[mythtv-users] PVR-150 Tuner Quality Issues

[Michael Horn]

>
> On Apr 15, 2006, at 10:32 PM, Michael Horn wrote:
>
> > Ok, I've finally got my mythtv box set up and running. I'm still in
> > the process of tweaking it and my current issue involves the
> > picture quality of the tuner in the pvr-150. While the picture is
> > certainly watchable, colors are very dull, and the image is very
> > grainy. I've played with different capture resolutions, and have
> > ruled that out as an issue. My next step was to try out the tuner
> > in my good old vcr. I ran the cable line to the vcr, and then
> > composite cables to the pvr-150, and got a huge increase in picture
> > quality, colors looked better, smoother image etc. Now, I'm hoping
> > this is an issue that can be resolved, be it through software
> > settings or whatever, as I'd hate to thing the tuner in my cheap
> > vcr does such a better job than that in the pvr-150, especially
> > after all the reviews ive read of the great picture quality. Any
> > suggestions to improve the tuner quality would be greatly
> > appreciated, or else it looks like I'll be settin up the ir blaster
> > to take advantage of my vcr tuner.
> >
>
> Have you tried adjusting the fine-tuning, or is it possible that you
> are using the incorrect frequency table (STD,IRC or HRC) and your
> tuner is just barely pulling it in? What you describe could be caused
> by being off freq. a bit.
>
> I have also compared the RF-tuned signal to using the baseband inputs
> from an external tuner and found them to be virtually identical, and
> that's on 4 different PVR-150s.
>
> I do know, however, that HogPaws has used several different tuner
> modules, and perhaps some are better than others, but I have two
> different modules (my MCE version is different) and they all look the
> same.


Thanks for the the quick response Brian. The frequency table I'm using is
correct. As for fine tuning, I'll check that out and see if it helps. I
don't know if this will help to diagnose the problem, but on top of the
general graininess and poor color, the lower channels seem to exhibit kinda
of a rolling interference as well.
Also, the tuner in my unit was never automatically detected, so I've had to
pass the tuner type to the module, and have been using 50 from the beginning
as it was the first I tried and allowed me to pull an image. I'll go ahead
and start playing around with some others, but could that have a bearing on
this as well? And finally, on that note, is there any resource out there
that combines some documentation on all the different options that can be
passed to the ivtv module in one place? in my searches involving different
issues I've managed to piece together what some of them do, but some sort of
inclusive documentation would be great.
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