550pro Settings = Nice Image And Performance

General Discussion about ChrisTV PVR Software
hu1kamania
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Post by hu1kamania »

I've been playing around for a couple days now trying to get the best image quality that I could with ChrisTV and my ATi 550pro tuner card. I feel I finally came up with something decent and its a settings combination I havent seen anywhere else. I hope this is helpful to those who have tortured themselves trying to get decent image quality with the audio in sync. I hope this guide is easy to understand.

I am running the folowing settings with a 3500+ and 6800GT and an ATi TV Wonder Elite and an Audigy2 Sound Card.

You will need to get and install Dscaler5 found HERE
I will go through ChrisTV's settings first.

Under Program Settings and ChrisTV Settings.

Image & Sound Settings - is set to default with Sound in: Wave and a tick Next to "Use DirectX sound controller"

Video Rendering and Improvement Settings - have a tick next to "Use Video Mixing Renderer (VMR-9)

Driver Settings - Advanced Settings Tab:
Main Settings - Tick next to Use Alternative Channel Frequency setting and a Tick next to Use Special Frequency Tunning.
Audio Settings Tab:
No Ticks
Additional Settings Tab:
Tick Next to Activate Enhanced support for Combo Cards and a Tick next to ReInitialize frequency tunning settings

MPEG Hardware Encoding - General Settings:
TV Card Type: ATi Theater 550 Pro or ATi TV Wonder Elite. A Tick next to Force the TV Video Standard to NTSC (or your standard) and a Tick next to Fix Sound Quality for Preview Mode. NO TICK next to Use Live Preview Mode....
For the MPEG Video Decoder and Audio Decoder choose the DScaler Mpeg2 Video Decoder and DScaler Audio Decoder respecitvely.
DScaler Setup: Click the Configure Button Next to the Video Decoder and under properties make sure that Display Forced Subtitles is NOT ticked and also make sure that Output Colour Space is set to YUY2. <--- Important. The Rest you can leave alone, click OK when done.
Theater 550 PRO - Filter Settings, I have everything here set to default with the Volume Level Turned all the way up.

I think that does it for the ChrisTV setup.

For those with nvidia video cards I found one more thing that made a huge difference with image quality and detail! Under your driver settings tab, (Right click the desktop, properties, settings tab, advanced, your card tab) color correction I have digital vibrance set between the zero mark and the 25% mark. Thats where I like it. AND Under Image sharpening, i cranked it all the way up for full screen video. Really sharpened up the image and brought out alot of detail. 100% might be a bit much for some.

DScaler does a great job as a decoder, especially when you enable YUY2. YUY2 is traditionally very CPU intensive, so be warned! With my setup I get from about 50 - 65% CPU use in full screen with no stutter and the audio is in sync. I feel that with this combination of settings rivals Preview Mode and ffdshow filters without near the CPU usage. I hope this guide helps. Image quality is very subjective. What looks good to me might be way off base with everyone else in the HTPC community.
thegrayson
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Post by thegrayson »

Excellent settings, have sorted out most of my headaches, thanks.
Ryokukitsune
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Post by Ryokukitsune »

I have a Theater 550 card and an SB X-FI [9000] runing ChrisTV Lite [4.99]

I have video but I have no sound. no matter what I do i cant recive sound.

I tried the pro version but I didnt even get video. and for what ever reason it kept tyingup my card an no other TV applications worked.

This one seems to have promise in it however if I can't get over this hump I'm stuck with PowerCinima again -_- save me please!
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Chris
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Post by Chris »

Only ChrisTV Professional and Standard have support for ATI 550 PRO.

Follow the guide in this topic and if you have problems attach your ChrisTV.log file :
http://forum.chris-tv.com/index.php?showtopic=1827
Ryokukitsune
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Post by Ryokukitsune »

ok now this is weird. I got it to work almost perfectly on Lite but on pro now i have sound and no video.

I can get video sometimes bu I have to toggle on an off random settings like activatng SVideo and then TV. [example done tre messing witt the TV CrossBar settings] but when i change the channel its gone.

Once i get video one way i can keep i is to change te chanel threw the Tv Tuner properties.

posted here is my PRO log file.

in the light version I get this awkward pause after every second or so. is like its holding frames for a split second...
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Chris
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Post by Chris »

While you run ChrisTV Wizard with Pro version you did not make this step :
2. Choose capture device : "TV Card (with analog TV Tuner)" and click Next button.
3. Choose :
- TV Card Type : "ATI Theater 550 PRO"

You should backup your ChrisTV.ini file from ChrisTV folder, delete it and then run ChrisTV wizard following the steps from : http://forum.chris-tv.com/index.php?showtopic=1827
Ryokukitsune
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Post by Ryokukitsune »

I fallowed the instructions and repeated the process 5-6 times and the same poblem still persists.

I ran DXDIAG and I've attatced the txt file to this post.
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Chris
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Post by Chris »

Attach your latest ChrisTV.log file.
Ryokukitsune
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Post by Ryokukitsune »

oky doky
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Chris
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Post by Chris »

I can get video sometimes bu I have to toggle on an off random settings like activatng SVideo and then TV. [example done tre messing witt the TV CrossBar settings] but when i change the channel its gone.
Do not make changes in Driver Settings, those settings are not saved.

You have to go to channels settings and add channels or s-video/composite inputs.
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