Non digital tv best setup?

Jamesrhadley · **5th April 2005, 10:15 AM**

Hi all,

I have read many of the threads here and while all were interesting none had the awnsers I crave.

I have a standard ordinary cheap ass (but pretty new ) 68cm tv and after spending all weekend fiddling with powerstrip I still cant get the out put from my computer to match the out put of my cheap ass dvd player.

My system

Soltek nforce 2 mobo
amd barton 2500+ voltage at 1.35 and running at 1666mhz
BenQ 16speed dual layer dvd burner.
nvidia FX5900XT
and a coolermaster C02 case.

Please help I have spent nearly 400 bucks and and the wife is not impressed yet!

Things I have tried I have tried several different resoloutions ie

640x480 720x480 800x600 1024x728. I am at 800x600 at the moment but is still isnt great.

I have played with the flicker control in the nvidia control panel but to stop the flickering it seems to make the picture really blury....

James

Any suggestions will be appreciated tested and reported back.

Mike · **5th April 2005, 10:43 AM**

Hi James - welcome to the forum

Since it apprears that you are referring to DVD playback - which Mpeg-2 codec are you using?

Jamesrhadley · **5th April 2005, 11:29 AM**

Umm that sounds like an important question...

I am using the latestest version of the Nvidia dvd decoder?

Also the picture on the tv looks pretty dodgy when it displaying the desktop as well, it looks pretty good in the Media Center interface though.

James.

Sambooka · **5th April 2005, 11:38 AM**

Hi Jamesrhadley,

OK, the picture on the desktop on that 68CM CRT is not going to look great so just concentrate on the MCE image. 800x600 seems to be the prefered resolution for this setup and also has the most chance of success.

How are you connecting your PC to the TV? How are you connecting the DVD player to the TV.

The connection type will/can make a huge difference.

And I wouldn't worry with powerstrip for your TV at the moment so just run a standard 800x600 resolution and start from there.

Cheers

Jamesrhadley · **5th April 2005, 11:58 AM**

The dvd is connected using composite and the computer is connected using a s-video connector on the video card but it is pluged into the tv using composite.

If my TV has a s-video input (I dont think it does) would getting a svideo to svideo lead for the computer make a big difference?

Thanks for all the help so far guys, I know I should buy a digital tv but the cost is a bit high for me.

James.

Sambooka · **5th April 2005, 12:03 PM**

If the TV has an svideo input then it would be better to use it.

Cheers

Sambooka

impact · **5th April 2005, 12:12 PM**

Dont use powerstip it might be playing up with the output if not set correctly.

I have my mce connected via svideo to a sony 68cm (4*3) and it gives a better quality picture than my dvd player when playing dvd's...

The computer desktop will always look fuzzy on a crt screen - it just cant handle the resolution properly and you will never oversome that.

I am using the nvidia codecs too - so they should not be the problem.

How does recorded TV or Live TV look on your screen - same as a dvd ? better? any difference....

Jamesrhadley · **5th April 2005, 12:29 PM**

First I don’t have a TV-IN card... yet I ordered a Sapphire Theatrix from the states last week and it should be here today or tomorrow so I cant say if recorded TV looks the same.

When I installed MCE though I went through the screen set-up and it has some videos in it as I am sure you all know and they looked.... not great but hard to compare obviously.(they looked fantastic however on the 17"computer monitor I was using at the time to help set-up.....)

A couple of questions for you IMPACT, What resolution are you running and have you tried using the composite in of your TV and is so was there much difference between svideo and composite for you?

Thanks.

arkay · **5th April 2005, 12:45 PM**

Svideo will always give a better ouput that composite. Composite really is the worst you can get. S-video is at twace as good. Component is at least twice as good as s-video if you have it.

Try and go to s-video if you can, composite just shouldn't exist these days.

Cheers,
Arkay.

Jamesrhadley · **5th April 2005, 12:53 PM**

Quote:

Svideo will always give a better ouput that composite. Composite really is the worst you can get. S-video is at twace as good. Component is at least twice as good as s-video if you have it.

Try and go to s-video if you can, composite just shouldn't exist these days.

Cheers,
Arkay

That is probably very true for a HDTV but will there really be much difference on a lowly TV like mine? Anyway I will check the TV and if it has one I will endevour to purchase a cable to give it a go.

James.

impact · **5th April 2005, 01:13 PM**

Svideo and composite on my sony wega 68cm was both very good... probably favored to the svideo though.

If you thought those recordings on the setup were looking good - then there is no reason why dvd playback would be any worse.

I gotta ask a silly question though... the dvd's your looking at - are they originals, blockbuster movie types, or are they (ummm...) chinese / malaysian imports, or are they (cough cough) your backup disks made with shrink or other tools.

I only ask to try and eliminate one source - the quality of the playback material is of good / excellent quality to begin with.

Jamesrhadley · **5th April 2005, 02:17 PM**

I was actually using my own original copy of lord of the rings (two discs using the start menu to compare between dvd player and MCE)

James

impact · **5th April 2005, 02:32 PM**

Ok - was just checking the obvious - possibly watching something that was of poor quality to begin with... But you should get excellent results with that disc.

Im running 800 * 600 and everything is fine - in fact I think I get a better picture quality on the MCE machine than the sony dvd player or chinese dvd player that I have...

Only two other thoughts come to mind at moment...

You are plugging the MCE box in the same way as the dvd player - ie. Video 1 or Video 2 or whatever - there is no fault in the input selector... faulty cables? Unplugging the DVD player so its not interfering...

Anything on your video card for pal / ntsc selection - jumper / dip switch or similar - is your tv having trouble trying to do any conversions or something...

I am sure we will all keep thinking in hoping to offer other suggestions....

Jamesrhadley · **5th April 2005, 02:36 PM**

That is the reason I was giving power strip ago.

I was reading on the net that being a PAL TV its native resoloution is 768x576 @50HZ so I thought I would try to use power strip to set the video output to that but... with little success.

All suggestions are welcome, I dont mind having an experiment if you guys can think of something that might work.