[mythtv-users] Bitrate questions (tuning/quality/standards)

[Scott Traurig]

Message: 21
Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2008 15:08:50 +0000
From: "Steve Smith" <st3v3.sm1th at gmail.com>

On 08/01/2008, Scott Traurig <straurig at comcast.net> wrote:
> Environment: Comcast Moto DCT2224 STB inputting to PVR150 via NTSC
> composite, Nvidia outputting to Sony 32" NTSC CRT monitor via composite.
> Myth 0.21.
>
> Top of the list is fixing video quality. The quality of set-up is nowhere
> near that achieved with the Pioneer unit. Detail is substantially lacking
> and motion artifact is severe. I turned off de-interlacing since it has no
> meaning in my setup and this helped a little. More importantly I simply
> doubled the default live TV bit rate settings from 4.5 avg/6 peak to 9
> avg/12 peak (I left the default 720 x 480 resolution alone). This helped a
> lot but is things are still not as sharp as the Pioneer and a lot of
> motion
> artifact is still evident on scenes that have a lot of change.
>
> Don't be blaming it on the rest of the setup: I literally plugged the myth
> box in where the Pioneer used to be, same video cables and all.
>
> So...
>
> a) I don't care about disk space. What bit rate should I run?
> b) Is this bit rate a "standard"? Shouldn't it be?
> c) Or am I well and truly screwed, i.e. am I limited by the intrinsic
> quality of the available codecs, PVR and Nvidia hardware regardless of
> what
> bit rate I run?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Scott
>
>
> Scott,
>
> I'm afraid my friend you are limited by the intrinsic poor quality of the
> TV-OUT available on most video cards including Nvidias.
>
> If you only have a PVR-150 as your input you could try adding a PVR-350
card
> and using the TV-OUT of that. The quality is much better, probably more
what
> you're used to. If you were in Europe I'd suggest using the RGB/Scart
input
> on your TV which will put your Panasonic to shame, but alas....
>
> (Another option is to use a Hauppauge Media MVP if you don't mind the less
> rich interface. This also has great output)
>
> Cheers
>
> Steve
>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steve,

Thanks for breaking it to me gently :-)

Tell, me: if I break down and buy myself a nice plasma or LCD TV with a VGA
input all my problems will be solved? In other words the video input and
encoding circuitry are up to snuff, but the composite output of the Nvidia
is second rate?

While I await your reply I am planning on going home tonight and plugging in
a 19" VGA monitor I have to see what that looks like. However, I suspect
that even going VGA will not fix the motion artifacts? What's up with that?

Finally, I'm still looking for an answer on what the next highest "standard"
bit rate settings are over and above the 4500/6000 default.

Thanks,

Scott

P.S. Brad--I've still got my Pioneer DVR (a model 520). No, you can't have
it :-) You *can* get grey market ones off of ebay for about the same price
as a myth setup.