much about the 650 and whether it could conflict with the 1800 in any way if both are installed in the same PC. Perhaps try the 1800 on its own.

Also, sometimes it helps to try playing the file in another media player to see whether the issue is a recording problem or a playback problem.

Question: Is there a way to record in mpeg4 mode even the tuner card does not support it in hardware?

No - for analog recordings, it can only encode in a format the tuner supports. And, for digital channels, you don't have a choice regarding the video format.

You can convert the file later using the built-in converter or another tool, if you want to.

- Andy

[resc]

Andy, thanks for the feedback!

You are correct, I am using the analog tuners only.

It is my understanding that the TVwonder 650 encodes
to mpeg2 in hardware, both analogue and digital.

Both tuners don't interfere with each other since ATI's is a
USB tuner, I can simply unplug it.

I'll tinker with it over the weekend, thanks again.