Video Quality Issues

[RKennison]

I have 2 problems now that I've finally gotten everything setup and running.

1) My TV is cutting off the outside edges of the screenes. I'ts not much, but it's doing it and it's driving me nuts.

2) Video quality.... If I go from my cable box into the TV via COAX, the picture is great. As soon as I go from my PC to the TV via HDMI ( coax into the pc ), well... the picture is soft, and just not worth looking at. Motion blur is terrible as well with the PC, but not with cable box directly.

Any suggestions to fix these 2 problems? My setup is listed below.

AMD 3800+
XFX 6800GT
3 Gig Ram.
3 500Gig SATA2 drives.
Hauppauge 150 pci tuner.
Output is DVI to HDMI from my video card.

TV is a 42" HD Plasma by Philips. I've tried every concevable resolutioin, and they all basicly look like hell when coming from the pc. Even 1080 , it's so "jittery" i can't stand looking at it.

[tscales]

Well, you're discovering the problem of displaying Standard Def (SD) content on an HD TV. Isn't pretty. The computer can't magically make up pixels, so when it is upsized it gets soft.

The solution: Start recording everything you can in HD. That's what I do.

As for the 'fitting on the screen' problem, that's overscan. It's a stupid problem that is caused because the TV makers are trying to emulate an old style CRT television where some of the content was behind the trim around the screen (seriously).

To solve it for every application, use the control panel from your video card. Both ATI and nVidia should allow you to correct for it. If you have integrated Intel graphics, you can't.

Or you can correct it for just BTV by going into Playback settings. Last option on the bottom lets you fit BTV to the actual displayed screen.

Tom

[RKennison]

"Well, you're discovering the problem of displaying Standard Def (SD) content on an HD TV. Isn't pretty. The computer can't magically make up pixels, so when it is upsized it gets soft.

The solution: Start recording everything you can in HD. That's what I do."

Why would the cable box outputting it's signal over coax look better though? It seems to me, I sould be getting that quality at least, but i"m not. The cable box pluged directly into the tv via coax looks great. It only fuzzes out when i go though the pc ( again, a coax hookup back into the tv )

[nanook105]

Try different recording qualities

[tscales]

I agree with the different qualities, but I've experienced the same thing even with the highest qualities. It seems to me that the tuners on cards just aren't as good as the tuners in the cable box.

[RKennison]

I've tried every quality available. it doesn't make a noticable diffrence ( unless I drop down and use the lowest settings ).

[nanook105]

Originally Posted by tscales

I agree with the different qualities, but I've experienced the same thing even with the highest qualities. It seems to me that the tuners on cards just aren't as good as the tuners in the cable box.

I have a simular config (6600GTs instead of 6800GTs) and SD is as crisp from my PC as it is directly to my HDTVs. I actually use a custom quality (screen shot attached)

[nanook105]

Also - what driver are you using ?

[RKennison]

Video Driver? The latest from NVidia, I just reloaded the box yesterday..

93.71 are the video drivers.

[RKennison]

"I have a simular config (6600GTs instead of 6800GTs) and SD is as crisp from my PC as it is directly to my HDTVs. I actually use a custom quality (screen shot attached)"

If i can ask.. What connection do you use to the TV? ( DVI -> HDMI? )

Also you mentioned Sd is as crisp... what's SD?

[nanook105]

Originally Posted by RKennison

"I have a simular config (6600GTs instead of 6800GTs) and SD is as crisp from my PC as it is directly to my HDTVs. I actually use a custom quality (screen shot attached)"

If i can ask.. What connection do you use to the TV? ( DVI -> HDMI? )

Also you mentioned Sd is as crisp... what's SD?

On one I use a DVI-> HDMI and on the other I use component. SD is standard definition

I've seen quite a few posts from people with 6XXX series cards having issues with all of the 9X.XX drivers. I believe that I'm using 84.21 (not home so I can't tell for sure)

[mlomker]

Originally Posted by tscales

It seems to me that the tuners on cards just aren't as good as the tuners in the cable box.

That is absolutely true. What many people don't realize is that cable boxes cost hundreds of dollars each, even for standard definition. The quality of the tuners in these boxes is quite high. Your $80 TV card will never look as good. That being said, I'm not getting very good quality after upgrading my coax cables and adding an amplifier (the codec from PowerDVD 7 is the best I've tried).

Have you tried S-video from your cable box into the tuner card as a comparison? You'll want to do a search on AVSForum for your television model. It is possible to pay a TV tech to adjust the overscan in the TV menus but with a good quality Nvidia card you can also experiment with Powerstrip to find a perfect 1:1 mapping.

[RKennison]

I'll try the svido out and see what that does. I've not tried it yet, and powerstrip did exactly what i wanted for the overscan. Thanks


Is there a better tunner out there that would produce a descent picutre then for just good old SD tv? I'm using Hauppauge 150 at the moment.

[Bigbird999]

If I go from my cable box into the TV via COAX, the picture is great. As soon as I go from my PC to the TV via HDMI ( coax into the pc ), well... the picture is soft, and just not worth looking at

Your first post indicates that you are going from the tuner to the PC via cox. Does this mean you are leaving the tuner set on CH 3 and changing the channels on the cable box?

When you go from the cable box to the tv are you setting the TV to CH 3 and changing channels with the STB?

I suspect you may be getting a crappy analog signal from the coax out of the cable box to the pc. I think you will see a much improved picture using svideo from the STB to the pc tuner.

BB

[GeorgeH]

The best test is to use a VHS tape/machine. Simply see how that looks on your TV.

Play until that looks good.

I have a Dora the Explorer VHS tape and it looks great on my 32" HDTV.

I use Coax from the VHS to computer and Sub-D to the TV. Even showsqueezed HDTV from my antenna looks great using the sub-D.