[mythtv-users] Picture Quality...

[Brian Wood]

On Oct 9, 2006, at 5:02 PM, Michael T. Dean wrote:

> On 10/09/06 18:31, Brian Wood wrote:
>
>> To eliminate input signal differences have you tried swapping the two
>> cables and making sure the TV still looks better?
>>
>> I've heard a lot of people say their TVs have better tuners but I've
>> not noticed this myself.
>>
>> I really find it hard to believe that special tuner modules are
>> manufactured for capture cards, it makes more sense that they are
>> simply using tuners that are available for TV sets, VCRs etc.
>>
>> Perhaps the TV sets have better IF stages, better AGC or better
>> demodulators, thus resulting in better-looking pictures, and it is
>> not the tuner module itself at all.
>>
> I sincerely believe that's exactly what's happening.  In other words,
> those who think their TV's or tuner cards have better tuners than  
> their
> tuner cards or TV's are saying, "My apple is better than my  
> orange."  :)

I agree. There simply aren't enough capture cards made to justify  
designing a tuner just for them, nor do they need to be any different  
from a TV/VCR tuner. There are many many factors that influence  
picture quality other than the tuner, and that's what folks are seeing.

There are also factors other than the capture card itself that can  
influence what the picture captured by it looks like. Obviously  
things like bitrate and resolution have a large effect, but I suspect  
the biggest factor is the video output system of the computer and the  
use or lack of de-interlacing routines.