Can HD-PVR Brightness, Saturation, Contrast, etc. Be Controlled From Properties File?

[Savage1701]

I am noticing some of my channels seeming very washed out with HD-PVR recordings, especially the 480i stuff I have locked at 1080i.

Can I edit the brightness and contrast in the properties file? It's not an option in the Video Sources area of the Sage interface.

Anyone have any starter suggestions?

[darcilicious]

For what it's worth, I think the default contrast/brightness settings for the HD-PVR in V7 are noticeably less washed out.

[HKme]

Similar issues here. I have two sources, HD-PVR and DVB-T USB stick. The DVB is fine, but the HD-PVR is too dark on most channels. Using 7.0.12.

I had been looking for a way to adjust brightness/contrast etc. on a per video source basis and came across brightness/contrast/hue/saturation/sharpness settings for each encoder in the sage.properties file.

Before I start experimenting, does anyone know what ranges these settings use and if they're supported for the HD-PVR? Also, is there somewhere in the main program interface that I have missed where these can be set?

Thanks.

[GKusnick]

I don't have an HD-PVR, but look for a Color Calibration button on the Source Details screen. That's where it is for some older SD analog encoders anyway.

[darcilicious]

Originally Posted by HKme

Before I start experimenting, does anyone know what ranges these settings use and if they're supported for the HD-PVR?

They weren't supported in v6 of Sage even though the controls were visible in the Source Details area; I haven't looked in v7 because it's the only tuner I have and looks great now...

[wbarber69]

ok I installed the beta drivers from hauppauge and afterwards the brightness amd contrast were all washed out so I came here looking for a soluion. I wanted to post this before anyone else had this problem and ended up here with no answer. I found the solution. Just stop using the HDPVR, open up Total Media Extreme. Go into record a video. Select Device Settings. Hit Default. You should see an immediate difference in the preview window. Then just close and continue using HDPVR as usual.

So far I'm not having any problems with the new drivers. I am not using the internal blaster (I'm using FWChannelProxy). And I use the USBUIRT to handle my Remote Control needs, so I cant relate to the problems of the HDPVR freezing up from too many ir commands.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by wbarber69

ok I installed the beta drivers from hauppauge and afterwards the brightness amd contrast were all washed out so I came here looking for a soluion. I wanted to post this before anyone else had this problem and ended up here with no answer. I found the solution. Just stop using the HDPVR, open up Total Media Extreme. Go into record a video. Select Device Settings. Hit Default. You should see an immediate difference in the preview window. Then just close and continue using HDPVR as usual.

So far I'm not having any problems with the new drivers. I am not using the internal blaster (I'm using FWChannelProxy). And I use the USBUIRT to handle my Remote Control needs, so I cant relate to the problems of the HDPVR freezing up from too many ir commands.

You might try rebooting your server. I heard those settings don't stick.

Gerry

[wbarber69]

My bad I meant to also mention that you need to take these values that the program gives you for hue, contrast, etc. And plug them into the sage.properties file where it shows your hdpvr settings

[doncote0]

My bad I meant to also mention that you need to take these values that the program gives you for hue, contrast, etc. And plug them into the sage.properties file where it shows your hdpvr settings

What was your information that was entered?

[wbarber69]

I went with
128
64
128
64
128

But your favorite settings may be different

Also to note in tme the hue setting for 0 doesn't calculate to sagetv settings for 0 so 0=128 as hue settings can only be changed by a value of +/- 30

[doncote0]

Thanks!

[BitBass]

I'm not seeing where in sage.properties to plug in the settings. Searched it for pvr and haup and nothing that looks like a match.

[BitBass]

Nevermind, I figured it out!

[peptide]

Originally Posted by BitBass

Nevermind, I figured it out!

Could you post the solution? I am experiencing the same problem; I just updated my HD-PVR driving and now TV/recordings are washed out. The TME settings work withing TME and are persistant, but I can't find how to control these values in SageTV.

Help!

Mike

[bling_bling_vr6]

I have a HD-PVR, am running v7.1.9 (or whatever the latest is now) and was having issues with way too much gamma and washed out colors. What some are saying happened to me too...where I was able to go into Total Media Extreme and set the default settings and then video appeared fine in sageTV for a while, but whenever I restarted SageTV the color values would get screwed up again. Here's what I found:

1. SageTV has messed up default brightness, contrast, hue, saturation and sharpness values for the HD PVR Capture device.
2. You must fix the values in 2 places in sage.properties for them to stick.
3. You must change your sage.properties file when sageTV is shut down.

To find my encoder (the HD-PVR) I looked for its unique encoder number in the sage.properties file. its the xxxxxxxxx number on a line like this:

mmc/encoders/-xxxxxxxxxx/video_capture_device_name=Hauppauge HD PVR...

All settings with that xxxxxxxxx number belong to that capture device, including 3 instances each of brightness, contrast, hue, saturation and sharpness. You can leave the ones set to -1 alone, but the other two that have values set I changed to:

brightness: 128
contrast: 64
hue: 125
saturation: 64
sharpness: 128

Save the sage.properties file, startup sageTV, tune to a channel that uses your HD PVR recording device and ensure that everything looks good.

Boom, done.

[Diego Garcia]

A quick follow-up, if I may...

I've run into the same washed out problem with the newest Hauppauge drivers. But I'm also running into a problem where the digital capture from the HDPVR gets all sorts of artifacts in it. It's like certain elements of certain scenes get badly pixelated (or look like what happens to a digital TV display when the signal is weak).

Has anyone else run into this? If so, how did you fix it?

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by Diego Garcia

A quick follow-up, if I may...

I've run into the same washed out problem with the newest Hauppauge drivers. But I'm also running into a problem where the digital capture from the HDPVR gets all sorts of artifacts in it. It's like certain elements of certain scenes get badly pixelated (or look like what happens to a digital TV display when the signal is weak).

Has anyone else run into this? If so, how did you fix it?

The fix is in this thread. Have you read the thread?

Gerry

[Diego Garcia]

Yes. But I saw no mention of the pixelation problem, which also appeared with the new drivers.

[gplasky]

Hmmm-didn't see that on mine. Did you actualy change the settings and viewed it?

Gerry

[Diego Garcia]

Haven't had the time to do it yet. I just used TME to adjust the HDPVR parameters, which improved the picture quality in Sage a LOT. But of course those changes won't survive the next system restart.

I was just curious if anyone else was having pixelation problems with the latest HDPVR drivers. Frankly, since the previous drivers were working fine for me I may just drop back to them.