[mythtv-users] Bitrate/quality on PVR-150

[Scott Traurig]

>> I have done extensive testing of PVR-150 et al settings in the
>> interests 
>> of
>> better quality. I can confidently say that you should run it at 6MBPS
>> avg/8MBPS peak for 720x480 capture. Any less and motion artifact
>> gets bad. 
>> Any more and no improvement can be noted. The best way to test this
>> is to 
>> watch the crawl line on CNN et al followed by some sports like
>> basketball. 
>> 
>> Quite frankly encoder quality for Myth sucks compared to Tivo or STB
>> DVR 
>> appliances. It is Myth's biggest weakness (after the fact that mere
>> mortals
>> need not try to set it up!) Decoder quality is awesome as anyone can
>> see 
>> from playing DVDs, but the PVR series of tuners and encoders are
>> terrible. 
>> It's bad with straight video in from a STB (composite or s-video) and
>> worse
>> with the tuner. You might not notice if you've never owned a
>> commercial 
>> DVR
>> or DVD recorder but I have and the difference is dramatic.
>> 
>> Do we have any better choices for tuner/encoders yet?
> 
> I'd recommend DVB-T or DVB-S - across a room you won't see the
> difference 
> between them and a DVD.

My source is U.S. cable so not an option.

>> Quite frankly encoder quality for Myth sucks compared to Tivo or STB
>> DVR 
>> appliances. It is Myth's biggest weakness (after the fact that mere
>> mortals 
>> need not try to set it up!)
> 
> Is this due to the state of Free Software not being able to implement
> patented or otherwise encumbered algorithms or due to the consumer
> grade hardware we have access to?

It's a consumer grade hardware problem.

>> 
>> Do we have any better choices for tuner/encoders yet?
> 
> How does Myth do with processing content from an HDMI port?

Not sure!

Scott
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