[mythtv-users] Re: 1000th picture quality question

Ross Campbell ross.campbell at gmail.com
Tue Mar 15 21:23:17 UTC 2005


> > I'm having the same problem, and I can't leave it alone. As I've said, I
> > have a TiVo and the picture is MUCH better on the TiVo than on the
> > Myth... and I REFUSE to believe that Myth is not capable of equalling
> > TiVo's quality!!! There must be something we're missing....
> >
> > People with excellent quality... any hints? Suggestions?? Tell us about
> > your setup!!! Don't leave us with non-crispy images!! :-D

Different decoder chips in different boards with different drivers and
firmware will perform.... differently!

There may not be any one simple formula to answer your quality
question, but you can have many days worth of fun by changing one of
the below listed variables at a time and taking good notes. (In fact,
you'll have so much fun that eventually you'll decide that you *CAN*
leave things alone ;)

Here's a list of many of the things I've experimented with:

- output to monitor using VGA to compare absolute color and image
sharpness, if much better with this, try different
methods/converters/cables for TVout --> TV
- direct cable/signal connection with no splits and short high quality
cables to tv card input
- upgrade/downgrade your video driver and hack on the config files to
optimize for the best resolution and refresh rate for outputting
recorded TV
- experiment with mythtv deinterlace options as well as recording
quality and resolution
- disable any automatic power management in Linux kernel or bios that
revs fan up and down to see if that reduces RF interference
- upgrade to latest ivtv version to see if that address any issues
- try different versions of firmware for your decoder card
- try a different decoder card (my M-179 had poor quality compared to
my pvr-250)
- power conditioning for your mythtv box (couldn't hurt...)
- try a different graphics card
- try a signal filter or booster for your cable in
- try moving your tv card to another slot in your motherboard to
decrease RF interference inside your case


I don't know if additional shielding or shielding the whole TV card
inside of a mythtv box would make any difference, but I would be very
interested if anyone had tried it and got a cleaner signal.


-Ross


More information about the mythtv-users mailing list