I recently upgraded to R5B7 from R5A16 and everything works except that the size of the video files recorded are 66% larger even with the same Default video settings on a PVR500 card.

Files were about 1.2G per hour now they are about 1.8G per hour.

Resolution 720x480
MPEG-2 PS
Bitrate: 2200
Max Bitrate 4500

Anyone else seen this? Is more info needed?

I have also noticed that using resolutions other than 720x480 with card look grainier than simply sticking to that.

Thanks in advance.

T.

Please don't post the same stuff multiple times. If you manage to annoy Cecil enough it can end up posted zero times... A word to the wise...

A bitrate of 2200 should yield ~1.2GB/hour. The spread from you average bitrate to your peak bitrate is pretty extreme. Also, 2200 is boarderline for 720x480. If your display is 32" or smaller, try using 352x480 with bitrate and maxbitrate set to 2200 and I suspect you will get back to 1.2gb files and be happy w/ encoding quality.

Marc

After digging around there definitely seems to be a loss in video quailty for PVR 150 & PVR 500 cards with MythTV 0.19 versus 0.18.

I still have a complete R5A16 version that produces better video at the previously posted settings. I can play back those videos on the upgraded R5B7 and they look much better than new recordings and have smaller file size, so I suspect that there is something not quite right with the ivtv drivers included with R5B7.

I'd be tempted to go back to R5A16 or try to mash the ivtv drivers from that version into R5B7, except that those ivtv drivers occasionally "just lock up" while recording which motivated the upgrade in the first place.


Here is link to video quality issues on the PVR150 with 0.19:

http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/m ... ty;#201849

So has anyone else already run into this and found a fix?

Admittedly, I had to build my own ivtv drivers for R5A16 and the PVR500, because they did not work out of the box for that version, so I may just try that first. But I'd be interested in if anyone has fix that they know will work before I start poking around for solutions.


Thanks in advance.

T.

_________________
ECS 741GX-M Rev 1.0A
SIS chipset
(GQ3131 aka Fry's $99 special)
Semperon 2200
1G RAM
Nvidia FX-5200 svideo out
Hauppauge WinTV PVR-500 MCE (Phillips)
200GB ST3200822A Disk
40GB WDC WD400BB-22JHC0
BTC 9019URF Wireless Keyboard/Mouse

I've been involved in a couple recent threads that explore this:

- Using external tuner scripts to overcome the card to card differences, e.g. between a PVR-250 and PVR-150. http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=10001

- Tweaking the ivtv build process to compile and install it's versions of certain driver modules, which give better results with the PVR-150 and PVR-500 style cards. http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9437

Thanks for the replies:

To tjc:

Thanks for the info. My problem is not the color washout issue. The problem I am seeing is that both the file size has increased and the image quality is less sharp. I've played with the various DNR settings, but still am seeing a more fuzzy image than previously.

To: marc.aronson

I've played with 352x480 versus 740x480 and can see a sharper image at the same bit rate using 740x480. There is some color depth loss compared to the lower resolution, but not much. This may be because I am using S-Video rather than composite video into our 27" SDTV.

I am still searching for a way to get back the image quality I once had R5A16 and will post a solution when I find it. Thanks to everyone who has assisted.

This thread helped

http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/m ... ers/165987

specifically adusting the DNR settings:

http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/m ... nr;#165987

but did not entirely solve the issues.

_________________
ECS 741GX-M Rev 1.0A
SIS chipset
(GQ3131 aka Fry's $99 special)
Semperon 2200
1G RAM
Nvidia FX-5200 svideo out
Hauppauge WinTV PVR-500 MCE (Phillips)
200GB ST3200822A Disk
40GB WDC WD400BB-22JHC0
BTC 9019URF Wireless Keyboard/Mouse

Well really almost solved. (I ran out of room on the subject line.)

This appears to be an issue with the firmware files supplied at the IVTV site and the firmware files supplied with R5B7.

By taking the firmware files from the original PVR-500 CD (version 2.7) I have restored the smaller files and clearer video picture I had previously.... but I now get these errors:

ivtv0 warning: i2c client addr: 0x1b not found for command 0x402c5639!
ivtv1 warning: i2c client addr: 0x1b not found for command 0x402c5639!

And the only fix I've seen for these errors is to upgrade to the current IVTV firmware. <sigh>

My fix using the official version 2.7 Hauppauge WinTV-PVR irmware with the 4.4 or SVN ivtv drivers occasionally shows video tearing *if* the video image is a solid light color which may also affect the sound in extreme cases.

More info to follow..... but if you are havng video image quaility or video file size issues with upgrades, get the firmware files off the CD provided with your Hauppauge PVR card.

I will eventually solve all the issues... hopefully. But at least I now have on R5B7 better image quality files recorded at 720x480 resolution and a 2200 base bitrate that create 1.2G/h video files compared to 1.8G/h files that look fuzzy/noisy.

So stay tuned...

_________________
ECS 741GX-M Rev 1.0A
SIS chipset
(GQ3131 aka Fry's $99 special)
Semperon 2200
1G RAM
Nvidia FX-5200 svideo out
Hauppauge WinTV PVR-500 MCE (Phillips)
200GB ST3200822A Disk
40GB WDC WD400BB-22JHC0
BTC 9019URF Wireless Keyboard/Mouse