I noticed that when watching movies on my HTPC using DVI and going to my RS1, I am getting banding that does not exist when using my regular LCD monitor (all else the same).

I'm using a DVI->HDMI adapter plug on my video card.

Any ideas? Either the banding is in the source and not visible on my LCD monitor, or something bad is going on. Could it be the output color space? Can that be changed?

If you are using Nvidia card, then that's probably it! It has been reported frequently in the HTPC forum.
No such problem with the ATI cards..

Funny thing is that I'm using an ATI card. 9600, which is certainly and older card for sure.

Oh, sorry, I was reffering to the modern ATI cards (X1650 and up) with the latest catalysts..

On the RS1 do you have the HDMI set to enhance? If so try setting it to Normal.

On the RS1 do you have the HDMI set to enhance? If so try setting it to Normal.

Yes, it is set to normal when using VMR9. Using enhance messes up the white/black levels pretty bad.

I noticed that when watching movies on my HTPC using DVI and going to my RS1, I am getting banding....

Can you describe what you are seeing? give some movie/scene examples.

Yes, it is set to normal when using VMR9. Using enhance messes up the white/black levels pretty bad.

I thought the correct setting for HTPC use was enhanced, since it uses pc levels (0-255). Maybe you should switch to enchanced and recalibrate brightness/contrast so that black=digital 16, white=digital 235. That may cause your banding..

I thought the correct setting for HTPC use was enhanced, since it uses pc levels (0-255). Maybe you should switch to enchanced and recalibrate brightness/contrast so that black=digital 16, white=digital 235. That may cause your banding..


Depends entirely on whether your HTPC is setup to output video or PC levels. If its outputting video levels then treat it as a video source. (my HTPC is setup to output video levels)

I wouldn't say I get objectionable banding with my 9800pro based HTPC ( I tried a 7600gs for a bit and changed back to the radeon as the gamma on the nvidia was frankly knackered). There is some slight visible banding on the HD1/RS1 anyway ,although it may well just be showing up banding present on the original material ( 8bit video always has some banding somewhere).

8bit video always has some banding somewhere
That doesn't necessarily have to be the case. If all else fails, you can still dither.

I noticed that when watching movies on my HTPC using DVI and going to my RS1, I am getting banding that does not exist when using my regular LCD monitor (all else the same).

I'm using a DVI->HDMI adapter plug on my video card.

Any ideas? Either the banding is in the source and not visible on my LCD monitor, or something bad is going on. Could it be the output color space? Can that be changed?
The playback quality of even the best PC hardware and software leaves a lot to be desired still. They are finally manufacturing cards with HDMI interfaces. See Tome Hardware and Annand's sites for their test results.

You probably haven't seen a properly setup HTPC then.. The results from a Core2duo 6600 system with an ATI 1950pro outperform any other HD standalone player I have seen ( and I have seen them pretty much all ;) )

You probably haven't seen a properly setup HTPC then.. The results from a Core2duo 6600 system with an ATI 1950pro outperform any other HD standalone player I have seen ( and I have seen them pretty much all ;) )
You're using Reclock, too, right? Don't you hear Reclock working? I'm hearing how it adds or drops sound samples, especially when music plays. That's my biggest HTPC gripe.

You're using Reclock, too, right? Don't you hear Reclock working? I'm hearing how it adds or drops sound samples, especially when music plays. That's my biggest HTPC gripe.

Actually, Reclock is the key to super smooth 1080p24 playback! No problem whatsoever, especially if you use the analog output of the audiocard for 7.1 audio INCLUDING the new HD formats (DTS HD etc) !

Actually, Reclock is the key to super smooth 1080p24 playback! No problem whatsoever, especially if you use the analog output of the audiocard for 7.1 audio INCLUDING the new HD formats (DTS HD etc) !
Of course Reclock is the key to smooth *video* playback. I was talking about digital sound output (optical). That's where I have problems with. Maybe I should switch to analog audio output...

Of course Reclock is the key to smooth *video* playback. I was talking about digital sound output (optical). That's where I have problems with. Maybe I should switch to analog audio output...

As I said, I am currently using analog sound output in order to enjoy the new glorious HD audio formats. I assume there will not be any issue with optical since your projector can lock at 1080p24 so reclock wont have to drop any packets in order to compensate..In any case, if you have a card with good analog stage, prefer it!

I assume there will not be any issue with optical since your projector can lock at 1080p24 so reclock wont have to drop any packets in order to compensate..
That's not correct, unfortunately. In a HTPC both the video and audio paths have each their own clocks. So even if you have a 24Hz output and the source material is also 24fps, Reclock still needs to do some violence to the audio stream to keep the video fluid. I know that for a fact, because I have exactly this situation (24Hz output with 24fps sources). Anyway, I guess that Reclock's manipulations are less (maybe much less) annoying on analog audio compared to digital audio. So I guess I'll have to consider going analog. Thanks for your information.

In all honesty, I have not witnessed any audio degradation by using reclock over the past 5 years (via spidif at 720p 50hz with PAL dvd's) and my audio system is pretty analytical..
Are you sure it is not your soundcard that degrades the audio?

Well, I hear the sound degradation only when Reclock is enabled. Anyway, I hope the thread starter isn't getting angry at me for moving his thread out of topic... :o

Let's hope so.. :D

Back to the topic!

Can you describe what you are seeing? give some movie/scene examples.

I'm seeing it at the beginning of Team America when flying through the clouds just before the "Team America" logo comes up. I can try to take a screenshot later to show the area.

I'm not seeing much banding elsewhere, but this has me wondering if something is going wrong.

That's not correct, unfortunately. In a HTPC both the video and audio paths have each their own clocks. So even if you have a 24Hz output and the source material is also 24fps, Reclock still needs to do some violence to the audio stream to keep the video fluid. I know that for a fact, because I have exactly this situation (24Hz output with 24fps sources). Anyway, I guess that Reclock's manipulations are less (maybe much less) annoying on analog audio compared to digital audio. So I guess I'll have to consider going analog.


The process for getting smooth digital output is explained in the reclock readme. Analog uses an asynchronous sample rate converter which always degrades sound to some degree and works completely different from the digital case. The trick to smooth digital sound output is to change the video timings to match the playback speed of your sound card in order to minimize drops and replications of packets. This setting can be different for every sound card video card combination even of the same model. There are a few threads on this on HTPC forum.

Cheers

Thomas

The process for getting smooth digital output is explained in the reclock readme. Analog uses an asynchronous sample rate converter which always degrades sound to some degree and works completely different from the digital case. The trick to smooth digital sound output is to change the video timings to match the playback speed of your sound card in order to minimize drops and replications of packets. This setting can be different for every sound card video card combination even of the same model. There are a few threads on this on HTPC forum.
Thanks.

I'm seeing it at the beginning of Team America when flying through the clouds just before the "Team America" logo comes up. I can try to take a screenshot later to show the area.

I'm not seeing much banding elsewhere, but this has me wondering if something is going wrong.

If you are seeing posterization artifacts, it could be in the source material. I am seeing more of it with HD material. Especially prone are nature shows with expanses of blue sky or water. Was not so obvious on 720p machines but more evident on 1080p. I have tested these scenes on multiple projectors, RS1 included, and its there on all of them.