DVD-R playback: PC v TV

[Cole]

This seems to be a subject that the answer is a little elusive.

Traditionally, a video played on a PC will not look as good as when played on a television, however, I am finding that there is one thing that the PC is better for and that is the detail of the picture.

When I play one of my DVD-Rs on my PC (Monitor is a 17" Benq FP731 LCD) the playback is pretty crisp, but play the same DVD-R via a television (both a 32" Loewe and a 14" Sony & different DVD Players) there is a blurring with some movement. This is the same when I play an off-ar recording from my DVD Recorder. I am not using cheap Scart leads or anything and any DVD-R or off air recording are set at around the two hour per DVD-R setting.

I must stress that when I mention blurring I am not talking about macroblocks; an example of what I am referring to is when a close up of a face is on screen and the person moves; there will be a momentary after-image of the face.

This is not anything that has been an issue when playing back a VHS tape in the past. I am beginning to think that VHS has more going for it than we give it credit for!

I am just trying to find out what causes the blurring on a conventional television, why this isn't the case on my PC and is there anything that I can do about it to improve television playback?

[Nelson37]

Is your standalone player capable of progressive output, and is you TV capable of accepting such an input? This is most likely the cause of the difference you are seeing.

No interlacing on a PC display. Plus the PC display is designed for higher resolution than the TV.

[garryheather]

... plus your monitor is probably displaying at a rate at least 2.5x your TV.

Colour space is different too, as are pixel sizes oddly enough. It all adds up !

Personally I'd say the blurring your seeing could be the interlace field order is wrong, or you have a PAL / NTSC difference (or even video size in the case of say DivX) and the player or TV is doing some conversion jiggery pokery and making a bit of a mess of it.

[Cole]

If this helps at all; I am beginning to wonder if the playback on the televison is poorer because of the nature of the recording. I am recording and playing back in PAL.

If I watch a normal DVD on both PC and TV, the playback is faultless. Even watching a backed up DVD produces a clear picture on PC and TV.

When I watch a digital signal, it just about manages to look good, but has (on a very rare occasion) shown a small amount of smudge. When the same digital signal is then recorded an played back, this would lead to the smudging.

I would then surmise that the original digital signal is a compressed mpeg, but capturing it will compress the picture further. The resulting artifacts will be what I see as the blur. I get the same issue with VHS conversions, but this again would be atrifacts created from a VHS recording.

Does that sound correct?

It is therefore better to watch on a PC monitor as the refresh rate is (as Garry says) much faster than a TV screen, so the artifacts are not on screen as long, thus no blurring.

I hope I have that right as I can't think of any other explaination. If this is the case, what would be the suggested way forward? Put up with it or invest in a LCD televison?

Thanks for all the help by the way.