DVD Playback on my PC - Not what I expect

[thomamon]

I was just wondering if anyone can help me out there. I just got a brand new high end video card, a ATI Radeon X1950.

Anyway, I'm not super happy with the DVD Playback quality, although it is better then the last cheapo card I have. I have XP SP2 on it, a 21 inch ViewSonic Wide Screen LCD Monitor. I tried with Windows Media Player and ViewSonic to play the DVD.

I believe I have to be able to get the quality better then it is now. Can anyone out there help me or make recommendation's on what I can do to help improve my DVD Playback?

[mats.hogberg]

What do you feel is lacking?

/Mats

[thomamon]

What do you feel is lacking?

/Mats

It doesn't seem super sharp, kind of like I can see the compression.

[mats.hogberg]

Of course you can. DVD is compressed. No Gfx card in the world will change that. To boot, DVD is pretty low res - 720x480/576 (NTSC/PAL) - compared to todays computer graphics standard.

/Mats

[thomamon]

Of course you can. DVD is compressed. No Gfx card in the world will change that. To boot, DVD is pretty low res - 720x480/576 (NTSC/PAL) - compared to todays computer graphics standard.

/Mats

I know, but I've read of people who have it setup on their PC and they say it is sharper then watching it on their TV. I would have thought with my setup it should be pretty clear.

[Soopafresh]

What is your playback software?

[thomamon]

What is your playback software?

I have tried Windows Media Player and the Sonic one.

[mats.hogberg]

people who have it setup on their PC and they say it is sharper then watching it on their TV.

They probably have a better monitor than TV then.
PowerDVD or WinDVD is the DVD players of choice. VLC and MPC isn't half bad either.

/Mats

[Soopafresh]

Try vlc player v0.8.6 Very nice playback of mpeg2 (DVD) material.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html

Mats is right. There are artifacts I can see on my Flat Panel Monitor which I would never notice on a regular TV.

[edDV]

Are these normal commercial progressive movie DVD or something else?

Interlace DVDs need a player set up to access the x1900 hardware deinterlacing.

[thomamon]

Regular Store bought DVD's... TV Shows, movies...

[thomamon]

Interlace DVDs need a player set up to access the x1900 hardware deinterlacing.

What do you mean by a player set up to access the X1900? What kind?

[kevo777]

Your 21" monitor is set at a resolution much higher than your standard TV. Imagine a 100" television screen. When you walk right up to it you can see tons of artifacts and...well junk. When you set DVD playback software at full screen on a 21" monitor that's what you're doing. You're exposing all of standard DVD's shortcomings. My recommendation is Media Player Classic with the latest build of ffdshow; tons of filters to play around with and highly customizable.

[thomamon]

Your 21" monitor is set at a resolution much higher than your standard TV. Imagine a 100" television screen. When you walk right up to it you can see tons of artifacts and...well junk. When you set DVD playback software at full screen on a 21" monitor that's what you're doing. You're exposing all of standard DVD's shortcomings. My recommendation is Media Player Classic with the latest build of ffdshow; tons of filters to play around with and highly customizable.

If I may ask why Media Player Classic over the current version? And can I use ffdshow with the latest build?

[thomamon]

OK, tried the FFDSHOW with the current media player and it looks much sharper. However, I do notice interlacing lines. Is there a way to stop that?

And if I change settings, can I change them as they are playing and hit apply, or do I have to stop everything and reopen?

[edDV]

OK, tried the FFDSHOW with the current media player and it looks much sharper. However, I do notice interlacing lines. Is there a way to stop that?

And if I change settings, can I change them as they are playing and hit apply, or do I have to stop everything and reopen?

If you are seeing interlace lines from commercial progressive movie DVD something is seriously wrong. This should be a progressive to progressive playback. Keep in mind that there are many interlace DVD releases (TV shows) being sold as well plus most DVD recorders record 480i.

Try VLC and manually try each Video Deinterlace mode to see the artifacts each produces. VLC can be configured to use display card hardware deinterlace but defaults to single field ("discard").

[thomamon]

I did not get this before installing FFDSHOW

OK, tried the FFDSHOW with the current media player and it looks much sharper. However, I do notice interlacing lines. Is there a way to stop that?

And if I change settings, can I change them as they are playing and hit apply, or do I have to stop everything and reopen?

If you are seeing interlace lines from commercial progressive movie DVD something is seriously wrong. This should be a progressive to progressive playback. Keep in mind that there are many interlace DVD releases (TV shows) being sold as well plus most DVD recorders record 480i.

Try VLC and manually try each Video Deinterlace mode to see the artifacts each produces. VLC can be configured to use display card hardware deinterlace but defaults to single field ("discard").