[mythtv-users] Quality difference from WinTV2000 to MythTV

[Russell Gordon]

Thanks for the info.  My WinTV2000 is setup as DVD Standard, which is
720x480 with a 4800kbps stream rate.  I setup myth to record at 720x480
at 8000kbps and it did improve the recording quality more than I thought
it would.  It still has a little noise compared to the WinTV2000.  I did
read about the IVTV DNR and it seems that it is only for non-encoder
cards, which leaves out the PVR-250.  In reading about the DNR with
Myth, I was led to the videofilter section of the channel setup in
MythWeb|Settings|Channels.  Does anyone know if this filter setting
applies to the PVR-250?

Thanks,

Russell 

On Thu, 2004-03-04 at 11:45, Harry Orenstein wrote:
> >From: "Russell Gordon" <ragordon at earthlink.net>
> >Reply-To: Discussion about mythtv <mythtv-users at mythtv.org>
> >To: <mythtv-users at mythtv.org>
> >Subject: [mythtv-users] Quality difference from WinTV2000 to MythTV
> >Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 08:40:38 -0600
> >
> >
> >I have just setup my second Myth box and I have been recording a lot of
> >shows.  I also have a Windows box next to my Mythboxes that uses the
> >default software (WinTV2000) that came with my PVR-250 Rev1.  Having the
> >two boxes next to each with the same graphics card gforce440mx, same 21
> >inch Dell FP2001 LCD monitors, and the same PVR-250 cards has allowed me
> >to notice a lower quality video being recorded in Myth as opposed to
> >WinTV2000.  I noticed that the default in WinTV2000 was 720x480.
> >Currently my Mythboxes are set to record at 480x480 at 2500kbps.  I have
> >read on earlier posts that increasing the bit rate and/or resolution
> >does not yield that much improvement in video quality.  I have one
> >channel that is a somewhat noisy and if I record the same show on both
> >the Mythbox and WinTV2000, the Windows video will far surpasses the
> >quality of the Myth recording.  It seems as though somehow the Windows
> >recording is using some filtering to get the noise out. If I burn the
> >Windows video to DVD in 1 hour mode and watch on a DVD player to a 27"
> >TV via the svideo input, the Windows recording looks better than the
> >original show did on TV!  What's up with the outstanding quality in
> >Windows?  Are there any settings I can adjust in Myth to get to the same
> >level of quality?  I have also burned a Myth recorded video to DVD as
> >well and it looks about the same as it did on the Mythbox watching the
> >recording.
> >
> >Thanks,
> >
> >Russell
> >_______________________________________________
> >mythtv-users mailing list
> >mythtv-users at mythtv.org
> >http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
> 
> I don't see where you indicate the bitrate settings in WinTV2000.  What
> bitrate settings are you using?  I use 1/2 D1 in both WinTV2000 and
> Myth and find that the quality is roughly the same (I only have one box
> so I have to dual boot to compare).
> 
> There is a possibility that the Windows driver may be making better use
> of the PVR-250 than the ivtv driver, but essentially both are setting
> parameters and just streaming the mpeg output to a file, so there really
> shouldn't be a huge difference.
> 
> Strictly speaking, this is really a question for the ivtv mailing list, not 
> Myth.
> You may find better, more technically based answers to a question like
> this if you post over there instead.  You may want to search the ivtv
> archive for "dnr" (noise reduction), which has been discussed a great
> deal in the past.
> 
> As a slight aside, I have noticed some artifacts recording in Myth at a
> resolution of 480x480 that seem to be better at 720x480, but that may
> just be subjective.  I record in Myth only to timeshift things I cannot
> watch when they are broadcast and only have my quality set to be
> roughly the same as VHS quality (I watch and then delete).  If your
> goal is to archive shows to DVD you may want to boost the bitrate and
> resolution up (say, 8Mbps and 720x480) in order to get the best possible
> source for transcoding and archiving on DVD.
> 
> HTH!
> 
> 
> -- Harry O.
> 
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