AIW 8500DV HTPC Help - Video Quality

  • Thread starter Thread starter Knowledge
  • Start date Start date
K

Knowledge

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
(e-mail address removed)
 
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).

And the tv does not have a DVI input on the back, just for the record.

Thanks
-Walter
(e-mail address removed)

BTW information is still and always very welcome. The more info the better.
hehe
 
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).
Click to expand...

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
 
: 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
bullshit. 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
 
I've been down this road using an 8500DV and I got sick of the
bullshit. 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.
Click to expand...

Amen!

I picked up an 8500DV a month ago, and have been tweaking and adjusting
all the while until I have finally achieved what I consider to be a
satisfactory capture. With MMC 8.5 and EZLook, I am fairly pleased, but
I am only using it to capture SVCD's. You've given me food for thought.


CF
 
: In article <hc%[email protected]>, (e-mail address removed)
: says...
:> I've been down this road using an 8500DV and I got sick of the
:> bullshit. 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.
:>

: Amen!

: I picked up an 8500DV a month ago, and have been tweaking and adjusting
: all the while until I have finally achieved what I consider to be a
: satisfactory capture. With MMC 8.5 and EZLook, I am fairly pleased, but
: I am only using it to capture SVCD's. You've given me food for thought.

Well, if you want to archive to VCD/SVCD/DVD, there's a pretty
steep learning curve for the Tivo. I climbed that hill and
have a pretty good system for extracting the video and
converting to VCD. It's not as fast as going straight to VCD
but it's stable and reliable. Once you learn how to do it,
it's far less frustrating than dealing with the 8500DV. :)

Jamie
 
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