[mythtv-users] NVidia TV-Out, how high can I set my expectations

[Neil]

On 10/30/05, Chad Johnson <chadjamesjohnson at gmail.com> wrote:
> > You might want to try to run without any fans in your computer to see
> > if they are causing the problem.  The issue you are describing sounds
> > exactly like what I see with my 5200, and turning off the fans makes
> > the interference go away.
> >
> > -neil
>
>
> Hmmm,
>   Gave that a shot, if anything I could say it helped ever so
> slightly.  But the problem still seems to persist.
>
> -Chad

Chad,
Does the interference persist even when you pause video?  If so, the
interference is likely coming from your computer.  If the interference
also pauses when you pause the video, then the problem is likely
caused by the coax connection to your tuner card, if that's what you
are using for input.

I'm also disappointed with the quality of tv-out on my 5200.  It's
noticeably worse than coax straight into the tv.  I did tweak my tv's
settings to minimize it (I found that the signal from my 5200 was
"louder" than what came over the cable, so turning down the "picture"
on my trinitron helped).  Still, the quality is not great.  In the
end, I can live with it because of the convenience of mythtv.  After
all, bad quality Futurama is better than no Futurama at all...

Also, I set up my mac mini as a front end.  The quality was slightly
better, but still not as good as straight cable.  So that ruled out a
huge misconfiguration on my end for me.

You might want to find out if there is digital cable in your area, and
if so, compare the 5200's tv-out with someone's digital cable box.  I
find that although my myth box's quality is worse than analog cable,
it's right on par with what I see on other digital cable sets (which
is not great, IMO).

-neil


FYI, my xorg settings for a 5200 with a Sony 32" crt.  If anyone has
any improvements, I'd love to hear from you.

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "Videocard0"
        Driver      "nvidia"
        VendorName  "Chaintech"
        BoardName   "nVidia GeForce 4 MX 440"
        Option      "RenderAccel" "true"
        # TV Out Setup
        Option      "TVStandard" "NTSC-M"
        Option      "TVOutFormat" "SVIDEO"
        Option      "NvAGP" "3"
        Option     "DigitalVibrance"        "85"
        Option     "Overlay"                "True"
        Option     "TVOverScan"             "0.72"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "Monitor0"
        VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"
        ModelName    "Unknown monitor"
        HorizSync  30-60
        VertRefresh 60-60
        Mode "720x480"
          # D: 34.563 MHz, H: 37.244 kHz, V: 73.897 Hz
          DotClock 34.566
          HTimings 720 752 840 928
          VTimings 480 484 488 504
          Flags    "-HSync" "-VSync"
        EndMode
        Option      "dpms"
EndSection

-neil