I have had several configurations since I tried BTV 3.4 over a year ago. I ran in the beta 3.5 program, and saw it through to the final 'Gold' release (running it now). And I must admit, I thought I had the picture quality to the point where it was the best you could get with it. So then I had posted this string to tell about how I specifically got it as good as I did:
So far, 3.5 smooth as SILK w/ Nvidia!
But about a week ago, I (just for kicks) went to the Nvidia website, and downloaded the Nvidia hardware DVD decoder (ver 1.00.58). And all I can say is WoW! This particular decoder wouldn't work in overlay mode (which was the only way I could get decent PQ before with all the other software decoders), so I had to set it to 3D accelerated mode for this new decoder, because if you tried it in overlay it would always open a separate pink window when you tried to play recordings or liveTV. So, in 3D accel mode, it worked great and the picture is not all washed out like with all the other decoders. I'm using DirectXc and it works great (no missed frames- except for the first 10 seconds of startup into viewing the show there is maybe 2-3 lost frames, but after 10 seconds the playback is totally smooth). But wow, the picture REALLY sharpened up a lot! It is just as sharp as the regular Satellite TV not going through the PC. It is simply amazing. I thought it was pretty good before (maybe I was possibly kidding myself before)? But Now all I can say it's simply amazing. Fast motion scenes are absolutely perfect in quality (no smearing at all). I'm so happy I decided to make this $20 upgrade. The encoder, I guess works with any video card that supports hardware decoding. That's what it said in the Nvidia FAQ page for the decoder. I'll try to post some screen shots if I can (if they turn out)