Newbie question..

[tmach]

...and I know it's been asked before, I just never saw an answer..

I tried PVS lite today, and I loved the interface. But the TV quality was terrible! I'm running an ATI AIW 7500, and with ATI's software, TV looks perfect.

Someone said it's because timeshifting is on in PVS. But, I use timeshifting with ATITV and again, it looks perfect. I tried upping the video quality, but it still looked terrible AND dropped frames like crazy.

I'm looking for an interface just like PVS... but if I have to buy a 3.06 PIV just to run it... well, that's a little more than I can do!

Is there something I'm missing... HELP!

[RobertH]

One issue is that if you are watching the live mpeg capture with 3.1 or 3.0 there is a known issue with the mpeg decoder that causes the cpu usage to be extreemly high, this causes dropped frames/etc. 3.2 is currently in final testing by the beta group and will be released soon (cant give specific time at the moment) it allows for the use of third party mpeg decoders that dramatically reduce the cpu power needed to playback mpeg recording, this allows the cpu to be freed up for higher quality encoding.

One thing you can try in the mean time is to use windows media encoding, it uses much less cpu power but doesnt offer the direct compatibility of archiving using dvd etc.

Some users have also pointed that the video quality when using non ati applications with the AIW cards is lower than expected.

And if you are directly in want of the best quality for the lowest price there is the hardware encoding route, the PVR250 seems to be one of the best recording solutions (and many around these parts rave about them because they putout video that is almost indisinguishable between a dvd) and they are relatively 150$ at most places in the US. These are great I own 2 of them now just waiting for my new dedicated pvr machine to come in. I currently have an 800mhz machine recording at dvd resolutions with really high bitrates (just under the best quality) and the picture that I get out on the tv from the pvr looks better than the picture the actual tv tuner in the tv gives me!

SO after that longwinded response my advice is this:
1) Currently try windows media and see if you can live with that for the moment
2) Wait for 3.2 to come out to the public and try it to see if it works any better for you
3) if you still want a better solution try a pvr250 or one of the other supported hardware encoders

Good Luck

[tmach]

Definately considering the PVR250... it doesn't have TV Out, but since the 7500 does I don't need it on the encoder card anyway.

Actually, I haven't had any problems using non-ati software as far as quality goes. It's just that the other software I've tried lacks the features I want (read: ShowShifter, among others).

I'll try using WMV in the meantime...and try 3.2 after that (unless weeks and months go by before its out ). I don't really want to sink any more money into it at the moment, since it's more or less a toy. But if neither of those other solutions help, I just might spring for the PVR250.

Thanks!

[James]

3.2 "gold candidate" bits are in the hands of our testers right now, having been sent out late last week. If in the course of a few days nothing pops up that causes us much pause in house, than that particular build would be tagged as being what will officially be PVS 3.2 and put up for public consumption.