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

[jedi]

On Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 02:14:45PM -0700, Brad DerManouelian wrote:
> On Aug 11, 2008, at 2:04 PM, Bobby Gill wrote:
> 
> > I'm just checking to be sure I am recording/watching at the highest  
> > quality my card can do (I know it's not the sweetest one but  
> > nevertheless hehe). I have a PVR-150 and under MPEG-2 encoders my  
> > default is using an MPEG-2 PS stream and 6000 bitrate. Does a higher  
> > bitrate = better quality (hd space not a concern) or is there a  
> > number on the scale where it maxes out and me setting it any higher  
> > is irrelevant? And is MPEG-2 PS the highest quality stream to set?
> 
> I notice an improvement when setting mine higher than 6000. I think I  
> set mine around 8000. That being said...

     In my experience, the main value of a higher bitrate for the 
incoming recordings has been for commerical flagging. At the lower
bitrates I was not getting very good/accurate results. It wasn't
until I bumped my PVR-150 recording bitrate from 6000 to 9000 that
I got usable results from commercial flagging.

     If not for the commflagging issue, I wouldn't bother with a 
setting over 6000. I transcode everything anyways.

> 
> Your source has a lot to do with what settings is appropriate. If you  
> have a nice clean source (like s-video from an STB), the higher the  
> better I think. If you are viewing over the air analog (for the next  
> few months) then lower bitrates might actually help smooth out some of  
> the static and improve the look of your video.
> 
> Also, quality is subjective to some degree. The best advice I can give  
> is to bump it to the max, look at it, bring it down a bit, look at it  
> again, and keep doing it until you find a place where you're  
> comfortable saying, "This is the best quality I can get from this card/ 
> source combo". It really only takes a few minutes.
> 
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users at mythtv.org
> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users