Lots of good context there and I agree that it's not a CPU issue as 576 lines is really PAL standard defintion. There problem is elsewhere. I think your going to need to go through all the various setup parameters in "appearances" and "tv playback".

I am a bit confused about the reference to mplayer. Are you using the myth front-end for your playback, or are you using mplayer?

Marc

???

Now I'm the one confused. Doesn't Myth use the mplayer program to play back recorded video?

I thought it did - although I guess I could be wrong?

Probably am - wouldn't surprise me. I've been known to be wrong on the odd occasion

Regards,
Ramrunner

It does not. It uses it's own builtin player for that.

I think there is a refernece to monitoraspect 16:9 in the wiki for "Widescreen video", this is might be what ramrunner was thinking of?

Have you tried using the SD channels instead of the HD channels?

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ok guys all fixed
ive set the DFP instead of crt/tv in xf86config(whatever its called)
in nvidia-settings ive turned everything off pretty much
in the playback settings ive played around with all the settings and got it to work (i did need to turn on the openGL in the frontend) even though i had read it should be off
now i can watch it though the DVI cable and NOT need to overscan every power failure
FIXED!!
dont ask me what i did different, i just had an hour spare tonight and "played with em all"
Cheers for the help though, now its on to the next issue my playback is still not quiet as clear/sharp as direct connection(SD STB to TV), is this a refresh rate issue or do i still need a modeline made up?

Nice to hear you actually found some time Bizkit. I'm impressed.

Let me just say that if I watch TV through my Panasonic HD STB, the picture is in fact a little smoother when panning (scrolling) and the colours do seem a little "richer" than through Myth.

The colours can be played with (although I haven't bothered).

NOTE - WHAT I'M ABOUT TO SAY IS OPINION - I'M NOT AN EXPERT ON THIS AND I COULD VERY WELL BE TALKING OUT OF THE PLACE WHERE THE SUN DON'T SHINE.

I think the scrolling being a little jerkier (and I only notice when watching the background when the AFL is on or the V8 racing - I don't notice it in shows like Rove Live or The Glasshouse) because of the de-interlacing.

Basically, the STB doesn't need to perform de-interlacing. It simply pumps the MPG program stream out into my NEC plasma through component in interlaced form. The interlacing frequency matches the plasma's refresh rate and you do not notice.

HOWEVER - PCs by design are progressive. The DVI connector I believe doesn't necessarily match the refresh rate of the plasma. This is why a lot of us (myself included) need to run de-interlacing to prevent "ghosting" or "flickering". As you know there are a few different types with different results. Blend takes both i-frames and "blends" them to make one p-frame. This is fine if your eyes can be tricked by the motion, but if you pause the video in a moving scene, you will more than likely notice a "double picture". Field interlacing I believe simply removes the interlaced lines of one frame (leaving a frame with only half the resolution of the complete frame). This one is not as sharp. There's a few other I don't understand but I use 2xbob. This simply doubles the frame rate of the video, showing each i-frame one after the other so fast that the eye is tricked into seeing a complete picture. This is the one I use and is most pleasing to my eye. The bad part of that one is that any writing with thin straight lines tends to flicker a little (the eye is not completely fooled). I also find the background of fast moving pictures tends to jerk a little bit.

I COULD be way off base here though - and you may have other problems, but resolution wise (sharpness), my picture IS as crisp as a HD STB. My NEC is only 1024x768 resolution though, so probably not as good as your Pioneer, meaning your problems will be exaspirated because your display equipment is better than mine.

Now that I've written down my opinion, maybe a light will be shed with others who are more knowledgable and can help you with it more than I can.

Now, there are some posts on different forums stating that you DO NOT need to de-interlace if your monitor refresh matches the PC's interlaced DVI playback, but I wouldn't have a clue how to match them. Technically if this is possible we can stop de-interlacing and the picture should be as good as an STB (or better). Anyone to help on that one?

Regards,
Ramrunner

Bizkit,

Could you post your modeline? I have a 50" plasma too and plan to output via DVI to the TV's HDMI input. Your file might give me some guidance. Also, where did you modify your nvidia settings? Is there a guide that helped you on that?

Thanks!

i didnt end up making a new modline, the options were enough to get it to work..to get to nvidia settings just type nvidia-settings in an x-term window, i played with those and also the settings in the frontend under playback.