Trial user -- help tweaking video and sound output

[IronChefMoto]

I have another thread going where I talked about trying out the PowerColor ATI Theater 550 Pro tuner card. Well, I have it installed, and I'm using it to record a PBS program now while my wife tortures me with American Idol.

Now -- I have some questions:

1. Resolution for a Toshiba 46" HDTV - According to ATI Catalyst drivers for a monitor connected via S-video, the max. resolution is 1024x768. What resolution should I be running on this type of monitor?
2. Tweaking ATI Radeon 9500 Pro 128MB - I don't have a fancy new video card to output the video, and I can't afford a DVI-to-HDMI cable for this TV. Should I adjust the positioning/alignment of the video using the ATI Catalyst drivers or the BTV adjustments?
   
   Oddly enough, my Comcast digital cable receiver (NOT HD) isn't nearly as crisp/clear as the video from the BTV box. I just would like to get the picture from the BTV box to fill up the screen.
3. Setting up optical out on an Abit NF7-S 2.0 w/ nForce2 chipset - I plugged in the optical out on the motherboard to the optical in on my Sony home theater receiver. Everything lights up on the HT receiver for 3/2.1 audio, so it looks like audio is coming in fine.
   
   However, I can't get good audio volume w/ live or recorded TV. The BTV interface "clicks" are plenty loud. The TV just isn't as loud -- requiring me to jack up the HT receiver.

Man -- I'm hating that I don't have a second PowerColor tuner. I'd love to be watching live TV off this BTV box, even if it IS American Idol.

IronChefMorimoto

[softnerd]

Originally Posted by IronChefMoto

I have another thread going where I talked about trying out the PowerColor ATI Theater 550 Pro tuner card. Well, I have it installed, and I'm using it to record a PBS program now while my wife tortures me with American Idol.

Now -- I have some questions:

1. Resolution for a Toshiba 46" HDTV - According to ATI Catalyst drivers for a monitor connected via S-video, the max. resolution is 1024x768. What resolution should I be running on this type of monitor?
2. Tweaking ATI Radeon 9500 Pro 128MB - I don't have a fancy new video card to output the video, and I can't afford a DVI-to-HDMI cable for this TV. Should I adjust the positioning/alignment of the video using the ATI Catalyst drivers or the BTV adjustments?
   
   Oddly enough, my Comcast digital cable receiver (NOT HD) isn't nearly as crisp/clear as the video from the BTV box. I just would like to get the picture from the BTV box to fill up the screen.
3. Setting up optical out on an Abit NF7-S 2.0 w/ nForce2 chipset - I plugged in the optical out on the motherboard to the optical in on my Sony home theater receiver. Everything lights up on the HT receiver for 3/2.1 audio, so it looks like audio is coming in fine.
   
   However, I can't get good audio volume w/ live or recorded TV. The BTV interface "clicks" are plenty loud. The TV just isn't as loud -- requiring me to jack up the HT receiver.

Man -- I'm hating that I don't have a second PowerColor tuner. I'd love to be watching live TV off this BTV box, even if it IS American Idol.

IronChefMorimoto

1. Since you're using S-Video it doesn't really matter what resolution you're using (it's just another analog input as far as the TV is concerned)...just use what's the most comfortable for you. I was using 800x600 before I went component, but that's on a 32" TV, so you might be able to use 1024x768 comfortably.

2. I would adjust the size, color, and flicker settings in the Catalyst driver first so that the UI and photos look right, then make your final adjustments in BTV to suit your taste.

3. The audio captured by ATI Theater 550 Pro based cards is at the volume level of DVD movie audio, which is significantly lower than just about anything else. I've just been dealing with cranking up the volume when watching recorded shows, but I've heard of people using utilities like GraphEdit to adjust the recorded volume level.

Also, I wouldn't bother getting more than one ATI 550 Pro based card to use with BTV at this time. If you haven't been following any of the postings, it seems that BTV currently has an audio cut-out issue with this hardware in a dual-tuner configuration.

ATI Theater 550 Pro (TV Wonder Elite, Sapphire Theatrix 550, PowerColor Theater 550)

I'm yet to submit a problem ticket, but I think I will now. After a conversation I had recently with an MCE user, it seems that the audio cut-out problem is only with BTV...

[IronChefMoto]

Well -- I tried the 1024x768 res. Didn't like it too much. Hard to navigate the web-based interface. And adjust properly.

I was using the optical out on my Abit motherboard with no trouble to the Sony HT receiver, but the sound was weird. Turns out that, even though the HT receiver says I'm getting Dolby Digital 3/2.1 sound from the Abit motherboard, there's no center channel. Any ideas on that?

I will continue to tweak the visual settings as you recommended. I guess my biggest issue is trying to figure out what to use -- Windows Media vs. MPEG-2, hardware de-interlacing or not, the standard BeyondTV decoder, etc.

Finally, thanks for the heads up on the multi-card issues with this ATI card. I HAVE read those posts, and I'll just enjoy my "better than a Sony VCR" setup for now.

IronChefMorimoto

[DanielS]

Yes, I too am eagerly awaiting news on this ATI 550 multi-card issue. Right now I will reluctantly be combining a 550 with a PVR-150 until the problem is solved. This is indeed news that it "appears" to be a Beyond TV problem.

[IronChefMoto]

So...any reason why my center channel from the Abit motherboard optical out (current nForce2 drivers, by the way -- 5.10) isn't coming through? I had to switch over to 2 channel analog output from the Abit last night so I could at least get my center channel to fill in dialogue. Left and right speakers on my Sony HT system suck.

Thanks,
IronChefMorimoto

[softnerd]

Originally Posted by IronChefMoto

So...any reason why my center channel from the Abit motherboard optical out (current nForce2 drivers, by the way -- 5.10) isn't coming through? I had to switch over to 2 channel analog output from the Abit last night so I could at least get my center channel to fill in dialogue. Left and right speakers on my Sony HT system suck.

Thanks,
IronChefMorimoto

Well, I don't know much about your audio hardware, but BTV is only going to output 2-channel stereo. You should be able to get 5.1 from DVDs if your playback software is set up properly. You might try some different DSP modes on your receiver to see if one will upmix the 2-channel input to a 3 or 5-channel output. With my Yamaha receiver I use either the TV Theater mode, which uses the 3 front speakers, or 5-channel stereo mode, which uses all 5. The TV Theater mode is nice because the DSP in the receiver mixes the sound in such a way that most of the dialog comes out of the center channel.

Wish I could help more, but I don't know much about your integrated PC audio hardware or your receiver...does your audio hardware have a proprietary control panel?

[IronChefMoto]

I think what's happening is that the optical output on the Abit motherboard cannot recreate a center channel for my Sony HT receiver. The Abit NF7-S in question does have a 5.1 Dolby Digital processor onboard, and the Sony HT receiver sees the output from the Abit motherboard optical output as Dolby Digital. I just don't get any audio from the center channel in this mode.

I've switched over to 2 channel output from the Abit motherboard's 2-channel speaker output, and I'm just using the Sony HT receiver to get center channel functionality. Not as clear as the optical out from the Abit motherboard, but it works -- and dialogue is a little better now.

Any ideas for getting that center channel to work? Via the nForce volume control panel?

IronChefMorimoto

[Bilar Crais]

It seems one Soundstorm feature or another is broken after the release of every new driver. I suggest checking here to see what drivers people are having success with.



http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/

Here's a thread on no center channel:

http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=54634

Fix:

Click start>run>regedit>find>"createcenter">change to 1> (hexadecimal) reboot

[IronChefMoto]

I'll give it a try. Thanks.

IronChefMorimoto