[mythtv-users] PVR-150 Video Quality

[Brian Wood]

On May 2, 2006, at 10:49 PM, Steven Murphy wrote:

> On 5/3/06, Brian Wood <beww at beww.org> wrote:
>
>> I'm running 4 150s, and I am quite satisfied with the quality of all
>> of them. They are not perfect, and perhaps not even "broadcast
>> quality", but quite good enough for everyday viewing. Better, for
>> example, than VHS tape quality by a long shot.
>
> I would say the image is almost worse then a VHS.  Also, the color
> problems make it a real problem as well
>
>> Look into how many splits you have in your feed, look at former
>> postings about amplifiers  etc. Try hooking a TV set up to the exact
>> same connector that is feeding your card(s) and see what it looks  
>> like.
>
> I just connected a TV to the same line and the picture on the TV is
> flawless, so it must be something wrong with the PVR-150 or the ivtv
> module, no?

Clearly something is wrong. The color problem might be improper  
frequency selection, as was pointed out here.

Overall quality will be controlled by your recording profile(s). The  
default values are not optimum, you probably want to increase the  
resolution to 720x480 (for NTSC). The bitrate is somewhat a matter of  
taste, but the following is a good guide to setting it up:

http://www.mediachance.com/dvdlab/tutorial/bitrate.html

Obviously the video setup on your machine in general makes a big  
difference, running in 8-bit color mode, for example, would result in  
pretty crappy pictures. You should try playing a test mpeg clip, or a  
DVD perhaps, to make sure that your computer-to-TV setup is capable  
of producing good video.

Assuming that IVTV has the right tuner type and frequency table it's  
probably OK. Unless you're using a dev snapshot or something it is  
pretty well-tested with 150 cards.

Of course you could have a defective card, it does happen. About the  
only way to test this is by substitution, or I suppose you *could*  
try the card under Windows, if you permit such in your home.