Visual Quality Help
#1
Hey guys, been using XBMC for a few days now and I LOVE it. There were just a few things I was trying to figure out.

1. When I choose upconvert all videos, whenever a video plays XBMC will crash with an error 11. If I don't choose Upconvert then it plays fine. Is this normal?

2. What's the best settings for playing back standard content? DVD and Divx/Xvid rips etc...? I'm choosing advanced shaders etc... but are there other options that will make the quality better?

3.When I play .mkv (720p) files the visual quality is worse than standard... it's REAL grainy and cloudy/pixelated looking... Am I doing something wrong?

4.How come in the screen appearance section when I choose 1080i, then XBMC is windowed even though I have a 1080i TV? I can choose Full screen (I forget what res full screen is at) and it works fine, is this normal? I'm confused by this...

I know this is a lot of questions and I"m sure you guys must get annoyed at people coming on here everyday to ask dumb questions... I've been looking through the forums and haven't really been able to find some specific answers; maybe because I"m not searching good enough, I don't know. Any help at all would be a tremendous help. Thanks guys! Big Grin
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#2
Maybe I should ask these questions in separate posts instead of all in one?
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#3
mrt2 Wrote:Hey guys, been using XBMC for a few days now and I LOVE it. There were just a few things I was trying to figure out.

1. When I choose upconvert all videos, whenever a video plays XBMC will crash with an error 11. If I don't choose Upconvert then it plays fine. Is this normal?

2. What's the best settings for playing back standard content? DVD and Divx/Xvid rips etc...? I'm choosing advanced shaders etc... but are there other options that will make the quality better?

3.When I play .mkv (720p) files the visual quality is worse than standard... it's REAL grainy and cloudy/pixelated looking... Am I doing something wrong?

4.How come in the screen appearance section when I choose 1080i, then XBMC is windowed even though I have a 1080i TV? I can choose Full screen (I forget what res full screen is at) and it works fine, is this normal? I'm confused by this...

I know this is a lot of questions and I"m sure you guys must get annoyed at people coming on here everyday to ask dumb questions... I've been looking through the forums and haven't really been able to find some specific answers; maybe because I"m not searching good enough, I don't know. Any help at all would be a tremendous help. Thanks guys! Big Grin

1) need to see the crashlog, console.log and xbmc.log files. use pastebin please.

2) AppleTV or OSX Huh

3) AppleTV or OSX Huh

4) Fullscreen means use the fullscreen, the others are a windowed display
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#4
The problem I have is shearing? (I think) lines appear through the picture especially on diagonal movement.

I have tried every setting in video too no avail, and have no such issues in boxee, which as I understand it is built on XBMC.
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#5
garyi Wrote:The problem I have is shearing? (I think) lines appear through the picture especially on diagonal movement.

Sounds like what I was experiencing before I enabled Vertical Sync.
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#6
davilla Wrote:1) need to see the crashlog, console.log and xbmc.log files. use pastebin please.

2) AppleTV or OSX Huh

3) AppleTV or OSX Huh

4) Fullscreen means use the fullscreen, the others are a windowed display

Thanks for responding dude.

1. Once I get home I'll paste the log files. Smile

2. I'm running on Apple TV not an OS X pc.

3. Apple TV

Thanks again for helping. Smile
Hopefully with your help I can configure the optimal settings.

I had another question about what are the best/optimal cache settings?

Thanks guys.
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#7
Double Post Accident, sorry
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#8
Any ideas anyone?
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#9
mrt2 Wrote:Any ideas anyone?

"best settings for playing back standard content" -> I use the default settings, they seem to work fine for my eyes.

".mkv (720p) files the visual quality is worse than standard" -> says nothing about the video content that is inside the mkv container. I would need a sample of your content to see what you are talking about.

"best/optimal cache settings" -> depends on your network connections (wired, wifi b/g/n, etc). I'm using a wired connect, the default settings work fine.

I realize these answers are a little vague, most of what you are asking will depend on your individual setup and there is no uber setting that is best for all environments.
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#10
davilla Wrote:there is no uber setting that is best for all environments.

Like that wouldn't be the default if it did exist! Smile


P.S. I'm not taking p*** mrt2
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#11
davilla Wrote:"best settings for playing back standard content" -> I use the default settings, they seem to work fine for my eyes.

".mkv (720p) files the visual quality is worse than standard" -> says nothing about the video content that is inside the mkv container. I would need a sample of your content to see what you are talking about.

"best/optimal cache settings" -> depends on your network connections (wired, wifi b/g/n, etc). I'm using a wired connect, the default settings work fine.

I realize these answers are a little vague, most of what you are asking will depend on your individual setup and there is no uber setting that is best for all environments.

I guess I just really need to get the error logs to you so you can see why the upscaling isn't working properly. I mean standard content looks OK but if I could get it a bit better with upscaling, that would be nice.

As far as Cache settings My setup is like this... My Mac Pro is downstairs and I'm using the wireless from that as a Wireless N access point and My Apple TV is connected to that wireless network so I can circumvent my router all together... So shared to my Mac Pro via wireless N and then my Mac Pro is plugged directly into the router in the basement. The video in the .mkv is an episode of Dexter that was encoded in .h264 I believe.... what other info do you need?
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#12
mrt2 Wrote:The video in the .mkv is an episode of Dexter that was encoded in .h264 I believe.... what other info do you need?

which h.264 encoding profile. google for MediaInfo. drag and drop the mkv on it and it will show all sorts of info. You are looking for encoding profile.
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#13
I ended up watching the vid on my PC to see what it would look like and apparently the source itself wasn't that good so the video looks pretty much the same on my PC... compression artifacts galore and just grainy video....
I downloaded an MKV of heroes and then installed XBMC on a Mac Mini and it played like a charm... I think I will either just get a Mac Mini for my HTPC or build a low cost PC/Vista Box and use that... Thanks for all the help (in all my other threads too hehe)Big Grin
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