Black flickering bar only when Teletubbies is on and only on a computer

[c627627]

Whenever I play PBS Teletubbies from my DVR, it plays just fine on a regular standard television but on my computer there is a black flickering bar on the upper right part of the screen, see attachment.

Commercials prior and after the show play just fine, is the show somehow encoded to do this only on computers?

It does this when I connect the DVR through both RCA & S-Video cables to my computer and only when I play that one show.

Attachment:




EDIT: Figured out the step by step solution to this problem.


ATi Multimedia Center:

• Video Recorder TAB > Map Preset... > Create New...
(press Insert key on keyboard or
click on the first icon next to "Select the preset to use for your export.") >

Name: MPEG-2 DVD Masked (no flickering side bars)

• MPEG-2 DVD (not MPEG-2)
• NTSC (525)
• 704 x 480
[Use 704 x 480 to capture SD or HD TV, VCR, analog camcorder.
720 x 480 is used by commercial DVD discs and DV format camcorders.]
• Encode Interlaced, do NOT use De-Interlace.
• UNCHECK: Inverse 3:2 Pulldown

• CHECK: Record Cropped Video
To capture Masked video where the sides are masked with a black bar to hide the flickering that some source material displays in the overscan area. This Preset also helps if there is a flickering sidebar visible on computer screens and 16:9 TVs. Cropped Video setting should be used with MPEG-2 DVD Format not MPEG-2 Format otherwise captured file will not be DVD compliant.
IMPORTANT: Display TAB setting Crop Video must also be CHECKED, in addition to Video Recorder TAB settings. So 'Crop Video' needs to be CHECKED in two places to work.


• Audio Format: 48.000 KHz, 16 Bit Stereo, LPCM
(To capture best quality uncompressed audio which can then be compressed to Dolby 2/0 [L,R] audio when the DVD is created later. Dolby Digital audio is compatible with DVD players whereas MPEG audio is compatible with some, but not all DVD players.
If you intend to leave audio uncompressed later, use 1536 kbit/s for LPCM Audio Bitrate when using Bitrate calculators.)

Next > UNCHECK: Closed Group Of Pictures
(In theory, this is better but if you do leave it checked, the file may be compatible with additional video editing programs.)

Next >

• CONSTANT (not Variable) Bitrate for better overall quality.
(Although captured file size will be smaller with adequate quality using a Variable Bitrate.)

• About 8 M Bit/Second should be used for 60 minutes or less to fit on a single layer DVD if LPCM wav audio is used. [Use keyboard arrows to adjust. The bitrate may fluctuate in certain scenes even when Constant Bitrate is used.]

Use Bitrate calculator
https://www.videohelp.com/calc.htm
to help you set lower Audio/Video bitrates if you wish to fit more than 1 hour on a single layer DVD.

• Motion Estimation Quality: 99

Next > Select the VideoSoap type > None
(But for older VHS Sources, select VideoSoap > Next > Preview... button to see how it affects the picture.)

Next > Max File Size: Windows Limit (or 4GB for Windows 98/Me or FAT32 file systems that only support single files under 4 GB. Captures will then be spread over multiple 4 GB files on these systems. )

> Finish

Note that some guides say you should never CROP and should MASK instead.
To crop = cut out part of the picture.
To mask = putting a black bar on the edge of the picture to mask flickering.

But ATi uses the term Crop Video even though Mask Video should have would been used to avoid confusion.
(ATi crops the edge of the picture and puts a black bar in its place.)


• More on video capture bitrate: The DVD specification says that the maximum multiplexed bitrate of a video/audio stream must be no greater than 10.08 Mbps (10080 kbps), so:

10080 kbps - 1536 kbps if LPCM wav audio is used = 8544 kbps for video bitrate.

About 500 kbps should account for most video bitrate fluctuations so about 8000 kbps should be selected as Constant Video Bitrate for 60 minutes or less.


Use Dolby Digital AC3 audio to allow for higher Video Bitrates to be used.
This is because Dolby Digital audio is compressed without significant decrease in sound quality.


10080 kbps - 448 kbps (if 448 kbps Dolby Digital AC3 audio is used) = 9632 kbps for video bitrate.

About 500 kbps should account for most video bitrate fluctuations so about 9100 kbps should be selected as Constant Video Bitrate. This can be lowered to be on the safe side, because once the video bitrate approaches 9000 kbps, it is more difficult to notice the differences in video quality.


Use bitrate calculators to reduce video and/or AC3 audio bitrate to fit videos longer than 60 minutes on one single layer DVD.


Note that some software that does not thoroughly analyze the capture, such as Sony DVD Architect 3 may incorrectly report video bitrate of the captured file being too high.

[lordsmurf]

It's in the overscan. It's on the tv too, you just cannot see it, as it's off screen.

[c627627]

When I bring up the menu on the DVR, it goes away. The few minutes of recording before & after the show are fine.

I have multiple shows recorded and they each have this problem only for the duration of the show.

You mean it's broadcast like that?

[dun4cheap]

Should we be concerned that Lord Smurf is watching PBS Teletubbies? :P , sorry I just had to get this in....

[jagabo]

You mean it's broadcast like that?

Yes. There's almost always junk in the overscan area. That's why TVs overscan.

[c627627]

I'm using ATI Multimedia Center 8.8, any way around this in settings?


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[Krispy Kritter]

No there isn't a way around. Your pc is displaying and capturing the full broadcast resolution. You could take your captures and crop off the offending bar with a filter.

[c627627]

You're talking about recording it then using video editing software to cut the bar off and recompile the recording?

Thank you.


Oh well I'll just tape the thing on VHS for my kid as recompiling the episodes would take hours...

[jagabo]

I think the ATI software has the ability to mask while capturing. Lordsmurf's site
http://www.digitalfaq.com/ may have some more info.

[lordsmurf]

I'm using ATI Multimedia Center 8.8, any way around this in settings?

Yes, in ATI MMC. Mask it. Follow the guide at www.digitalfaq.com for catpuring MPEG.

[c627627]

Thank you.

Selecting MPEG 2 DVD instead of MPEG 2 and CHECKING: Record Cropped Video
resolves this issue.

However, you say & the guide says to MASK the files when necessary and to try to never crop the files.


But there is no MASK option in AIW MMC 8.8 I'm using, I think it's only available in version 7, am I supposed to install version 7 to use MASK?

[c627627]

Turns out the FAQ owner will change the FAQ when he gets around to it.


ATI's use of the word CROP is what was causing confusion.

ATI's "CROP" is what the Guide calls MASK so in order to MASK, we should Check: Crop Video in the Display TAB and
CHECK: Record Cropped Video under MPEG-2 DVD (not MPEG-2) capture settings.



So the part where FAQ warned about not cropping, ATI's "cropping" is actually equal to FAQ's definition of masking.


It probably confuses everyone who reads that FAQ and I hope the author clarifies that soon.

[jagabo]

TMPGEnc is confusing like that too. You use the Clip Frame feature then select the Mask option to mask rather than crop.

[c627627]

Edited Post #1 of this thread with step by step instructions on how to solve this problem.