fuzzy TV quality -- im at my wits end...

[dclowes]

I'm new to this and stuck...... plus got a headache from reading soooo many posts and forums trying to fix this.

I bought a 2nd hand PC - spec

3.2 Pentium 4 (hyper threading)
250 gig sata drive
nvidia 6200 PCI-E card
1 gig ram
PVR-500
dvd drive

its runs nicely. I installed windows media centre 2005 that went a dream. Installed Windvd 7 (tried nividia pure but problem still prevailed.)


I have the box next to my CRT TV 36" Philips.

My problem is the live TV. Its blocky/ghost as hell. I was watching snooker last night and there looked twice as many balls on the table then there should have been.

I have tried just about every driver I can think of to fix this. I must say that in DVD mode its fine -- crystal clear. The problem is only in live TV mode.

I am running the latest pvr-150 beta drivers and I had some lines. Its cured the lines, but not the blocky/pixelation effect.


I think the problem lies with the refresh rate/my TV - as there is an optin to run the TV at 100hz digital that removes a lot of the blocky images, but the tv quality looks slow (if you know what I mean).

Can someone point me in the correct direction here.

[SteveL]

What are you feeding into the PVR-500? Sky, Freeview or using a Standard Aerial?

How is the PVR-500 connected, via Composite (Red/White/Yellow plugs) or S-Video (mini DIN plug) ?

[dclowes]

I subscribe to NTL -- and am on their old analogue system. Its connect via a coax cable straight form the set to box. I have tried the svideo feed and there was no difference - plus I have no options to seek BB1 - Ch5 on the Svideo feed on the old analogue box.
The TV quality of fine if I svideo or coax the feed direct to the tv (bypassing the mediaxp) - as soon as I feed it to the case I loose quality on the decoding.


Thoughts would be greatly appreciated.


PS - The 50hz reg tweak is applied but makes no difference at all.

[Westindieman]

I am watching this one with interest too as I have similar problems.

[ecotrojan]

Originally Posted by Bruce Willy

I am watching this one with interest too as I have similar problems.

same here

Week old MCE installation and all of a sudden LIVE tv from SKY+ box is ghosting.

Matt

[stephinson]

If you record a program then watch it on the computer monitor is the picture still bad

If it is bad then its the feed to the computer or the card

if it is a good picture then its your monitor

can you put a feed into the 6200?

[JackOTrades]

I used to have NTL analog in my old flat and even directly feeding the signal to the TV the picture quality was pretty lame. Their boxes are as old as you can imagine (to the point that they don't even bother to collect them once you terminate the service!) and generally their channel listing is not much better (you get Sky One but anything else of interest is available on Freeview as well).

I won't even talk about their customer service...

I decided to bin NTL and went Freeview. The image I get now via the HTPC is so much better and I have pretty much all the channels I want (apart from Sky One but I can live without it). And it's free...

So the culprit may very well be NTL and not the PC.

Jack

[ecotrojan]

I had a bout of inspiration.

My (AGP) Graphics card Nvidia 6600 was nearly (if not) touching my Hauppage PVR150 MCE which was is the next slot (PCI slot 1).

Next to the Hauppage was a Belkin wifi card (PCI slot 2).

I thought if i removed the Belkin card, changed the Hauppage from PCI slot 1 to PCI slot 2(where the Belkin sat) then a bit of airflow / distance between the two cards may rectify the ghosting problem. (interference?)

I dug out a better (GOLD) svideo to svideo cable. Swapped the cards then swapped svideo cable from the SKY+ box to the PVR150mce.

Still 'ghosting'.

I was thinking that this is actually the SKY+ box so removed the cable from my projector (that was plugged into my MCE) and plugged it straight into the SKY+ box. Hey presto fantastic picture.

This has to mean its the Hauppage card / drivers.

MCE menus etc are crystal clear. Im using Nvidia decoder.

The ghosting is still on live tv.

1 week old MCE and thoroughly wee weed off.

Matt

[Stiggy]

Originally Posted by dclowes

PS - The 50hz reg tweak is applied but makes no difference at all.

Have you tried the dxdiag, More Help, Override technique?

This whole 50/60Hz thing is very confusing for me too!

[Andy98765]

Originally Posted by dclowes

I'm new to this and stuck...... plus got a headache from reading soooo many posts and forums trying to fix this.

its runs nicely. I installed windows media centre 2005 that went a dream. Installed Windvd 7 (tried nividia pure but problem still prevailed.)


I have the box next to my CRT TV 36" Philips.

My problem is the live TV. Its blocky/ghost as hell. I was watching snooker last night and there looked twice as many balls on the table then there should have been.

I have tried just about every driver I can think of to fix this. I must say that in DVD mode its fine -- crystal clear. The problem is only in live TV mode.

I am running the latest pvr-150 beta drivers and I had some lines. Its cured the lines, but not the blocky/pixelation effect.


I think the problem lies with the refresh rate/my TV - as there is an optin to run the TV at 100hz digital that removes a lot of the blocky images, but the tv quality looks slow (if you know what I mean).

Can someone point me in the correct direction here.

Have you tried connecting an aerial to your PVR500, tune it in and see if the quality increases, the output of your NTL box is most likely rubbish. Alternatively try this, use the RF feed if there is one off the back of your NTL, plug it into the PVR500 RF in, tune it and then try. As others have stated old NTL boxes are not exactly leading edge tech and I have to agree with having freeview TV card the picture is excellent.

[dclowes]

a few more days on and a lot more tricks tried..... but still no resolution


First - the TV is connected to the 6200 VGA card via a composite video cable (yes it has one - jack to jack).

I have just about given up on playing with video settings, including the 50hz tweak as I don't think this makes any difference. I know I have had it running at 50hz as I have run media centre in a window on desktop and there has been no quality difference at all.

So then I thought it must be the signal quality. I went a bought a new digital receiver and plugged the scart from the back of the reveiver to the input of the PVR 500 card (red yellow white comp) and scanned for new channels. All channels found absolutely maximum signal strenght from my ariel but the output to TV is still ghosting.

I have tried the purevideo drivers (but I got a stutter every 10 seconds) and I am now using windvd7.

There is an option on my TV to change the scan to 100hz and this does improve the ghosting picture a little, but I loose quality.

DVD images play just fine so I can only assume that it is a driver issue with the pvr 500 card.

If anyone has any further ideas I would love to hear them. This seems to be a recurrent problem with CRT televisions. If anyone has a clear singal on a CRT using the 500mce I would like to hear what driver they are using.

I guess I will have to wait to see if future driver release sort this out....

[Dan L]

Call me old fashioned but feeding the PVR an RF signal, then passing the video card signal to the TV via composite is hardly going to yield good results IMO.

[ecotrojan]

Originally Posted by danluton

Call me old fashioned but feeding the PVR an RF signal, then passing the video card signal to the TV via composite is hardly going to yield good results IMO.

true

but if you are trying to get rid of ghosting and have tried every tweak, change of decoder blah blah you will try anything to get a decent picture on your expensive MCE system that doesnt work!

Its all about deducing which hardware / software is causing the ghosting.

By trying the RF i appreciate that the signal quality 'maybe' crap, but if its stops the ghosting then it can only be a good thing.

Matt

[dclowes]

Originally Posted by danluton

Call me old fashioned but feeding the PVR an RF signal, then passing the video card signal to the TV via composite is hardly going to yield good results IMO.

so why is my quality pin shap when I play a dvd? (mean that the feed out of the vid card to the tv is fine)

and why does it ghost when I feed it with a scart from my freeview box to the input jacks (via 3 composite r/w/y) - means that it has to be the card itself doesnt it?

........

[Dan L]

Originally Posted by dclowes

so why is my quality pin shap when I play a dvd? (mean that the feed out of the vid card to the tv is fine)

and why does it ghost when I feed it with a scart from my freeview box to the input jacks (via 3 composite r/w/y) - means that it has to be the card itself doesnt it?

........

If you've tried EXACTLY the same connections to the TV using EXACTLY the same cables; the picture from composite->TV from the PC is 'pin sharp' (via composite? *s*******) when showing the desktop; and the picture from MC when playing a DVD is also acceptable then yes, I would almost certainly say that the PVR card is at fault.