HTPC Question re Video quality

[Gman]

Now that I have a new system, I'm setting up my father's old system as an HTPC box, after giving him the PC I just replaced.

He has an HP i7 860 with a 5770 AMD vid card, and I haven't received the TV I ordered yet.  One thing I'm noticing though is that the HD video just doesn't look....HD...or any video for that matter.  On an Asus ve247H LED 24" monitor, with the settings set to 1080P in the Catylyst setup, when I view a video on Netflix for example, even in HD mode, it looks very granulated and blocky still, the video isn't awful, but by no means does it look like Blue Ray, or even regular DVD quality on a TV.  The same with every TV episode I've downloaded in high quality, Game of Thrones for example.  No matter what viewer I use, windows media, VLC, DivX, whatever, the videos don't look nearly as good as broadcast on TV.  Is this normal, or will it look better once I use an HDMI cable to connect to the LED LCD TV I have coming?  I'm not sure if I've got a setting wrong or something, but the monitor is set to max 1920 resolution in 1080P, and I've tried other resolutions and settings as well, and the videos all look the same.

Any ideas/recommendations/advice as to what I've got set wrong?  Also, I've got one of the mini Lenovo RF remotes coming for the HTPC, has anyone used these before?

[Skuzzy]

Netflix does not broadcast near HD quality.  Consider a Blu-Ray typically streams 24MB/s and that Netflix best is less than 9MB/s, quality is going to suffer.  Chances are, DVD resolution will look better than HD resolution will, from Netflix. You cannot throw away that much data and not have the quality suffer.  

The better your television and output device, the more you will see the poor quality of Netflix.

[gyrene81]

i have netflix running on an old intel dual core system with a radeon 5450 1gb video card and windows7 64bit connected to a toshiba 32inch led 720p hdtv. netflix videos in their idea of hd look as good as standard dvds and digital hd tv all very smooth. not nearly as good as blu-ray or even standard dvds on a blu-ray player but, still better than what Skuzzy is assuming.

Gman, you're using ie9 and the latest version of silverlight right? have you tweaked any settings in either?

[Skuzzy]

I was not assuming anything really.  I was simply stating some facts.  You cannot expect to get anywhere near HD quality via Netflix.  DVD quality is about as good as it will get.  Then it goes to the original source as well.  There is a lot of lousy original content out there.

Quite frankly, you should be better off streaming DVD quality content from Netflix, than HD quality content, given the stream rates.  That assumes they would use 9Mb/s for the DVD stream as well.

I am not sure what encoder Netflix is using for HD content.  H.264 is better than MPEG2, but at the streaming rates Netflix uses, it really should not make any difference what the encoder is.

[Gman]

Okay thanks,  that's probably what it is, this monitor is good enough to make the flaws show up.  I always thought that HD on the PC would look as good as blue ray, at least from netflix.  It'll be good enough, but there is no way I'm eliminating the stand alone blue ray player from the setup now.

[Skuzzy]

Until Netflix can stream content faster than 20Mb/s (I hope that never happens.  They are already eating up over 33% of the gross bandwidth available on the Internet between 9pm and midnight), a stand alone BluRay player, with good source material, will blow away Netflix.

[cattb]

I use netflix, but on a 720p tele with a older amd setup. I don't have bluray so I can't compare. The picture is not grainy and the picture is comparable to a dvd.

[TequilaChaser]

Skuzzy Sir,  you mention both MB/s & Mb/s in your replys

is this just a typo? I am thinking you meant Mbps or Mb/s ( b = bit , B = Byte )

.just curious

TC

[Skuzzy]

It should have been Mb/s, in all cases.  Sorry about that.

I use netflix, but on a 720p tele with a older amd setup. I don't have bluray so I can't compare. The picture is not grainy and the picture is comparable to a dvd.

It will depend on the original content.  Some original content has quite a bit of noise in the image due to higher compression being used.  Also note, it can depend on what is doing the decoding as well.  Some decoders are better than others and some match some content better than others.

Netflix's fastest streaming rate is 4800Kb/s (0.48Mb/s).  That is for the latest HD content.  I am sorry, but there is no way you are going to get a DVD quality stream at that slow of rate.  If you think you are, then you either have a very poor quality television and/or a very poor DVD player.

HD content peaks at 40Mb/s.  You typically will get 24Mb/s.  DVD content peaks at 9.2Mb/s.  You typically will see 6.5Mb/s.  Logic dictates if your player is supplying 12 times more data, per second, than the Internet feed, the player will look better.

[cattb]

Guess I have poor eyesight. I don't spend the time to watch it, but my wife and daughter do. I don't see any difference between one of my daughters dvd and netflix. Then again I don't spend the time to look for a difference. I only see it playing when one of them has it on.

On my TV the Netflix picture is clear and whatever quality it is, but not grainy. If it was grainy I would either try and fix it or get rid of it.

I don't use a dvd player and I use a computer.

[TequilaChaser]

It should have been Mb/s, in all cases.  Sorry about that.

no worries.... I figured you just was answering quickly during all the other stuff on your plate

It will depend on the original content.  Some original content has quite a bit of noise in the image due to higher compression being used.  Also note, it can depend on what is doing the decoding as well.  Some decoders are better than others and some match some content better than others.

Netflix's fastest streaming rate is 4800Kb/s (0.48Mb/s).  That is for the latest HD content.  I am sorry, but there is no way you are going to get a DVD quality stream at that slow of rate.  If you think you are, then you either have a very poor quality television and/or a very poor DVD player.

HD content peaks at 40Mb/s.  You typically will get 24Mb/s.  DVD content peaks at 9.2Mb/s.  You typically will see 6.5Mb/s.  Logic dictates if your player is supplying 12 times more data, per second, than the Internet feed, the player will look better.

I , myself, use a western Digital MediaPlayer/Hub+ which allows me to access my home server, or any computer on the netwprk as well as the internet via the 4 or 5 NetGear gigabyte switchboxes I am employing thruoghout our home........ I get a steady 35 to 38 Mbps ( never dropping below 34.7 Mbps never over 39 Mbps ) via my TWC service.....

on my main TV  ( LG 47" 1080p )  I do not see much difference between  DVD or streaming netflix via internet ( TV is hooked up via HDMI for PS3, WD media player/hub+, BluRay, Pioneer Audio/Video Receiver, Cable~DVR box etc ) I can tell a difference when playing BluRay disc over all the other types though..... but I do not see any distorted or blocky textures ..... regardless if it is from the internet or from TV or from movieson my home server or any of the 6 computers on the home network....

would quality also be affected by one's internet bandwidth/connection speed capabilities as well as the components & cable types... they use for their setup ??  as well as how many are on their line/junction from the cable co. ??

TC

[Skuzzy]

The effects of overly compressed MPEG2 content ranges from very grainy to everything looking airbrushed or any combination between and inclusive.  Any type of distortion, to the edges of objects, is usually artifacts from the decoder, typically from missing data in the stream.

Your Internet connection can impact the stream from Netflix.  Netflix has maximum values they use for streaming, but if the receiver of the stream cannot keep up, then the stream speed is reduced.  Your local connection has little to do with it.  The Internet path from Netflix, to you, is taken into account.  The Internet itself is going to regulate the speed to whatever it can do at any given moment.

Makes it difficult to do any real comparisons from one user to another.