[frankspin]

As baseball approaches I decided to give my HTPC a test and play HD videom from MLB.tv at full resolution and see how it looks. I noticed that the quality was fine but the video itself was not very smooth. It was bearable to watch but it would definitely get annoying over time. I guess the only way to describe it is watching sports on 60hz for 120hz LCD, picture is good just not fluid. I tested this on NBCOlympics.com and had the same problem, so it's not a flash thing since NBCOlympics uses Silverlight. I can use Boxee, Hulu Desktop and MKVs at full resolution with no issues, just seems to be live sports.


I was planning to buy a new video card that does HDMI out w/ audio but before I do that I want to make sure I don't need something more powerful. I was looking at this card: Link


Here is my current set up:

Core2Duo 3Ghz

4GB Ram

Radeon 4350 DVI->HDMI out

Runs 1080P to my Panasonic TH-50PZ80U

Flash 10.1

Aero is OFF

 

[bighick]

your cpu and video are good for about anything...whats you internet speed, cpu usage, and your team

?

 

[frankspin]

20MBps for ISP speed (I have comcast so it tends to fluctuate but not too terribly)

CPU usage is about where it would be for any other high-def content


Yanks

 

[walford]

Since you are receiving the broadcasts at either 720p or at 1080i output 1080i to your TV and let it do the de-interlacing this will cut the ouput processing load on your graphics card in half.

 

[frankspin]

Thanks for the info. I'll check what I have the TV set out and play with the settings. I was wondering if I would need to mess with the refresh rate or interlacing.

 

[walford]

For some reason I was thinking you were using a cable box as the source of your NBC broad casts and not the internet. Therefore my recomendations will not help.

Smothness is more dependdent on frame rate then it is on resolution. Of course higher resolution at higher frame rates require the most connection bandwith to prevent the dropping of frames and/or pixelation of content.

Threfore the minimum bandwidth available on your broadband connection is important as is the type of broadband connection since cable at night is normally lower then it is during the day.

 

[frankspin]

Believe it or not, switching it from progressive to interlace did help slightly. I'm really thinking it just has to do with current limitations of live sports broadcasting over the internet. During the playoffs I had it running on just my laptop (1440x900) and even on that you saw a picture that was not as fluid as direct feed from cable/satellite.


The video card I mentioned is set to arrive today so I'll hopefully be able to do some tinkering around with it to try and get the best picture.

 

[walford]

You will never get HD content as good as or as smooth over the inernet as you from an OTA, cable, or satellite source. The internet does not have bandwidth to support it.