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    Tearing in DivX playback on TV

    Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by GrandAdmiral, Jul 4, 2008.

  1. GrandAdmiral

    GrandAdmiral Notebook Evangelist

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    Hi all

    I have a HP Pavilion dv6519tx (NVIDIA 8400M GS graphics running the 156.83 latptopvideo2go driver) running XP and outputting DivX video in Media Player 11 via a 7-pin S-Video to component adapter to an LG CRT TV. Ok, thats a lot of info for one sentence so I'll give people a second to absorb.

    Problem: The video is tearing badly. Really badly. What can I do to fix it?

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    GrandAdmiral, Jul 4, 2008
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  2. namaiki

    namaiki "basically rocks" Super Moderator

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    Maybe there's a theater mode in your graphics driver? :p ATi person here...

    have you tried lowering the resolution? it might help if you output at 640x480 which is what i think the ati driver usually does and is closer to tv resolution.
     
    namaiki, Jul 4, 2008
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  3. GrandAdmiral

    GrandAdmiral Notebook Evangelist

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    Its running 576i output, the only alternative is 480i. I've tried 50 and 60Hz refresh rates and no improvement. No theater mode either, the only vsync control I can find is in the 3D graphics settings.

    ATI person? Good one, I'd buy ATI next time, had various issues with my two NVIDIA computers but on my old ATI laptop the only issue I had was getting an up to date driver and that was because of a lack of an internet connection!

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    GrandAdmiral, Jul 4, 2008
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  4. sirmetman

    sirmetman Notebook Virtuoso

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    Honestly, you might be SOL. Unless your player can do some fancy pulldown type operations on the video, if the framerate of the video is different than the refresh rate of your display, you will get tearing. Do you know the framerate of your video and the refresh rate of your display?

    Edit:v-sync is unlikely to help much with video playback. Videos have fixed framrates unlike real-time rendered content (like games), so v-sync can't really do much. If it does anything, it will likely reduce or eliminate the tearing, but make the video choppy.
     
    sirmetman, Jul 4, 2008
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  5. namaiki

    namaiki "basically rocks" Super Moderator

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    lol it's probably not an nvidia issue
     
    namaiki, Jul 4, 2008
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  6. GrandAdmiral

    GrandAdmiral Notebook Evangelist

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    Windows Media Player isn't reporting the frame rate. Will VLC report frame rate?

    480i doesn't affect the tearing. Just makes the video look crap.

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    GrandAdmiral, Jul 4, 2008
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  7. sirmetman

    sirmetman Notebook Virtuoso

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    I think framerate is usually in some metadata on the file... in any case, I have to say I don't know what program to find the framerate in, I just know that framerate will make a difference in things like this. Do the videos look choppy or torn when playing on the computer monitor?

    Another thing I just thought of, since you are going to interlaced output, are you sure you are seeing tearing and not combing?
     
    sirmetman, Jul 4, 2008
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  8. namaiki

    namaiki "basically rocks" Super Moderator

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    VLC will tell you in 'Advanced Information' tab after you press "View -->Stream" and media info

    Media Player Classic will give that info with "File -->
    Properties" after you've opened a video.
     
    namaiki, Jul 4, 2008
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  9. GrandAdmiral

    GrandAdmiral Notebook Evangelist

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    Video is fine on my laptop monitor. What's combing? The effect is a horizontal split around the middle of screen that appears mainly in fast action.

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    GrandAdmiral, Jul 4, 2008
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  10. GrandAdmiral

    GrandAdmiral Notebook Evangelist

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    Tried the properties thing in WMP11 and it doesn't say.

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    GrandAdmiral, Jul 4, 2008
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  11. GrandAdmiral

    GrandAdmiral Notebook Evangelist

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    According to windows properties frame rate is 25FPS.

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    GrandAdmiral, Jul 4, 2008
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  12. sirmetman

    sirmetman Notebook Virtuoso

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    Yeah, that sounds like tearing. Combing is usually a deinterlacing artifact, but I thought it was worth at least asking about.
     
    sirmetman, Jul 4, 2008
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  13. GrandAdmiral

    GrandAdmiral Notebook Evangelist

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    I've tried deactivating the Media Player advanced features like overlays and video smoothing, and the DivX deinterlacing but no improvement.

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    GrandAdmiral, Jul 4, 2008
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  14. sirmetman

    sirmetman Notebook Virtuoso

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    That 25 FPS is the problem (at least it likely is, especially when outputing at 60Hz). My guess is that it is as simple as your screen refresh being both out of sync and at a different speed compared to the video framerate.
     
    sirmetman, Jul 4, 2008
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  15. GrandAdmiral

    GrandAdmiral Notebook Evangelist

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    What should the framerate be? I encoded the video myself so I'll have to change this in future.

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    GrandAdmiral, Jul 4, 2008
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  16. sirmetman

    sirmetman Notebook Virtuoso

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    Well, for things to be happiest, go for 30Hz. That is pretty much the standard for all video these days. Would you be able to try going over DVI or HDMI or something? Since you say it looks fine on your laptop monitor, I'm thinking there is some wonkiness sneaking in when it is converting the signal to analog.
     
    sirmetman, Jul 4, 2008
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  17. GrandAdmiral

    GrandAdmiral Notebook Evangelist

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    I think I have a solution, component output must be expecting a different framerate and I've just discovered my component adapter can do composite output as well. Wish I'd worked that out sooner, been looking for a composite adapter for ages. Playing with composite now and the tearing is greatly reduced.

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    GrandAdmiral, Jul 4, 2008
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  18. sirmetman

    sirmetman Notebook Virtuoso

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    Hmm, that's interesting. I still think it could be related to your card doing dac. Can you try any form of digital output?
     
    sirmetman, Jul 4, 2008
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  19. GrandAdmiral

    GrandAdmiral Notebook Evangelist

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    Er, be more specific. I only have 7-pin S-video and VGA outs.

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    GrandAdmiral, Jul 4, 2008
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  20. sirmetman

    sirmetman Notebook Virtuoso

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    Both are analog. DVI and HDMI are digital video out. So you can't try what I was thinking. Unless you want to buy a new HDTV.... ;)
     
    sirmetman, Jul 4, 2008
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  21. GrandAdmiral

    GrandAdmiral Notebook Evangelist

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    No thanks :) ! Far too expensive. I'll just stick with composite output, it looks as good as component and it matches the PAL standard I encoded the video with.

    Thanks very much for the help!

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    GrandAdmiral, Jul 4, 2008
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