Another new person checking issues

Hmm, I was sure we had had people being more successful than that. Sorry for any false hopes.

Thanks anyway.... I will stick with the Inverto until I can find a better alternative which does not lose everything.

Hi, I now have a laptop with an hdmi connection. Is there a connector available from the optical out at the back of the Inverto which can then go to my hdmi connection. I could then write my programmes to dvd in case I lose them all again. I tried a google but did not find much. I don't want an analogue copy via the scart lead if possible. Thanks

Unfortunatly the optical out on the verty isn't the best and doesn't always work, as for a connector, if nothing comes up on google then it's probably not out there.
Dave

....Is there a connector available from the optical out at the back of the Inverto which can then go to my hdmi connection....

The optical out is for audio only and, as dmp said, doesn't always work anyway.

Also, the HDMI connector on your laptop will be to connect it to an external monitor. If you want to capture video on the laptop you'll need a video capture device of some description.

....I don't want an analogue copy via the scart lead if possible....

I fail to see why that would be an issue. With the quality of the majority of Freeview transmissions being what it is (IE considerably inferior to analogue) then as long as your capture device accepts RGB you're not going to lose any quality whatsoever!


  TTFN - Pete.

Thanks for the advice. Sounds like I should connect to the scart lead and download to my dvd recorder. I thought the optical out was similar in principle to the firewire connector I take from my camcorder into my dvd recorder which is digital. 

Hi,

...Sounds like I should connect to the scart lead and download to my dvd recorder...

That would certainly be the cheapest option.

Seriously, you shouldn't see any loss of picture quality at all so long as your recorder accepts RGB via its SCART input.


BTW You can probably tell I'm more than a little ticked off with the quality of Freeview transmissions...many of the independent channels are transmitting at bitrates as low as 1.4Mbps which is just ridiculous - I often get little bouts of motion sickness when trying to watch "Virgin 1" because of the artifacting which that causes.

...I thought the optical out was similar in principle to the firewire connector I take from my camcorder into my dvd recorder which is digital. 

It would certainly make sense.

But no, the optical out is for feeding digital audio out to a digital receiver or surround sound decoder. It's usually (used to be?) referred to as an "SPDIF" output, you often find them on the backs of CD/DVD players and on more expensive PC sound cards.


  TTFN - Pete.

Hi Pete 
Quote
many of the independent channels are transmitting at bitrates as low as 1.4Mbps which is just ridiculous - I often get little bouts of motion sickness when trying to watch "Virgin 1" because of the artifacting which that causes.

Is this artifacting what I would call picture stacking ie a jumping or a juddery picture? Most of my channel 4 stations have an annoying tendency to do this at times. When it gets too much I usually pause for a second or two and then continue watching from the buffer and most of the choppiness disappears. Sometimes however the symptoms are so bad that we get a big jump, or two, before 'normal' (but delayed) viewing continues. Funny how you are suffering with Virgin broadcasts and my problems are with the 4family network. I had been considering a re-scan to try curing this, but after the digitial swtchover farago I thought it was wisest to leave the box alone. I just cant face another prolonged session of doing re-scan after re-scan after re-scan, day after day. If we are talking about the same problem it answers a lot of head scratching questions and I will persevere with things as they are. Browser (Winter Hill)

Hi,

Is this artifacting what I would call picture stacking ie a jumping or a juddery picture? Most of my channel 4 stations have an annoying tendency to do this at times...

No, most of what I'm referring to would probably come under the general banner of "macroblocking".

If you look at the dark areas of a low bitrate transmission, instead of smooth even darks you'll see a pattern of lighter and darker blocks which appear to "dance" around at random. Another similar effect is where you have a background which is supposed to change colour/brightness smoothly, whereas instead you see a banding effect (look at the opening credits of "Star Trek Voyager" on Virgin 1 for a great example).

Even more annoying is water. Instead of ripples and waves, the surface of the water turns into a blocky jumble.

But the one which gives me motion sickness is when someone turns their head on screen. The effect I see is that the head turns, but the facial features lag noticably behind - I only see this on the lowest bitrate channels.

Oddly, over the past couple of weeks I've been noticing new problems on "E4" and "E4+1". On several of their animated series I'm noticing major macroblocking on the edges of characters for anything up to 1.5 seconds after they've stopped moving.

...When it gets too much I usually pause for a second or two and then continue watching from the buffer and most of the choppiness disappears. Sometimes however the symptoms are so bad that we get a big jump, or two, before 'normal' (but delayed) viewing continues...

I've been seeing this problem too, but it seems to affect most of my Freeview channels from time to time. And it's not just affecting my Freeview recorders but my TV as well.

I suspect problems at the transmitter as a friend of mine who lives about two miles away is experiencing exactly the same symptoms.

...I had been considering a re-scan to try curing this, but after the digitial swtchover farago I thought it was wisest to leave the box alone. I just cant face another prolonged session of doing re-scan after re-scan after re-scan, day after day...

IKWYM, I'm on the verge of dropping Freeview altogether and switching to Freesat - the friend I mentioned above has just gotten a FreesatHD box and the picture quality is vastly better than that of Freeview...and that's just the SD channels...

Pity there aren't any reasonably priced FreesatHD recorders around yet!


  TTFN - Pete.

most of what I'm referring to would probably come under the general banner of "macroblocking".

Can you see any difference if you toggle the macroblocking option?

Menu -> Setup -> 001234

Officially at least, the "Menu -> Setup -> 001234" thing is only for handling what happens when there's a hard error in the data due to interference, not just low bitrate compression artefacting. The default is for it to be off, giving a blank screen (or a jump during playback) rather than the green blocks those of us with the option turned on see.

This is why I hesitated to use the term "macroblocking" as it covers an awful lot of ground, from artifacts caused by low bitrates to errors in the received data.

Incidentally, I forgot to mention the other problem with low bitrate transmissions...it often seems like you're viewing the picture through a sheet of perspex due to there being a just visible static pattern overlaid over the picture, particularly visible on areas of dark colours.


BTW Thought you might find this interesting: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Enlight-32-LCD-Barebone-Requires-MATX-Motherboard_W0QQitemZ280442339391QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_DesktopComponents_RL?hash=item414baa803f

I'm thinking a "real" MythTV!


  TTFN - Pete.

BTW Thought you might find this interesting: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Enlight-32-LCD-Barebone-Requires-MATX-Motherboard_W0QQitemZ280442339391QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_DesktopComponents_RL?hash=item414baa803f

I'm thinking a "real" MythTV!

Bit ugly, but ... yeah, nice concept. Though still more leaning towards a better looking screen hooked up to a Morex Venus type enclosure, which can be tucked a bit more out of the way. Inverto's still going strong for the moment though, and holding off until there are some Hauppauge DVB-T2 tuners since really not worth doing anything too dramatic while everything's in such a state of flux.