[mythtv-users] tv-out quality problems

[Michael Bochynski]

On Mon, 2005-10-24 at 13:41 -0400, Michael T. Dean wrote: 

> Michael Bochynski wrote:
> 
> > My setup is as follows - cable box, LeadTek WinFast TV Deluxe as tuner 
> > and ATI Radeon 8500 as TV-Out.
> >
> > However, My mythtv TV_OUT is significantly worse in terms of picture 
> > quality than a direct cable out to TV. My question is whether it is 
> > due to ATI card, not fully supported under Linux, or TV tuner, which 
> > does software encoding?
> 
> Probably configuration.  Could be anything from encoder settings to X 
> settings to ATI settings to Myth settings to ...  It's also likely that 
> even switching to another output device will not fix the problems.
> 
> > I want to replace one of those components, by my question is whether 
> > it makes more sense to get PVR-350 (I don't need dual tuners of 500, 
> > since I use cable box)  or nice NVIDIA graphics card for better 
> > support for linux?
> 
> IMHO, the PVR-350 is a waste of money (and I wasted money on one) in 
> today's world.  It made sense when 720x480 MPEG-2 decoding strained 
> general-purpose CPU's, but any processor that's worth using in a Myth 
> box (1GHz or better) will barely notice the effort.  I'm using an NVIDIA 
> card (and not using the TV out on my PVR-350) because it has so many 
> advantages:
>     - OpenGL support
>     - Choice of resolution, overscan, etc. (allows you to choose the 
> best combination of scaling, size, position, etc. for your needs)
>     - Choice of outputs (i.e. built-in TV out, using VGA to a VGA to 
> NTSC/PAL converter, using VGA/DVI to a monitor/digital TV, etc.)
>     - If you get a 5200 or better, ability to support HDTV when you 
> decide to switch
>     - Is not a single-purpose device, so it continues to be useful even 
> if you stop using Myth.  (OK, I don't think it's possible for someone to 
> stop using Myth once they've started, but it's the principal of the matter.)
> 
> And only one disadvantage:
>     - Does not provide the placebo effect for users, so video quality is 
> significantly worse.  ;)  (Which actually means you must learn how to 
> configure it for good video quality.  With a PVR-350, you just need to 
> learn how to configure it and you get good quality--the PVR-350 is an 
> all or nothing configuration because it doesn't give you the options 
> that I mentioned as a benefit above, so you can't configure it for 
> poor-quality output.)
> 
> OK, so the NVIDIA proprietary drivers are the real disadvantage, but 
> they're much better than the ATI drivers, so if you've got to pick one, 
> NVIDIA's the way to go.
> 
> Mike


Mike, 

Thanks for suggestions. before spending any money I will play around
with settings. 

However, honestly, the advantages of NVIDIA card you presented are not
overwhelming. The MythTV box will be used for MythTV only, nothing else,
hence OpenGL does not matter, am I right? I don't even have, and don't
plan to have, a regular monitor/LCD at home which I could use :) Signal
(MythTV) goes to TV out only. 

Right now I output TV to my receiver and then to TV. While HDTV is a
nice-to-have, i do not expect to have it in the next 6 - 12 month, while
I will watch TV in the next 6 - 12 months :) Hence having DVI, HDTV and
so on is not the highest priority. I will probably want to add it, 

I am going solely after the  picture (TV) quality. I do not mind
proprietary drivers, since I hope I have my compile-from-source times
behind me, starting with the (very) early Linux times. I know, however,
that ATI (proprietary) drivers are worse than NVIDIA ones. BTW, which
NVIIDA card is worth looking at? I don't want to end up with card which
is not supported under Linux at all.

Michael




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