[mythtv-users] TV viewing using VGA on plasma EDTV

[Peter Judge]

Hi,

I have a question about maximising picture quality for both live and recorded TV with the following setup. 'Scuse the long post.

Setup:
Shuttle SN41G2V2 , AMD 2500+, 512MB
PVR-250, capturing NTSC from a STB.
MyBlaster changes channels on the STB.
NVidia Gforce2 MX440*, using nvidia 6629 drivers
FC3, 2.6.10_741FC3 kernel from atrpms.
Using latest (as of yesterday) bits from atrpms. The machine is setup using Jarod's guide.
Samsung plasma EDTV, with VGA, TV (RCA), s-video and 2 sets of component in (#1 is 720x480 and #2 is  480x480*).
* I think. I'm not home to be able to check. But it's close enough.

I'm currently using the VGA port on the tv for all myth-ing, so fortunately I don't need to mess with TV-out. My xorg.conf has 800x600 as supported modes, and this is consistent with the tv's documented (in TFM) max resolution.

I realise that the non-component inputs (VGA, RCA and s-video)  are all limited to SDTV resolution, and as soon as is feasible, I'm planning to get a VGA-component adaptor, but until then I'm basically stuck with SDTV.

My current picture is OK, but visibly inferior to 'plain' cable. I'd really like the picture coming out of MythTv to be as near as possible to that. So, what are the ways that I can maximise the output resolution?
- Will a better modeline help? I can use GTF (http://gtf.sourceforge.net/) for generating one.
- Someone suggested that I upgrade the IVTV firmware, so that the hardware will produce a better signal, and I'll certainly look into that.
- Will adding extra filters (in addition to the interlacing) in the setup help? And if so, where can I find out more about them.

Direct answers to these questions would be great, but some FAQ/documents/references would also really help, especially something that ties all of the bits together.

Any help or advice is appreciated,
Peter