[mythtv-users] Sluggish/Faded/Unsharp TV

[Brett Lucey]

I'm running into a problem with MythTV that I just can't seem to get around.  The problem is actually three-fold.

My system specs are as follows:
    Intel Pentium 4 - 2.0GHz
    512 MB Ram
    160GB Drive (DMA Mode Enabled)
    Hauppauge PVR250 TV Tuner
    BT848 Compatible TV Tuner
    Sound Blaster Live! 128 Sound Card
    Chaintech G-Force FX5200 w/ TV-Out

Here's what I'm running into:

1.  Video seems a little bit sluggish.  When watching live tv or a recording, things seem to be moving slowly in a sense.  It's almost as if frames are being repeated.  It's got a very very subtle slightly unnatural feel to it that's just noticable enough to be annoying.  This does not occur in xawtv or mplayer in tv mode.  (Nor does it occur if I "tape" something using "cat /dev/video0 > program.mpg"

2.  The video is not nearly as sharp as actual TV.  I mean, ballparks different.  I set MythTV to "Watch TV" and popped up a PiP window with my television and swapped back and forth.  The difference was amazingly noticeable.  I don't think this has to do with compression settings as I turned the quality settings on everything to the maximum level.  

3. Lastly, the picture seems dull.  I have tried to play with the contrast/hue/saturation, and this does help a little, but I can't get the colors nearly as vibrant.

Some additional notes:  If I set the dnr_mode to 3 on the PVR250, the sluggishness improves, but is not eliminated.  I have the resolution set to 720x480.  This helps the sharpness some, but not much.

Lastly, I don't suspect the TV-Out as being the problem because when I play a DVD with MythDVD/MPlayer, the picture is absolutely perfect.

Any advice or ideas would be appreciated.  

-Brett
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