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

[Brad DerManouelian]

On Aug 13, 2008, at 3:36 AM, Scott Traurig wrote:

> Perhaps you weren't following the entire thread, Brad. I had already  
> written
> that decoder and video card performance is not an issue as DVDs  
> played with
> my Myth setup look fantastic, actually better than the Pioneer. So no
> problem there.

No, I didn't read the whole thread that carefully. :)

> My bitrate is 6 AVG/8 PK but in my extensive efforts to make the PVR- 
> x50
> look good I've had it as high as 9 with no joy. I have always run  
> 720x480.
> There is no mistake being made. I've adjusted other settings, too,  
> using
> v4l2 with no improvement. I did some extensive work with the Nvidia  
> settings
> tool to get things color corrected and properly scaled, as well.

If DVDs looks good (progressive) and your captures look bad  
(interlaced) maybe the deinterlacer you chose isn't very good (to your  
eyes). I know that makes a huge difference on my system. It hard to  
get an idea of what "not as good" or "bad" is without actually seeing  
the video that is captured.

>> Oh.. I just re-read and see that you are using composite video. Do  
>> you
>> mean composite through RF? You could be getting interference from the
>> other components in your machine (like your power supply). Try it  
>> with
>> s-video.
>
> Been there, done that, no improvement. Besides, if there were  
> interference
> problems would they not also affect the Pioneer which was stacked up  
> with
> the same equipment?

No, you get interference within the computer itself that would not  
affect anything outside of the computer. All that electricity running  
through those touching metal parts can cause some bad interference  
especially when you're dealing with RF signals. It usually manifests  
itself with horizontal lines that slowly creep up the image or wavy  
lines in it.

> And before someone says "Maybe your card is broken" consider that  
> I've got
> one -150 and on -250 and they both look equally poor.
>
> With all the comments on how PVR-x50's look better than Tivo I'm  
> sure glad I
> didn't get a Tivo!

Maybe your expectations are too high. ;)
>