TV flicker and distortion

[Niles]

Is there a setting or software program that will help with desktop display flicker and/or freq? During DVD or TV playback it is fine, but I still have a bend on either side of the screen. I am using a Sony WEGA 32" with component video.

[salsbst]

That's quite a signature, Niles. Distracted me from the subject. Anyhoo....

I suggest that you research your problem on avsforum.com's HTPC forum, since SageTV has nothing to do with desktop flicker on a TV and this is not the best place to ask the question. Also, you don't even mention the resolution that you're using. I suspect you're seeing the normal flicker of interlaced output.

[stanger89]

I'm assuming HD resolution? 1080i? If so there's not much you can do, that's a fact of running an interlaced resolution.

[jptaz]

OK I have done some looking...

Very scary...

Best estimate is that Niles Setup ran about $30K

Scary.

Just a thought.

If you have that kind of money why don't you have a Display with DVI input?

I hear Samsung will be releasing a new 1080P DLP rear projection system soon.

Samsung Model HL-P6197W

John

[Niles]

Well I will tell you this much I spent just under $15,000 just for the drives alone. Discount on bulk purchase. I just picked up a new JVC HD-61Z585. Better than anything out there and cheaper. I am only testing it out for my brother since he likes JVC( has over 3.2 million pixels for each RGB chip). I prefer Sony, so I will wait for Sony to make a LCoS Screen. Currently I an using a Sony KDF-70XBR950 with little over a million pixels per chip)

The flicker that I am refering to is not the constant flicker due to 1080i mode, but to the actual image. Such as when watching Live TV, the image seems to hesitate a bit, and then it is smooth. This was much worse with my prior ATA133 setup. My guess is that Sage is dumping the TV broadcast the the hard drive first then play the file (incase you want to puase Live TV). Is there a way to improve this?

[jptaz]

open regedit and check the BufferSize and NumBuffers keys under the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Frey Technologies\Common\DSFilters\MpegDeMux

So far I kept my BufferSize at its initial size of 64KB, but moved the NumBuffers to 512(hex 200).

This will control how much data is buffered. The Default is 2MB. This value gives 32MB buffer.

Also you may want to try reclock. I tried and had some problems, but many people say it improves things.


John

[stanger89]

Such as when watching Live TV, the image seems to hesitate a bit, and then it is smooth.

I think what you're referring to is studder.

[jptaz]

Is the hestation in fast action only or in any kind of activity?

If it is on for example on a scrolling text bar then it is something that reclock should help the problem.

If it is happening in any kind of action then I suspect that you are having a buffering issue.

In either case I would make some changes to the registry as I suggested. Make the number of buffers as big as you want and it will compensate for the way SageTV Writes to Disk and then is reading from disk when watching Live TV.

The Registry changes need to be made on the SageTVClient PC.

I noticed both of these issues when using software deciders.

When I tested with my X Card I never saw either issue. Too bad SageTV does not support OSD on the X Card as it is much better than any Software Decoder I have seen in fast action or scrolling text. If I do not use reclock the scrolling text on say Nascar is unreadable.

John