Image quality issues, specially in dark scenes..any ffdshow config to help?

[fgtan]

Hi my friends.

I have a HTPC with 3.4 intel preocessor, 1gb memory, 2tb HD, windows xp, Nvidia 512mb video card. Software is Media Portal, Im using the DVI-HDMI connected in my LG 42 inch PLasma.

Here´s what´s happening.

I have several Blue Ray dvds and I started to convert them to AVI Xvid 04gb files to put them inside my HTPC.
I have done this process to almost 200 bluray dvds already.

Everytime I watch a movie in my plasma, I still have a bad image quality in dark scenes, those damn squares! So me and my family almost got used to it.

Yesterday, just for fun, I tried to do something... I loaded one of this avi files inside my Philips DVP DVD player, witch its also connected in the same plasma Tv through another HDMI cable.

Well, the results were EXTRAORDINARY!!!!, the image quality was great, and , in dark scenes, there were no squares at all.

So, everything takes me to a conclusion that it should be anything related to configuration in my HTPC. I´ve played a bit with ffdshow filter, but Im no experto on what to do to solve this matter.

Anyone could help me out?

Mainly, what I need is to set my HTPC to have at least the same quality of the Philips DVD PLayer.

any ideas?

Thxs!

[Baldrick]

Are you sure that it's not just that the image is a bit darker with the philips player so you aren't seeing the blocks?


What encoding settings and resolution are you using ?
Maybe convert to h264 and you might get less blocks...but it takes much longer to convert though.

(And it's blu-ray discs...not blu-ray dvds... )

[jagabo]

Yes, incorrect black level settings in the PC could cause dark areas to become lighter, making the blocks more visible.

Divx/Xvid have deblocking options built into their decoders. ffdshow also has deblocking options in the Post Processing settings.

[fgtan]

Yes...bluray DISCS!!!! My bad and lame english!!

Baldrick, thxs!!! I guess the dvd player image is not darker, cause I tried to low the the HTPC to a darker image playing with the contrast and the brightness and no success at all. I even tried the brightness and contrast of the Plasma..and cannot get rid of them!

Actually I did convert some movies to H264, tried them out...but the same happens...

Jagabo thxs also!...Do you know a good config to set the ffdshow to avoid this problem?

Thank you !!!