Grainy 1080i recorded TV with Intel

[JTScribe]

Using HD4400 graphics . . . I know this is a setting but I can't remember what it is exactly. Any ideas? The Intel control panel is kind of bare bones compared to what I'm accustomed to.

[cwinfield]

select video, click video down cursor, select image enhancement, select advanced, disable contrast enhancement. There are some other settings that may apply that you may want to play with.

[mdavej]

Grain is good. That means you're getting every detail from the original film. If you want to soften it for whatever reason, let the card continue to deliver a bit-perfect picture, and just change the settings on your TV (sharpness, noise reduction, etc.).

[JTScribe]

select video, click video down cursor, select image enhancement, select advanced, disable contrast enhancement. There are some other settings that may apply that you may want to play with.

Ah, okay thanks I will try that.

Maybe grain is not the right term. Some shows that are dark look just plain awful. Agents of SHIELD, for example, looked particularly bad this week. Of course I deleted it or otherwise I would have gotten some screenshots. Black areas look almost staticky when they're in the background of a scene.

[richard1980]

That sounds like dithering. To test, view this page on your display device. Now walk up to your display device and see if you see the same "static" on the black boxes. If you don't then the dithering is part of the video stream. But if you see dither on the test pattern, then at least part of the dithering is caused by your display device and there is no way to remove it, though you can minimize it by ensuring that you have the brightness and contrast levels properly set.

[STC]

Perhaps HDMI black level incorrectly set on TV? If you are outputting RGB from HTPC it may be worth a check.

[JTScribe]

That sounds like dithering. To test, view this page on your display device. Now walk up to your display device and see if you see the same "static" on the black boxes. If you don't then the dithering is part of the video stream. But if you see dither on the test pattern, then at least part of the dithering is caused by your display device and there is no way to remove it, though you can minimize it by ensuring that you have the brightness and contrast levels properly set.

That looked okay, but . . .

Perhaps HDMI black level incorrectly set on TV? If you are outputting RGB from HTPC it may be worth a check.

Black levels are set to auto, but I went ahead and re-ran the MCE video calibration again. The brightness was way too high, which is strange because I thought I calibrated the set when I originally got it. Will have to see what the picture looks like on the next episode of SHIELD, I don't know if it's just the way they film it or the fact that ABC is 1080i but it's more noticeable.

[mdavej]

I'm pretty sure ABC is broadcast in 720p.

I think what you're seeing is coming from the source and normal for broadcast TV, so there isn't much you can do about it short of Madvr or similar.

[STC]

I'd recommend keeping HTPC at default levels, turning off all image enhancements on the GPU and only using the TVs controls for brightness, contrast, sharpness etc.

[JTScribe]

I'm pretty sure ABC is broadcast in 720p.

I think what you're seeing is coming from the source and normal for broadcast TV, so there isn't much you can do about it short of Madvr or similar.

Says 1080i when I hit the info button in Media Center. I can't find any official reference online but some Google searches seem to confirm it for the channel in question, WRTV.

[JTScribe]

It did it really bad on this week's episode of Agent Carter. There were some scenes in a tunnel with flashlight. I tried to take a screenshot but the defects don't show in the screen capture. Is it an issue in Media Center?