Quality issue, graphic card ?

[bunch92]

Hi,

I have just built a new SageTV HTPC system using an abit I-N73HD motherboard (which has got an integrated GeForce 7100 ).

My wife complains that the picture quality is not as nice a normal TV, with some colours (such as black) not being as plain as they are on normal TV.

I am not sure if the graphic card is at fault or the codecs ? Will changing my graphic card help a lot ?

Thank you for your help.

[SWKerr]

The Capture card and your recording setting could affect the quility of your recordings but if it is just things linke color and brightness and not just motion blurs and bix pixles in the black areas then you can probably adjusted it in the nVidia control panel.

If you right click on the descktop you should see an entry for the nVidia utility. These should be some options in thier to adjust the picture.

[bunch92]

It is more to do with pixels, for example, when watching credits at the end of a movie, the letters are slightly pixelized, and the black background is not just plain black, but made of 5 or 6 different blackish colors.

Just wondering if I am the only one experiencing this, or if I am just being a bit fussy about having a perfect picture.

Is the SageTV quality same as digital quality for you guys ?

[Razillian]

What is your recording quality set at? Setup->Detailed Setup->Multimedia->Recording Quality

[CollinR]

Thats a somewhat older video chip, might look at an 85/8600 series. Also purevideo decoders seem to help quite a bit.

You can test this by playing a clip back on another machine.

[bunch92]

Not being at home, I asked my wife to check, and it was on "Not set" ! I asked her to change it to the maximum quality and she said the picture was now better.

Thank you for your help. I will try all the different possible settings when I get home.

[Razillian]

Standard DVD setting is usually "spot on" for mpeg capture. I ran with my system at the Maximum (5.X GB vs 3.2GB) and could not see a difference.