So I had been running my MythTV box without flaws for almost two years on an old Sharp Color TV my parents gave me. But this weekend I took the plunge and purchased a brand new 32" LG LCD TV from BestBuy. Yeah!!!

So being an idiot I went home and plugged it into my HDTV via the S-Video port on the back and was able to get it to display. But of course it looks like crap. The menus have scan lines running thought it, and is slightly blurry. The videos are a mess. You seen lots of scan lines, and the picture is slightly distorted. Well you can imagine.

So after some reading I see now that my best best so to go from the VGA out on my video card (Nvidia Ti 4200) to the VGA port on the back of the TV. No problem. But then what. I have read that I must adjust my xorg.conf to to include the correct modline, but I have no idea where to get that info.

My other question is what settings should my recording profiles be, if I'm going to be capturing my regular cable signal and displaying it on my HDTV? Currently I use 480x480 with a pretty low bitrate, because on myold TV it all look fuzzy anyway. But now I have no idea where to start.

Anyhow, any help will be appreciated.

So info for you.
My box is a p4 2.3,
512 Mb ram,
250 SATA HDD,
two capture cards: PVR350 and PVR150,
for TV out I use Nvidia Ti4200.

My TV is a 32 inch LG 32LC7D,
720p,
which goes up to 1366x768p.


Thanks in advance.

Phil

I started hereand here.

Good info on this forum too.

As for the PVR settings for an HDTV display, I had to bump the res WAY UP for it to be watchable. It's a bit of trial and error mixed with personal preference, rather then science imo.

To get the most out of that screen, you'll eventually want to look into HD capture cards. But that gets into an OTA/QAM cable discussion that you'll need to research.

Phil,
VGA is probably the way to go. Find out what the native resolution is. Find some modelines online if possible, by googling for +modeline +lg +whatevermodelyouhave
Or try some standard ones for 720p, 1080i.
You'll definitely want to consider adding a HD tuner to your box and filling the RAM to 1GB. You'll hate your TV if you just watch SD stuff on it.
As for cable TV, you'll find that anything in your area that's broadcast HD over the airwaves, are available on cable too - even if you have the $10/month "lifeline" plan.
For example, if your local NBC station is HD, and they are on cable, then they're required by law (USA anyway) to carry the HD as "unencrypted QAM". Your TV should pick it up after a channel scan, but you may need to consult a channel map to find it. You'll have weird numbers like 144-7 and such.
Once you have that working, then you can get an HD/QAM card for your MythTV box, and you're all set.

Hi Phil,

Your best picture will not be vga. Vga uses an analogue signal, and you're attempting to display digital TV, so your computer converts the original to analogue, it travels along your vga cable and has to be converted back to digital - a lot of unnecessary processing.
DVI is the digital output from most computer video cards, and HDMI is the digital input for HDTVs. If you have an HDMI input on your TV and a DVI on your Knoppmyth box, you know what you have to do The cables are commonly available from computer stores and cost (at least in Aus) about $10.

Pure digital will give you the best picture.

My /etc/X11/xorg.conf has this near the bottom:


720p works well and it's what my TV states as its capability. There are other modes which may be more relevant for you (1080i, 1080p).

Regards

Mike

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LinHES 7.4
Australian Dragon
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