[mythtv-users] TV Picture and DVD playback quality

Steve Hill steve at nexusuk.org
Wed Aug 30 12:51:30 UTC 2006


On Wed, 30 Aug 2006, Lars Ove Claesson wrote:

> I use a digital set-top, and when connecting a SCART directly to my TV
> the image is excellent. This box also provides me with RF-signal to use
> with my Hauppage, so the signal is good (as verified when connecting RF
> directly to my TV). But the image produced by the Hauppage is terrible.

Using the RF signal is probably the worst possible way to get the picture 
from the set top box - you really want S-Video if possible, or you could 
just about get away with composite if you don't mind the quality drop from 
that - RF will always give you a terrible picture.

> It does not fill the entire TV-screen, and the image is noisy with
> blurred edges (yes, I've set PAL). Is this just a matter of fine-tuning
> the frequency? Can I at all expect to reach the image quality produced
> by the SCART-cable connected directly to my TV from the digital box?

You haven't said how the TV is connected to the PC - if you're using RF 
then yes, I would expect the quality to be terrible.  Use RGB or S-Video. 
(Note: I'm not at all familiar with the PVR500 cards so don't know what 
output options they have).

> Second, regarding the DVD playback, how to explain this... the movie
> "freezes" for one second, then use the next second to run through those
> two seconds in fast forward, then freezes again... over and over. Also,

Sounds like it hasn't got enough CPU - check the cpu usage with "top". 
Maybe you're not outputting the video through XV?  Look at mplayer's -vo 
option.

> the image fills the width of the screen, but only about 50% of the
> height is used (centered vertically). Could this be just a matter of
> tweaking mplayer? The sound seems continuous, though.

The aspect ratio of your display is set wrong (it's probably a 16:9 screen 
being treated as a 4:3) - check the physical display size configured in 
/etc/X11/xorg.conf.

-- 

  - Steve
    xmpp:steve at nexusuk.org   sip:steve at nexusuk.org   http://www.nexusuk.org/

      Servatis a periculum, servatis a maleficum - Whisper, Evanescence



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