Flickering Live and Recorded TV

[GazH]

Hi All,

I have recently taken delivery of a Keene VGA to Scart cable and, basically, its cracking (possibly the best picture I've seen on my CRT).

I have set up a custom resolution of 960x540 using powerstrip on the settings below:

PowerStrip timing parameters:
960x540=960,88,72,168,540,21,9,58,20222,312

Generic timing details for 960x540:
HFP=88 HSW=72 HBP=168 kHz=16 VFP=21 VSW=9 VBP=58 Hz=25

Linux modeline parameters:
"960x540" 20.222 960 1048 1120 1288 540 561 570 628 interlace +hsync +vsync

DVDs look superb and very smooth but for some reason Live TV and Recorded TV flicker when the picture is panned.

This didn't happen when I was viewing using TV-out so I was presuming it would be the refresh rate or something like that, but I have changed to the above settings (which look correct) and it still flickers. If there is a static image on the screen it looks fine by the way, just when the picture 'Pans'.

My Specs:
pentium 4 1.5Ghz
Sapphire 128MB 9800pro
1280 MB Ram
Hauppage PVR500 TV card
Nvidea DVD decoder
200GB Seagate

Sony 28fx64 16:9 CRT tv.

Any help appreciated

Cheers

Gaz

[evolution400]

On your nvidia decoder try switching your interlace to "film" and have you enabled hardware decode in the registry ?

[GazH]

Originally Posted by evolution400

On your nvidia decoder try switching your interlace to "film" and have you enabled hardware decode in the registry ?

I think it is already set to film, and I changed the other option (de-interlace I think it was) to 'Combine Fields' from 'Best'

I haven't change any registry settings for this... do have the info or a link to a thread with the info on please mate ?

Thanks for your help

Gaz

[GazH]

Oh well..... Had a look in the registry and any entries for DXVA_WMV in there are already set to 1.

Looks like my machine is just underpowered then.

Going to go back back to TV-Out at a standard res in order to sort out the TV problems for now until I upgrade my processor.

Gutted though... the picture quality in the MCE GUI and for DVDs is superb, but not really much good if I can't record stuff (or at least watch recorded stuff).

Thanks for the advice.

Gaz

[evolution400]

Have you tried changing your refresh rate to 50Htz ?

[GazH]

Originally Posted by evolution400

Have you tried changing your refresh rate to 50Htz ?

Yeah, I am using the powerstrip settings as quoted in my original post. I am presuming this is an interlaced 50hz refresh.

My GC doesn't seem to have a standard resolution at 50hz (or does it ?) so I've only used powerstrip for my resolutions.

When using TV-out I was using a standard res (800x600 @60hz I think) and the picture didn't flicker (tear?).

Thanks for your help Evolution400

Gaz

[evolution400]

If it plays flawlessly whne you are watching DVD then it must be either your interlace settings in nvidia have you experementing with all combinations ?
Also you will have to use powerstrip to alter refresh rates so try experimenting with them also using different variations I am using catylist 5.7 drivers maybe revert to those aswell.
I am quite sure its your interlaced settings though.
To enable hardware decode you do this :-
Note: WMV9 acceleration has been disabled until Microsoft issues a new patch for WMV9. To enable this with other versions of Catalyst, RUN regedit -> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Control ->Video and find your ATI reg value. The key to update is DXVA_WMV = 1

[GazH]

Originally Posted by evolution400

If it plays flawlessly whne you are watching DVD then it must be either your interlace settings in nvidia have you experementing with all combinations ?
Also you will have to use powerstrip to alter refresh rates so try experimenting with them also using different variations I am using catylist 5.7 drivers maybe revert to those aswell.
I am quite sure its your interlaced settings though.
To enable hardware decode you do this :-
Note: WMV9 acceleration has been disabled until Microsoft issues a new patch for WMV9. To enable this with other versions of Catalyst, RUN regedit -> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Control ->Video and find your ATI reg value. The key to update is DXVA_WMV = 1

Hi Evolution400,

I am using Cat 5.8 at the mo, but I could revert back to 5.4 (which I was using before without any problems)... think maybe a good idea.

Within the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Control ->Video" branch I do have a number of reg keys...some of them seem to relate to an older GC (a 6600GT) and any setting for DXVA_WMV are already set to 1 (thanks for posting this on the other forum by the way)...

I haven't really played with the settings to much in powerstrip but will have a play when I get the chance.... do have a set of recomended settings you have used ?

I have had a play with the settings in Nvidia decoder but the only one that seemed to make a difference was changing to 'combine fields' from 'best'.

Many thanks

Gaz

[evolution400]

np
I have a DLP tv so I can use native res 1280*720 and I dont need to alter any settings.
I did have a 32" philips CRT though at the begining of the year and I used the custom res of 960*600 and left the timings and htz as default changed theinterlace to film and all was perfect you may want to try that.
Bit of a strange res but it was widescreen and I was able to use the zoom buttons pretty good but I also had a different graphics card nvidia 5700 so maybe it will not apply to the ATI card.
Give them a try anyway.

[GazH]

Originally Posted by evolution400

np
I have a DLP tv so I can use native res 1280*720 and I dont need to alter any settings.
I did have a 32" philips CRT though at the begining of the year and I used the custom res of 960*600 and left the timings and htz as default changed theinterlace to film and all was perfect you may want to try that.
Bit of a strange res but it was widescreen and I was able to use the zoom buttons pretty good but I also had a different graphics card nvidia 5700 so maybe it will not apply to the ATI card.
Give them a try anyway.

OK will have a look and see if I can usethat res... and muck about with refresh if needed.

Thanks again Evolution

Gaz

[GazH]

Messed around with all the settings last night... Powerstrip and Nvidia.... managed to get a 'better' result but still a lot of flickering on pans.

Think my machine may be slightly underpowered (P4 1.5Ghz) and just can't handle the interlaced refresh on TV (?).

One quick question Evolution...in the registry, under the 'Video' key, how many entries do you have in there.... I've got a few and a couple relate to a previous GC (6600GT).. so wondered if it was worth cleaning this up and see if it made a difference. I did run drive cleaner pro but these still seem to be there.

oh, still haven't tried rolling back my driver though.... might give that a whirl as well.... if I get time....

Thanks for all your help.

Gaz

[evolution400]

No previous cards dont make a difference.
Just watch some live tv then open task manager check your CPU usage then turn off hardware decoding and do the same and if your CPU usage stays the same DXVA is not working so check your reg again.

[GazH]

Originally Posted by evolution400

No previous cards dont make a difference.
Just watch some live tv then open task manager check your CPU usage then turn off hardware decoding and do the same and if your CPU usage stays the same DXVA is not working so check your reg again.

OK will have a look.

Cheers

Gaz