[mythtv-users] What don't I get here? (Interlaced playback...)

[Mark Kendall]

On 6/14/07, Steve Smith <st3v3.sm1th at gmail.com> wrote:

> So am I correct in my analysis? Is the mythfrontend actually playing 25 full
> frames a second or 50  fields a second?

The pedantic answer is that it's actually doing both, but I don't
think that's really your issue :)

Your number one problem is s-video. It's been a long time since I used
it in anger but I never had a good quality picture using s-video
input. The main problem (I think) is that the nvidia drivers do a
certain (large) amount of scaling and I'm not even sure that the final
output is properly interlaced.

> How can I get the "correct" output  of 50 fields a second where potentially
> the two fields in each frame can contain movement?
> Would using a CRT output (RGB to SCART) instead of S-VIDEO help? (in this
> respect not just overall quality)

If you've only got a scart input (ie no dvi etc), an RGB to SCART
converter is definitely the way to go. You'll notice an immediate
improvement in picture quality if you get it working correctly (I've
been playing with scart input to my lcd and crt tv's today). I'd
probably go as far as to say that it's the best picture quality you'll
get for standard definition PAL - i.e. if you can get it  working
well, it will match the quality from stb's, dvd players etc.

>i.e. is the NVidia TV-Out doing something
> to the timing...e.g. insisting on using 60hz without telling me thus
> throwing out the timings, or maybe even forcibly de-interlacing the picture?

Probably the latter...

regards

Mark