Macro Blocking

David167

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Looking to replace my dvd/scaler set up for a HTPC system, due to image quality/macro blocking on dvd. Have tried my own video card, Geforce ti500 and a Radeon 8500, but the macro blocking is still there. Does anyone experience the same problems?? Can anyone recommend a dedicated decoder card to get rid of this problem or is it just inherent on dvds?

Thanks.
 
David.

I think (but I could be wrong) that the problem lies with the DVD player. You should try and find out if you can disable the macrovision on the player. :)
 
Originally posted by Sgt.Colon
David.

I think (but I could be wrong) that the problem lies with the DVD player. You should try and find out if you can disable the macrovision on the player. :)

SgtC
I think david meant mpeg-2 macro artifacts, not the blinky/flashy video-signal mangler, but I could be wrong :)

David
The quality of some early DVDs is pretty poor, and they were usually encoded at low rates, leading to the kind of blocking you mention. Hardware decoder cards are not so good now that software ones can work well with modern PC's processing power, and can scale the image past the native DVD resolution.

What sw DVD player were you using? Something like zoom player and the 8500 with ati filters is supposedly quite well regarded. It also depends on your connection to the source (rgb/dvi) and the display itself - projector/plasma?? If you see the artifacts on a well mastered dvd (i.e. superbit), then the problem is more likely to be the HTPC or the display.
 
Thanks for your reply. My dvd player is a Pioneer 656a which is new (i.e latest technology). I have also owned/tried high end players, the likes of meridian and Arcam, but the prob is still there. I think it could possibly be dvd technology, I have tried a radeon 8500 but no joy. Using it with a Barco 808 projector, have checked with excellently mastered disks. Thing is I never noticed it before until a badly encoded disk showed up the problem, no I notice it more 'cause I know what to look for!! If you own Monster Inc, go to the scene where sullivan is the toilets while Boo is having a private moment!! and look at the yellow toilet doors. These artifacts show up as semi circular banding/blocking. If you have this disk, have a look and let me know what you think. Anyway, what equipment are you using??

Thanks.

p.s I'm using Windvd.
 
Thanks for your reply. My dvd player is a Pioneer 656a which is new (i.e latest technology). I have also owned/tried high end players, the likes of meridian and Arcam, but the prob is still there. I think it could possibly be dvd technology, I have tried a radeon 8500 but no joy. Using it with a Barco 808 projector, have checked with excellently mastered disks. Thing is I never noticed it before until a badly encoded disk showed up the problem, no I notice it more 'cause I know what to look for!! If you own Monster Inc, go to the scene where sullivan is the toilets while Boo is having a private moment!! and look at the yellow toilet doors. These artifacts show up as semi circular banding/blocking. If you have this disk, have a look and let me know what you think. Anyway, what equipment are you using??

Thanks.
 
David,

I'm using a GeF2 with Power DVD 4. I'm also looking at zoom player and nvidia filters, which seem a bit cleaner. Does the banding still exist with different refresh rates on PJ??

The 656a is supposed to be a good player, so is unlikely to be the artifact cause. IMO RGB/Component output (which I assume you're using) have a noticable effect in reducing banding over, say s-video. Monsters Inc is on my profiler "wishlist", so I can't check that scene!
 

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