Few Questions - OGM/MKV + S-Video Out vs DVD/DivX Players

[Abe468]

Hi,
I was wondering if a player exists yet that supports OGM and MKV file types w/ selectable audio and subtitle tracks. I think the only thing I've heard of so far that is able to do this is the xbox? I see a lot of things that say ogg is supported, but I believe that is referring to audio files with the .ogg extension, not container files like ogm or mkv. Can the xbox even play ogm/mkv? In addition I was wondering what the difference (quality wise) is between using a s-video or composite out connection, and using a dvd player that can play divx files? Currently my tv doesn't have a s-video input, so I would probably need one of those converters to composite or a new tv to get it to work. But my TV isn't so great, so if the quality is good w/ s-video out, i'd be willing to go in that direction instead of searching around for a player that can play all the formats I want.
Thanks for any help,

[Suntan]

I have a Geforce4 TI 4200 that I run the TV-Out to my 27" CRT TV via the composite. While the video is sharp (far sharper than you will get from composite out on a regular DVD/MPEG4 settop box when you use the postprocessing available in ffDshow) it does suffer from color noise in the dark areas of the video. I have chalked this up to the Nvidia drivers outputting to the TV-Out as the video quality on bright parts of the video looks great and the color noise is not there when the movies are watched on the PC monitor.

In short, with a TV-Out from the computer you are asured to get universal compatability to any of the codecs as they are upgraded, plus you will easily outpace the quality of a settop due to the substantial postprocessing available (assuming you have a fairly recent computer.) But there are still some limitations to the quality of the TV-Out.

Maybe ATis TV-Out desn't suffer from this, I don't know. Same for S-video, as my TV only has a composite in. You can get an S-video to Composite adapter for a few bucks.

The XBox can do quite a bit more than just play OGM.

-Suntan

[Abe468]

Thanks for the reply. It's kinda hard to pick. It would either be the modded xbox which gets me a lot of things including the ability to watch ogm/mkv/avi files on my televsion or just get and s-video to composite adapter and hook it up that way. I have a MSI Nvidia 5900XT, so I'd probably be using the same drivers as you, which might mean i'll end up w/ that color noise. From what you're saying, they have pretty much the same quality. I should probably buy an s-video to composite cable and a composite cable that reaches my TV and test it before I try getting an Xbox, considering the fact that there is a big cost difference. BTW, I don't think I am currently using postprocessing. I have a AMD 2500+, so it is fairly recent i guess. I've seen the options in ffdshow's configuration, but what should I set it to?

[Suntan]

First, I would suggest trying out the S-vid to composite first as well. If you don't like it you can take it back. Also, If the run is long between your computer and TV you can get RG6 (coaxial cable) and terminate it with RCA connectors (or if it is terminated with F connectors you can get F to RCA adapters) this could reduce the cost of the cable if it is a long run or if you have a cable of preterminated RG6 lying around.

To be honest, the color in the dark areas problem really doesn't bother me that much as I don't use the HTPC as my main player (I use the DVD player for that).

I can give you a general idea of how I have my setup: First I have my TV-Out set as the secondary monitor at a resolution of 720x480. This does cause some bit of overscan, but I fix that in zoomplayer. For the front end I use myHTPC (you can still get a copy of the free version from the forums on www.meedio.com) You can also set up a custom size and position in myHTPC to eliminate overscan as well. Long story short when I select a movie in myHTPC it automatically starts it in Zoomplayer. I have small .df files (Definition Files - 2 line txt files) that set the correct aspect ratio and postion within the 720x480 screen so that it perfictly fits my TV screen at the right aspect ratio. Also, I would suggest using VMR9 as the video renderer as it will give better results than the default overlay renderer.

There are various remotes that you can buy for controlling your computer, but I would have to give the nod to a Homebrew UIRT2 and Girder software. This combination will allow unlimited control of your PC (even the capability to power it on from the remote). But you don't need a remote, you can use the keyboard and mouse.

As far as tweaking ffDshow for best results, well that is a debate that will go on into infinity and is something I am still tweaking myself (in my spare time as it is more a hobby to get better performance). I encode my Xvids at about 1500kbps for the video and at this size I prefer just a low amount of deringing (at about 130 for both) with no deblocking. I also like to turn down the Green saturation just a tick as it makes the flesh tones a little warmer, but YMMV. Where ffDshow gives endless possibilities is in the denoising filters and the ability to support AVISynth filters. For info on that check out the HTPC section on www.avsforum.org just be aware, they take there video playback seriously there. It is very easy to become overwhelmed quickly.

-Suntan