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AIW 8500DV HTPC Help - Video Quality
Im not really sure if this is the place to post a message, but it looked
right to me so I went for it If anybody objects just tell me where to post this kind of a message, thanks. That aside, here is my story... I bought a AIW 8500DV Home Theater PC for my living room. System specs are as follows: AMD Athlon XP 2100 with Volcano 9 and Smartfan 2 HSF ECS K7S5A Mobo 512mb 2100 DDR 45GB 7200 RPM IBM 2mb buffer All In Wonder 8500DV On Board Audio Windows XP Pro - SP1 The video source is coming from a Satellite Box straight into the card through a S-Video cable. The computer only has the TV hooked up as its display, no monitor. The TV is a 60" Hitachi. When you look at the computer on the TV it all looks very fuzzy and small very very small. I upped the font size and buttons to make it look better but still in some programs and setups the fonts and buttons are still very small. The resolution is at 640x480 because it looks the best, any higher and it becomes unreadable. When you watch TV through the computer (S-Video from Sat) the picture looks fuzzier and more washed out compared to the actual satellite. I have captured a few TV Shows on it using the ATI software that came with the card and sometimes I get Audio Snoring (the sound volume goes up and down, gets louder and softer). Plus the picture doesnt look as well as I wanted it to. I was shooting for SVCD quality with SVCD size and in reality I get VCD quality with SVCD size which is no fun. Now I have DVD Rip SVCDs (DVD SVCD) that look outstanding. I WANT THAT QUALITY PICTURE FROM MY SATELLITE! So my question is, what can I do to make it look better. Is there settings that I dont have set up right that would make it look the way I want it too? Also is there anyway to get the actual computer desktop for surfing to look sharper and bigger on the TV. Any pointers would be great. Any and All information is welcome and greatly aperciated. Thanks In Advance! -Walter |
#2
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http://www.myhtpc.net/forum/index.php
Try this forum...it's a bit more on topic, and someone might be able to help you better. Regards, CF http://www.myhtpc.net/forum/index.php In article diDTa.115532$OZ2.22508@rwcrnsc54, "Knowledge" we87 @"hotmail.com" says... Im not really sure if this is the place to post a message, but it looked right to me so I went for it If anybody objects just tell me where to post this kind of a message, thanks. That aside, here is my story... |
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On Thu, 24 Jul 2003 08:37:04 GMT, "Knowledge" "
wrote: Thanks guys for the info, myHTPC looks promising... Ill mess with it tomorrow when both of my eyes are open (its 3:30am right now). whilst myHTPC looks promising, I found it to be slow and never really got it to work with the AIW. Mind you, because of its slowness i did not persevere. Also, i could never get my mp3 to play and never got to the bottom if it. myHTPC is early alpha software. Have you tried out easylook? Though this is still early software. Personally I doubt you will ever capture "pin-sharp". I have a very similar rig, (except using monitor rather than TV.) I use the composite as the sat box does not have s-vod out. The results are naturaly fuzzier but are watchable. They are certainly better than VHS tape. I think the only way to have pin shapr is to directly receive the mpeg as it downloads fromthe satellite. Also check out talisman. You can design your own front end with this. But again its slow, epending on the complexity of the layout. Andre |
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Knowledge " wrote:
: So my question is, what can I do to make it look better. Is there settings : that I dont have set up right that would make it look the way I want it too? : Also is there anyway to get the actual computer desktop for surfing to look : sharper and bigger on the TV. Any pointers would be great. I say this with all sincerity. Get a proper DVR. If you've got DirecTV, there's a Tivo specifically designed for DirecTV. It can even record two channels at once. It records the satellite stream as it comes in from the satellite. What you'll be get is not just "as good as" the satellite feed, it _IS_ the satellite feed. If you've got Dish, they've also got a DVR receiver. Or you can buy a "standalone" Tivo that will work with either system. Or ReplayTV. I've been down this road using an 8500DV and I got sick of the bull****. First my computer wasn't powerful enough so I built a new one. Then I found that the tv-on-demand features weren't very reliable. Then I found out how crappy the TV-out picture is. Then I realized how crappy the guide and programming features are (when using ATI's software). Then there was the noise of my powerful new machine. With all the fans needed to keep it cool, it sounded like a shop vac. After a few months, I bought a Tivo. Never looked back. It just works. And it makes less noise than my old VCR. I did just have trouble with the hard drive but I stuck it in a PC and Maxtor's diagnostic utility seems to have fixed it. 2 days of downtime in nearly a year. Not bad compared to the PCs I've had over the years. Jamie |
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