[mythtv-users] Recording/live-tv video quality (aka do PVR150 encoders suck?)

[Scott Traurig]

I finally took the plunge into some equipment that has allowed me to really
see what is going on with respect to mythtv video quality and this has
begged a few questions.
 
Previously I had a nice but old Sony tube and used composite NTSC video
output of the Nvidia 6xxx motherboard. It was tough to tell what was going
on, of course. Now I have this beautiful Philips LCD 1080p panel that I got
on sale at Costco and a DVI connection. Ubuntu is set to run the standard
1080p resolution through the Nvidia GPU. Results are as follows:
 
1.	PC stuff looks fabulous.
2.	Commercial DVD playback looks fabulous whether it's 4:3, 16:9 or
widescreen and whether it's coming off the DVD or from an ISO file.
3.	Live and recorded TV using NTSC composite from my set top box into
the PVR150 capture card looks terrible compared to the same signal out of
the STB right into the Philips panel. I've got all profiles set to run
6Mbps/9Mbps (DVD quality) and going higher doesn't help any.
4.	Live and recorded TV using the PVR150 tuner looks worse still.
 
I can understand #4 but not necessarily #3. Clearly the decoders and the
Nvidia hardware do a fabulous job based on the DVD output. However it
appears that the PVR150 encoders pretty much suck. Is this essentially the
deal? Is there a better solution for tuning/encoding?
 
Thanks,
 
Scott
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