Is it possible to get smooth video??

[kovert]

Alright, here are my system specs.

P3-750
256mb RAM
ATA100-30gb HD
GF3-ti200
PVR-250
SB-Live

Now no matter what settings I have tried I can't get live video to work smoothly. (THIS IS GOING THROUGH THE VGA TO MY PROJECTOR, NOT TV OUT). Everything I watch seems so digitized and fake. It's extremely difficult to sit down and watch anything, especially sports. Is there any way to ever get smooth LIVE TV. or would I have to pretty much get a new MB and Processor (If that's the case, I'll take back the 250 and get a tivo)

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

BTW - recordings seem to work pretty good. Burned to DVD without a problem and they look ok.

[Cayars]

Is this correct. You burned them the captured video to DVD. Then when you play the DVD back in a traditional DVD player to your projector it looked good.

Please concur or explain a little better and we'll take it from here.

Carlo

[kovert]

The captured video looks SO MUCH BETTER than the live tv. Live TV stutters, and looks as if it is missing frames.

The best way for me to explain it is that it almost looks as if the picture is going 18-20 FPS when it should be 30.

And to confirm this I just popped in the DVD that I made and it looked pretty damn good, no motion problems.

It's just the Live TV that I am having a lot of problem watching.

[Mr.X]

Are you using a hardware decoder? Your CPU is too slow to playback smoothly without it.
What's your CPU usage like?

[Cayars]

This is what I thought. What you have just explained is that the Record (PVR) function in your computer is working well. If this were not the case you wouldn't have been able to make a DVD that plays well in a "normal" player.

So this indicates that the problem is on the "output/video" side.

I'm grabbing your answer on the "other" board and putting it below:
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Hmmm, pausing it may be a good thing to try. That thought hadn't crossed my mind.

Here are the decoders I've tried

NVDVD - Seemed to look pretty good 60-75%
HAUPPAUGE Intervideo NonCSS - Not bad 70-80%
And WINDVD Intervideo - Seemed the best blend 55-70%

So the CPU didn't change much between them honestly. I tried the registry hacks, and it didn't really seem to do much until I tried WINDVD and enabled Hardware Acceleration. That's when the CPU dropped about 5-10% (numbers above reflect the drop)

Cayars - YEP , same problem with both PVR software trials.

Thanks all
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Now working from the above. When doing the above test, what software were you using to play the video?

What happens if you run a program like WinDVD or PowerDVD and try to play the DVD you burned. Does this work or "stutter". Can you play the DVD using Windows Media Player. If so how does it look and play?

Let me know. I'm thinking you'll have a problem here. Trying to watch the videos on a P3 750Mhz with an older video card may just be too much. But lets see what you come up with/answer on the above.

Carlo

[kovert]

Playback of prerecorded material is OK but not as bad as Live TV.

I think it may be the processor though. I thought the GF3 would be OK for playing back MPEG2, but I guess it is not up to the task.

And when I play it back using BTV I get anywhere from 45-60% CPU usage. And I get about the same if I play the media play in WINDVD.

[Cayars]

What settings are you using for the capture? See this thread to know what I'm asking.

Do you have a better video card that you could try?

My suggestion is to probably try and get an NVidia FX-5200 (the cheapest you can find, onboard memory doesn't matter) from a local store like Circuit city and see if this will help. Try and get it from a place that has a no questions asked return policy like Circuit City. I bet this will help.

Carlo

[kovert]

What I am trying now is the 720x480 MPEG 2 VBR Setting as follows:

720x480
224 Audio
VBR 5000000 to 9000000
2
4
25%
1% Motion.

So maybe I will try and put those settings you had and see what I get...

Does a GF FX5200 really have that much more decoding power than a GF3ti200?

[Cayars]

Yes it does. Also of note. If you're not worried about having the BTV menu system on your TV and you just want to be able to output your prerecord shows on the TV you could check out the Hauppauge MVP Player. This might be a better alternative for you.

Carlo

[kovert]

Well I'm really looking for a TIVO alternative honestly with a TUNER included .

With the Projector I have no tuner so I need some sort of tuner (i.e. PVR-250). I am ditching my damn digital cable since honestly I watch mostly TLC, Discovery and the networks. The rest has been a waste to me but once in a while I'd like to record one of those shows and keep it on a DVD.

I think trying that 3.25GB Standard Play setting is working out the best. But I will look into trying a different card.

I wonder if a Radeon 9200 would be a better bet.

[TomZ]

This thread talks about "the best output device"
http://discuss2.snapstream.com/vb/sh...threadid=12183

[kovert]

Also what would be more important. More CPU horsepower or a better video card.

Upon really watching Task Manager, I seem to stay in the 45-55% range with a few spikes in the 60's. That doesn't really seem that bad considering this PC will be doing nothing besides BTV.

[kovert]

Alright, upon recommendation from Carlos, I went to CC and picked up a new video card. I went a little against what he said and snagged a an ATI 9200 instead of the FX5200, but hey it was on sale.

So I slapped it in, removed all NVIDIA drivers, and voila, I'm in business. I did the reg hack on the Intervideo Hack, and set it to hardware deinterlace, and my CPU usage hangs in the 30% range with spikes in the 40%-50%, but it looks smooth again. I tried the different recording settings and honestly the smoothest seems to be the VBR recording that someone suggested.

So you to can make this work, it just depends on how much you are willing to spend not only money but time.

Thanks to all that helped out and any questions that spark more information to be generated, start asking.

[trevorst]

So what is the reg hack for the Intervideo decoder ???