Three White Dots in Upper Right-Hand Corner

[webdad]

I've got my HTPC basically up and running and have been messing around with resolutions and trying to resolve overscan issues. I notice that only on Sage TV (not with the PVR250 WinTV app), I see three white dots (in a vertical line) in the top right-hand corner. These only show during playing of TV (recorded or live) and do not show when a Sage Menu is on screen.

What are they and how do I get rid of them?

Thanks.

[zz5]

That's something to do with the decoder you're using. I had the same problem. I think it happened when I was using the Elecard decoder. When the time trial runs out, you get those dots.

[DFA]

Demo Elecard codecs will do that. I think it begins jumping around the screen when demo time is up as I recall.

DFA

[zz5]

Yeah, that sounds right. It's been a while since I've have Elecard decoders installed. It must be that the dots are on the screen during the trial period, and the dots don't start jumping around until the trial expires.

[webdad]

Thanks for the clarafication. I installed the elecard decoders to try to see if I could improve picture quality. I didn't see any appreciable difference. Does anyone have any other recommended decoders?

When I'm viewing live and recorded TV, the screen is very "soft" and looks like "film", instead of live TV. I assume that is due to the PVR250 compressing and replaying the feed. I found some recommendations on adjusting contrast and sharpness, so I'll also try those.

At this point I have the standard decoders that came with the PVR and also WinDVD5 decoders.

Any others I should look at?

[zz5]

The NVDVD decoders are probably the best.

The problem is not the compression by the PVR-250. The soft film-like look comes from the deinterlacing/re-interlacing. The software decoder de-interlaces the video, then the video card re-interlaces for standard definition TV. If you play the video through a PVR-350, you avoid this problem.

[webdad]

Thanks. Just for clarification, are you saying that if I used a PVR-350 (which I understand has a hardware decoder as well as encoder), the image will look much closer to the regular cable image?

Thanks.