Jerky Picture & Compression Artifacts - Solved

[ahwman]

Ever since installing my InfiniTv PCI tuner, I've noticed jerky movements every few seconds when played through my HTPC - especially noticably during slow camera pans. I've also noticed what looks like compression artifacts (aside from the pixelation issues others are having). Oddly, if I watch the same video through my Xbox 360, the video is smooth as silk and free of these compression artifacts. I've even noticed that sometimes animations from within WMC are a bit jerky. If I watch an HD video taken from my iPhone of a very slow camera pan through the same HTPC it is perfectly smooth! I realize that this points to a video card problem, however I have tried 3 different video cards, my latest being a very high end Nvidia card with the latest driver available (yes I've tried many others with the same result). My system has plenty of horsepower so I don't think that's an issue. Temps are well within specs. I've also had my signal levels checked and again are within specs, so at this point I'm stumped...

I would appreciate any help!

[newfiend]

Try installing all the updates to DirectX 9.0c here and see if that helps.. http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download ... aspx?id=35
What Video card and Driver Version are you currently using?
Have you checked for updated firmware and drivers for the InfiniTV using the Ceton Diagnostic utility?
I occasionally get a jerky picture as well. It may be due to the fact that you are experiencing the jerky behavior due to the 29/59 issue.
Some Video is incorrectly encoded and switches frame rate from 29 to 59Hz. When it does this the video will get jerky and sometimes display a white flicker.
The Nvidia drivers (last two betas) handle the 29/59 white flicker well, but you may experience some jerkiness on content improperly encoded. It's been an ongoing issue for some time. Try using Nvidia Drivers 304.79 BETA or 306.02 BETA. During Install select Custom Install and check the box for a "clean Install" and continue installation. This will remove the old drivers and install the latest.
I occasionally will get a line across the screen that doesn't decode correctly and has been discussed here in great extent as well. I believe it came down to it not being a Ceton issue (as the HDHRP has the same issue) but a Video Card issue... more info on that here: http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... n+going+to

Give these a shot and report back and we'll go from there.


newfiend~

[ahwman]

Thanks so much for the suggestions as I'm very appreciative! That being said:

• I updated my DirectX drivers per the link you attached and will see if I notice any improvement.
• I'm using an Nvidia GeForce GTX 550 Ti with driver v9.18.13.602
• I'm using InfiniTV Firmware v1.1.7.2 - Hardware v6289 which shows as up to date
• This jerky behavior is consistent across all channels/programming

Thanks again,
Chuck

*** UPDATE *** No change after updating DirectX drivers and rebooting

[STC]

Have you checked out the TV side of things?

[ahwman]

I've went through every single setting I can find on my TV (Samsung 55" LCD/LED backlit). I've disabled noise reduction filters as I thought this could be related to the jerkiness. Are there any specific settings I should be looking for?

Thanks,
Chuck

[newfiend]

Is the HTPC hooked directly to the TV or through an AVR to the TV? What type of video connection HDMI? DVI? Etc..?
refresh rate in Nvidia control panel set to 60hz?
Sent from my SGH-i937 using Board Express

[ahwman]

HTPC hooked up directly to TV via video card through HDMI

[STC]

Are you able to try viewing through the Xbox TV as a test?

[ahwman]

Are you able to try viewing through the Xbox TV as a test?

Unfortunately, my Xbox 360 is hardwired from the basement to the family room TV which would be very difficult to move. That said, as soon as I receive my Echo (beta), I plan on testing it on my HTPC TV (bed room) to compare...

[ahwman]

I've been experiencing jerkiness in WMC ever since I purchased my new TV (Samsung 52" LED/LCD), especially noticable in panning scenes. Even the menu transitions in WMC were jerky, yet the same video played through my Xbox 360 on a different TV (LG 52" LED/LCD) was perfectly smooth. My HTPC is plenty robust, however I tried everything I could think of including swapping video cards, different video drivers and multiple other suggestions all of which had no effect. I was ready to give up, however yesterday I noticed there was a firmware update for my TV (Samsung 52" LED/LCD) so I figured what the heck and did the upgrade. Immediately after which, all of the prior jerkiness had vanished to my amazement! How could this be? Has anyone else come across this

[STC]

It could well have been a tweaked setting you made on the TV prior to the firmware upgrade which resulted in the TVs settings returning to factory defaults... One possibility anyway. That or the firmware fixed a TV panning bug perhaps.

[erkotz]

My guess is this is a 120hz/240hz TV, and this update improved the frame interpolation algorithm