Why Is Playing Back .mts Files From A Camcorder On HDTV Better Than A PC?

[JohnnyGalaga]

This is on a Canon Vixia HF21 camcorder. If I hook it up directly to a high definition flat-screen TV, the playback looks really good. But if I save the exact same .mts files from the camera to a computer that is hooked up to the TV via HDMI, it doesn't look as good. For some reason, playing back the videos on the computer to the TV looks less sharp than when you hookup the camcorder directly to the TV.

Does anyone know why this?

[yoda313]

Can you play back other high def files smoothly?

Do you have at least a dual core processor?

What program are you playing them back in? Try mpchc or vlc. Also try to avoid running programs in the background while playing the video to lighten the processor load.

[jagabo]

What's wrong with the video on your computer? Too dark or too bright? Bad contrast or saturation? Try adjusting the video proc amp settings in your graphics card's configuration applet.

[JohnnyGalaga]

Here is my computer that I built. I'll try the above suggestions.

Cooler Master HAF 932 & Corsair CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V
ASRock X58 EXTREME6 LGA 1366
Intel Core i7-950 Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
ASUS ENGTX460 GeForce GTX 460 1GB 256-bit GDDR5
1 X G.SKILL PI Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 MHz 7-8-7-24-2N 1.5V
OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTXE60G 60GB SATA II
Samsung SH-B123L Black 12X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache
USRobotics 56K PCI Faxmodem 5660C PCI 56 Kbps V.90, V.92
Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit

[edDV]

Quick answer: The Vixia HF21 records 1080i and direct playback to an HDTV utilizes the TV hardware deinterlacer. These are very good in recent models (quality varies value to premium modes). Also, an HDMI camcorder output is decoded in the camcorder h.264 hardware decoder. This saves any decode work for the TV.

When you play an AVCHD file on a PC, the player must first decode h.264 in display card hardware or in player software, then deinterlace on the fly. If everything is set properly and the display card is adequate you may get close to equivalent performance. It comes down to capability of the display card and CPU.

[edDV]

Here is my computer that I built. I'll try the above suggestions.

Cooler Master HAF 932 & Corsair CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V
ASRock X58 EXTREME6 LGA 1366
Intel Core i7-950 Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
ASUS ENGTX460 GeForce GTX 460 1GB 256-bit GDDR5
1 X G.SKILL PI Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 MHz 7-8-7-24-2N 1.5V
OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTXE60G 60GB SATA II
Samsung SH-B123L Black 12X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache
USRobotics 56K PCI Faxmodem 5660C PCI 56 Kbps V.90, V.92
Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit

The GeForce GTX 460 will decode h.264 with a proper player like MPC-HC.

[JohnnyGalaga]

That's a nice player. Thanks.