[mythtv-users] Picture quality

[Al McIntosh]

Dave Oxley wrote:

>I've just bought a 50" Panasonic Plasma and put a Nvidia 6200 into my 
>frontend. The frontend is now connected to the plasma with a DVI -> HDMI 
>connection and is running in resolution 1280x720. Recordings are with a 
>DVB-T. The GUI is crystal clear, but when playing an HD (and any other) 
>broadcast it isn't as good picture quality as I expected. For instance a 
>plain background looks almost snowy. Am I just seeing the limitation of 
>mpeg or is this a driver issue?
>  
>


Sounds as though the white,  black  and sharpness levels on your 
television set are too high. Often the factory settings of most 
Televisions  the white,  black  and sharpness levels. Perhaps you just 
need to calibrate your set using test patterns. Try lowering your white 
level (brightness) and black level (contrast). Most televisions ship 
with the white level at 75% but after caibration it's at 30%.  You can 
also purhase tv calibration DVD's that guide you through the process, 
some videos store rent them.


I noticed `man mpalyer` has the following sections, I haven't tried them 
though:

test
              Generate various test patterns.

rgbtest
              Generate an RGB test pattern useful for detecting RGB vs 
BGR issues.  You should see a red, green and  blue  stripe  from
              top to bottom.