Changing bitrate & resolution (Mode 0) [Text View] - Page 2

Waveney

01-19-2005, 04:37 PM

Looking as a new boy (as far as TiVo goes) at this thread, perhaps it would be of interest to know what can be done with MPEG2.

I have worked with TV companies, encoding companies and have recently specified a Room with a View project for a hospital, which uses a remote camera and an MPEG2 encoder sending the images for high resolution presentation in wards at the hospital - this is broadcast quality at a 2M data rate.

Going back a few years, a panel at a conference I was at was asked what is the ideal data rate to transmit TV:
BBC - 8M
ITV - 6M
Astra (sky) - As low as I can get away with (less than 2M if possible) - I make more money from 4 2M channels than 1 8M channel.

Many channels on sky that are totaly prerecorded operate below 2M these days, they pay to have the programmes (and adverts) compressed efficiently - this is complex, non real time and costly, but the results are such that almost all material can be encoded at 2M and below. These offline systems cost a lot, scan through the image and look for scene changes, and then work around them trying out various encoding of each macro block looking for the best quaility at the rate available. For scene changes it may send material ahead of the time it is needed.

This can compress some films (and many cartons) to 1.2M or
below. That is why Sky fit ever more channels in.

There is a tradeoff between delay, costs, image quality and datarate. To get the hospital system I compromised delay (slightly), paid heaviliy under cost, and got a high quality image at a low data rate.

ccwf

02-01-2005, 10:07 PM

Question I don't recall being posed here: what resolution do Sky and cable companies use when sending the video? After all, despite all the interest in mode 0, there is little point in telling the TiVo DVR to record at mode 0 resolution if Best resolution is already as high as the resolution sent by Sky/cable. One would be better off increasing the bitrate of Best quality recordings instead and using that.

I get the hybrid analog/digital cable typical here in the States, and I've posted some sample images (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=209816), which show that different channels are transmitted at different resolutions.

On a related note, I recall a post by mrtickle with images from recordings made at two different Quality settings with everything else being otherwise identical. I'd be curious to do the same type of analysis on his images because I'm guessing the Quality setting might control how much of the high frequency information is thrown out of the picture (although not necessarily in a uniform way). Can anyone find that old post? (Probably in the archive now.)

iankb

02-02-2005, 08:41 AM

Waveney

02-02-2005, 09:43 AM

<i>what resolution do Sky and cable companies use when sending the video? </i>

This varies on a per channel basis and varies from about 1.2M to 8M (for the video channels, audio is far far lower). But as the TiVo does not get the raw MPEG this is irrelivant, if it could it could use a lot less space.

There are three main categories of MPEG codecs available, that suit different applications. These tradeoff between delay, cost, quality and datarate.

Cheap real time codecs (as used by TiVo): low delay, cheap, maintain quaility by a relatively high datarate.

Expensive real time codecs (as used by TV stations - start at around 7000 pounds): low delay, expensive, high quailty and modest datarate (2 to 8M)

Very expensive offline codecs (as used to preprepare films and material for cheap distribution - usually by specialist companies for the film distributors) - Can take days to encode a film (used to be weeks), very expensive, high quaility and very low data rates.

The inportance of the quantity is illustrated by some well known errors and examples: An infamous error from the early days of MPEG was of a motor race, with clearly definded spectators and square wheels. Only last week at an exhibition in London, I saw skying being show that had been coded on the cheap - when on the flat, the skies looked ok, but when they went downhill, it was on sawblades :-(.

Cheap codecs only code frames, and forward differences in frames, they rarely do motion vectors and never handle back frames, nor scan material for best ways to encode each macroblock. You get what you pay for.

Dibblah

02-02-2005, 11:53 AM

Originally posted by ccwf
Question I don't recall being posed here: what resolution do Sky and cable companies use when sending the video? After all, despite all the interest in mode 0, there is little point in telling the TiVo DVR to record at mode 0 resolution if Best resolution is already as high as the resolution sent by Sky/cable. One would be better off increasing the bitrate of Best quality recordings instead and using that.

I get the hybrid analog/digital cable typical here in the States, and I've posted some sample images (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=209816), which show that different channels are transmitted at different resolutions.

All the Sky channels come off the MPEG decoder at 720x576.

Cheers,

Allan.

ccwf

02-02-2005, 01:50 PM

Originally posted by Dibblah
All the Sky channels come off the MPEG decoder at 720x576. Interesting. From what I've read, Sky's counterpart DirecTV now uses different resolutions for different channels, whereas the other major satellite company, DISH, uses a fixed but lower resolution. (They both use varying bit rates, but I'm mostly discussing horizontal resolution here.)

noel-pilot

03-25-2005, 02:02 PM

just gone through all these pages!! made the tivoweb changes for the mode 0 higher resolution a week ago but it made no difference, I hadnt previously seen any mention of a file change. Have followed the link to LJs page but dont know what to do with the file. when i click it it opens a page of weird characters, and when i right click and save as it wants to save as text. what should it be saved and transferred as??!!

Thanks

blindlemon

03-25-2005, 03:27 PM

You need to rename the file to fpga7114.o and follow the instructions on LJ's page (http://www.ljay.org.uk/tivoweb/tivo_fpga.html)....

Also, did you press Enter after changing each value on the Bitrates page and the hit the Update Resources link on the previous menu before rebooting?

noel-pilot

03-26-2005, 10:38 AM

thechachman

03-28-2005, 12:16 PM

Yeah I took a stab at the LJ file and tried just that. Seemed to go on fine but the quality of my normal tivo picture is now worse, there is green interference at the top of the screen and various artefacts appearing as well. I assume this is due to the changing of this file. Is there anything I can do to improve this?? Need to find the settings for the bitrates etc for tivoweb again because it still does not appear to be in DVD resolution! Anyone got a link to those settings? have seen them in a number of places but not with explanations of which one is which!

Below are the settings we use, YMMV. As per MediaLab's MPEG Properties utility, my resulting tystudio converted mpeg output from 'best' is 720x576 at 7.52Mbits and crisp and crackle free.

MinRecordQuality 0
MaxRecordQuality 100
DefaultRecordQuality 100
DefaultLiveRecordQuality 100
RecordQualityBest 100
RecordQualityHigh 100
RecordQualityMedium 80
RecordQualityBasic 65

DBSBestVBRBitrate 7680000
DBSBestMAXBitrate 9900000
DBSBestResolution 0

DBSHighVBRBitrate 5960000
DBSHighMAXBitrate 7680000
DBSHighResolution 0

DBSMediumVBRBitrate 5960000
DBSMediumMAXBitrate 7680000
DBSMediumResolution 0

DBSBasicVBRBitrate 3600000
DBSBasicMAXBitrate 5960000
DBSBasicResolution 4

ccwf

03-28-2005, 03:46 PM

sanderton

03-28-2005, 03:58 PM

Whether or not it does anything is often debated; folks have posted evidence that it does. If it does then there's a fundamental design fault in the TiVo database, and that really doesn't sit well with what I've seen is a really nicely designed database system. One day I'll get round to doing some tests myself!

One thing that is for sure is that if you have High and Best both set to 100 as you do, the TiVo is going to get very confused as it uses the numeric value to determine which overall recording quality it uses.

Ie, if you set a recording to be at Best, the database notes that in the To Do List solely as RecordingQuality=100. In your case it would also set a High recording to 100. Result... ???

Lord knows which set of bitrates get used for a recording set in Best or High on your system. Sounds like it's using "High"?

Using a value which is a variable controlling some aspect of the MPEG as the identifier for the overall quality setting is such a deeply un TiVo design team thing to do, I have trouble accepting the evidence that it is the case.

noel-pilot

03-28-2005, 03:58 PM

thanks for that, just plugged them in albeit using the basic setting as the mode 0 for a test. will see how it pans out in a little while!!

thechachman

03-28-2005, 04:01 PM

It looks like your Medium and High settings are the same except for the Quality. Could you describe the difference the Quality settings makes.

We had a discussion about Quality a while back in this forum, but we didn't resolve exactly what Quality did. My guess is that it controls a low-pass filter (based on no testing, but that would be a reasonable thing for it to do).Actually I approached it assuming it was along the lines of a (albeit inversely scaled to be 100 to 1) compression setting akin to JPEG processing and through trial and error we decided that 80 allowed us to reduce filesize quite a bit with little or no discernable difference during playback. We use Medium for soaps/sitcoms/etc, High for season passes, sports and whatnot, and Best obviously for bits to be archived off-Tivo, and as it is all getting displayed on a plasma we figured may as well go mode 0 throughout (given we've put 2x160gb in ours space isn't too big an issue), I use basic when I want to mock up a VCR style composite feed :rolleyes:

While I'm not nearly as tivo'd up as yourself and many others here, my experience puttering around leads me to believe there are two main rules at work:

1) bitrates must adhere to: basic <= medium <= high <= best (not just less than ) as my boundary approach is stable

2) the overall settings used for best/high/medium/basic are considered as a function of min/max, quality and mode not just one set of the variables. Whenever I had two setting (high & best) exactly the same min/max/quality/mode the tivo got flaky and blocky within a day or so, but as long as I had some decrease in each move from best to high to medium to basic, whether it be a drop in bitrates, a drop in quality, or a change in mode, as long as something changed (as pointed out, my settings dupe for mode/bitrates but allow more compression for medium)

sanderton

03-28-2005, 05:02 PM

Just tried recording the same program on "Medium" with Medium set to RecQual of 99 then ReqQual of 1, all other things equal.

The first thing is that the recording with a setting of 99 DIDN'T RECORD USING THE SETTINGS FOR MEDIUM. It recorded using the High values. I know this because Medium on my setup is mode 0, and the ReqQual 99 video came over as 480 x 576, the setting for High.

This suggests to me that some folks who have seen a big change in pic quality by altering that setting may simply have unwittingly been looking at the difference between High and Medium or Basic.

The second thing is that the ReqQual 1 video looks absolutely A1 fine to me - although I'd need to do some more tests to be absolutely sure it's not in some way degraded.

noel-pilot

03-29-2005, 03:46 AM

Over the past few weeks someone either on here or on the other forum has in their signature a link to a program that you can open up mpeg files and it tells you the resolution and stuff. I downloaded it but have lost it now and can't find the post or the person.
Can anyone tell me what it is?
Thanks

Fozzie

03-29-2005, 04:09 AM

iankb

03-29-2005, 05:11 AM

DVDPatcher is the useful one since it allows you to change the aspect ratio of TiVo archive files from 4:3 to 16:9, when appropriate.

noel-pilot

03-29-2005, 05:27 AM

ass!! applied the above settings to resource editor and put the LJ file back in there, result = no green fuzzy ness on screen anymore which is good, but just extracted a file that I recorded in best (having now applied the mode 0 settings for best) and put it into dvd lab and dvd patcher and they still reporting the lower resolution of 480 x 576!
Am I right in thinking I have to change the altbitrates as well?
This is driving me mad!

I have uploaded the LJ file as it should be. Updated my resources info pressing return after each one and rebooting after all of them done.

Anything else I should do?!?!
Thank you as always

aha! just discovered the green bar that everyone talks about! managed to suss out dvd patcher to patch the whole file instead of the header and i have the green bar, I assume it is this bar that the mode 0 patch to the tivo removes?

If I can get a dvd even with this green bar to play in the car i will be a very happy bunny!! Advice ref the above greatly appreciated

Fozzie

03-29-2005, 06:11 AM

Which bitrates are you changing? What is your recording source? (Cable, Sky etc) No, you don't need to change the altbitrates.

noel-pilot

03-29-2005, 06:22 AM

recording source is freeview and aerial, hmmm then, would someone (if its not too much trouble) pm or post up their resource settings that has just changed one quality level to give mode 0? Or am I ok changing them all to the same as the above settings?!

Fozzie

03-29-2005, 06:24 AM

Yes, but which resource settings have you changed so far and to what?

noel-pilot

03-29-2005, 06:29 AM

Originally I followed another guide which said change both alt and normal bitrates, just changed the basic settings as I didnt want to risk my high or best ones cocking up to start with. Then I found the lj page and used the file and I have now changed my best settings to be as the best settings above altho I have changed my alt settings to be that as well.
Thanks fozzie!!

Fozzie

03-29-2005, 06:39 AM

Sorry, that still doesn't help. I'm trying to establish exactly which resource settings you have changed and to what values. It's not clear. Just listing them would be clearer.

You say you did a recording in best but it wasn't at mode 0 resolution? What was the recording source? If it was using the tuner and you haven't changed the tuner resolution (which it doesn't look like you have but I can't be sure unless you list your current settings)then it wouldn't be. What is selected with Guided Setup for Freeview? I don't have Freeview so don't know. Depending on what was selected you may need to change the CATV settings and not the DBS ones.

Just to be clear:

1. It is the Resolution setting in the resources that should be set to 0 for a mode 0 recording.
2. The fpga patch gets rid of the green bar when outputting from TiVo to a display by shifting the picture. It doesn't get rid of it in the video stream.
3. You don't need to touch the altbitrate settings.
4. Confirm you have also clicked on Update Resources in Tivoweb (after pressing return after each setting change) before rebooting?

Tip: Just work with one recording type and change one setting at a time to get mode 0 working, then you know where you are. Once you've got it sussed then start changing other settings ;)

sanderton

03-29-2005, 06:53 AM

To be clear, there is more than one "Best", there are Bests for satellite, cable and aerial inputs. Are you sure you changed the appropriate one?

Freeview is cable ("CATV") as far as TiVo is concerned.

For reasons known only to TiVo, it records Freeview "Best" at a lower resolution than Sky "Best", so there is an intermediate setting (Mode 4) you might want to try rather than go the whole hog to Mode 0.

bobones

03-29-2005, 06:53 AM

I can confirm that freeview uses the CATV bitrates.

noel-pilot

03-29-2005, 06:59 AM

DBSBestVBRBitrate 7680000
DBSBestMAXBitrate 9900000
DBSBestResolution 0

Thats what I have for best at the moment, Am I correct in assuming it doesnt matter what the other settings are in that they wont affect best recordings? I currently have basic set to the same as above.
I also have the same settings as above in the alt bitrates best settings.

1) Thanks im with you there!!
2) so does the fpga patch ONLY get rid of the green bar when viewing straight from a tivo? i.e. if i extract using tystudio will i have the green bar there?

I havent changed the catv ones but i could try it! that would explain it.
the tuner is only used for channel 4, everything else is on freeview.

Fozzie

03-29-2005, 07:03 AM

I'm not sure what you mean in the first part of your post; The Best settings only affect Best quality recordings, the High settings only affect High quality recordings etc etc.

You should be changing the CATV settings and not the DBS ones.

Ref 2) - Correct and yes; But, it won't (shouldn't) be seen once DVD'd (if there is such a verb!)

Don't forget, one shouldn't be taking about ext****ion here ;)

sanderton

03-29-2005, 07:11 AM

I thought the fpga patch affected the INPUT, so would remove (or reduce) the green bar?

noel-pilot

03-29-2005, 07:13 AM

fozzie: good point!! sorry forgot about the not talking bit! eesch sorry mods, (slaps wrist)
sanderton: thats what I thought, i thought the point of the patch was that the input wouldnt have the green then no matter what you did with it, it would be a clear picture

Fozzie

03-29-2005, 07:13 AM

noel-pilot

03-29-2005, 07:19 AM

aah i missed the couple of posts above about freeview being cable and therefore CATV!!! just testing now!

noel-pilot

03-29-2005, 07:28 AM

woohoo...thanks everyone think im there. Can someone confirm, CATV is for cable (freeview) which settings are for aerial?!?

Will update in a short while.

Fozzie

03-29-2005, 07:31 AM

Ahem, you really should read the thread more thoroughly ;)

Yes & Rooftop!

bobones

03-29-2005, 09:03 AM

I thought it was the OUTPUT and hence it still being there when viewed externally.

However, I also remember the raging debate about what affected video input and what affected the output... Was it ever resolved?!

The fpga patch fixes the green bar problem on video input so it fixes recordings too. The brightness and saturation issues only exist on video output (recordings themselves are not overly bright and saturated) and only the iicset commands applied at boot time have any lasting effect, but they have a tendency to hang the tivo when applied (however, see blindlemon's checkrgb script which addresses this problem).

blindlemon

03-29-2005, 11:39 AM

the recording with a setting of 99 DIDN'T RECORD USING THE SETTINGS FOR MEDIUM. It recorded using the High values. I know this because Medium on my setup is mode 0, and the ReqQual 99 video came over as 480 x 576, the setting for High.What bitrate was it recorded at, and how did you schedule the recording?

If you scheduled it from TiVoWeb then it may be that you need to hack ui.itcl, which has some hardcoded values for RQ.

The second thing is that the ReqQual 1 video looks absolutely A1 fine to me - although I'd need to do some more tests to be absolutely sure it's not in some way degraded.I have recently been playing around with RQ again, and have come to the conclusion that there either some kind of "extra" parameter that is passed by the TiVo to the encoder, depending on the quality (ie. "high", "medium" etc.) selected in the UI, or that the sharpness of the image is also dependent on the bitrate selected (or both).

My previous tests (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=2149613&&#post2149613) seemed to show that there is some kind of boundary at between 65 and 80 RQ where the picture goes from slightly fuzzy to really sharp. I had assumed this was only related to the RQ setting, as that was what I was changing at the time.

However, those tests were done by changing the RQ for "basic", and keeping the same high bitrates for each. I have since discovered that simply increasing the RQ for a "medium" quality recording to 75 does not change the sharpness as I would have expected. A "medium" recording at RQ 75 with bitrates of 3660000/6000000 still looks fuzzy (2nd image) compared to a "high" recording with exactly the same parameters, which looks like the 1st image!!

I'll do some more poking around this evening and post anything significant :)

sanderton

03-29-2005, 12:12 PM

What bitrate was it recorded at, and how did you schedule the recording?

If you scheduled it from TiVoWeb then it may be that you need to hack ui.itcl, which has some hardcoded values for RQ.

From Live TV and the TiVo interface. I used the Best bitrates.

My previous tests (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=2149613&&#post2149613) seemed to show that there is some kind of boundary at between 65 and 80 RQ where the picture goes from slightly fuzzy to really sharp. I had assumed this was only related to the RQ setting, as that was what I was changing at the time.

However, those tests were done by changing the RQ for "basic", and keeping the same high bitrates for each. I have since discovered that simply increasing the RQ for a "medium" quality recording to 75 does not change the sharpness as I would have expected. A "medium" recording at RQ 75 with bitrates of 3660000/6000000 still looks fuzzy (2nd image) compared to a "high" recording with exactly the same parameters, which looks like the 1st image!!

I'll do some more poking around this evening and post anything significant :)

This fits with my findings, that the "boundary number" of 75 means that anything 75-99 is recorded at High, anything less at Medium.

IIRC the ReqQual of High is 75? I'm not sure how you can set "a medium recording with RQ of 75" as that is just a High recording. There are no other parameters in the Recording object in the DB which distinguish a recording to be made in High or Medium other than that single number. The Recording object is all TiVo has to go on in setting up the recording. It doesn't know that you selected High or Medium from the menu, just that it has a RecQual of 75 entered in the db.

bobones

03-29-2005, 02:37 PM

Stuart has got this right: RQ is not a parameter to the encoder; it doesn't affect the video process at all. However, the RQ values do have some meaning in tivo's logic for selecting a set of encoding parameters, and tivoweb has probably attached some meaning to them too. The actual encoding parameters are resolution, bitrate and maximum bitrate as determined by the tivo's mode, vbr and maxvbr variables. My own opinion is that it's pretty much a waste of time to change the default RQ values in the search for a better picture.

blindlemon

03-29-2005, 08:25 PM

So why, in that case, does changing the RQ from 1 to 99 or 70 to 75 seem to make a difference if all other variables (mode, bitrate etc.) are the same?

I've done some more tests this evening, all using Mode 0, firstly setting "Best" to an RQ of 100, 75 and 40, always with the same bitrates (7500000/9000000) and ensuring that "high" and "medium" both had lower RQs than "best" to avoid confusing the TiVo UI.

Here are the bitmaps:-

100: http://www.swanstep.f2s.com/tivo/pics/Best100.jpg

75: http://www.swanstep.f2s.com/tivo/pics/Best75.jpg

40: http://www.swanstep.f2s.com/tivo/pics/Best40.jpg

Clearly, there isn't much difference between them, so it seems that if you tell the TiVo UI to record at "best" then it will, regardless of the RQ.

I then wanted to see what would happen if I tried to force "medium" to be better quality by increasing the RQ, so I made a "medium" recording with an RQ of 75 and bitrates of 7500000/9000000 (ensuring that "best" and "high" had higher RQs of 100 and 95 respectively to avoid confusing the TiVo UI):-

http://www.swanstep.f2s.com/tivo/pics/Med75(high95best100).jpg

Hmmm. Doesn't look like that worked then! This time the TiVo seems to have decided to record at a lower quality because I used "medium", regardless of the RQ.

So, I tried to confuse it. This time I set "medium" to 75, "best" to 100 and "high" to 55 - lower than "medium". I also set the bitrates for "medium" to 7500001/9000001 so that I could check that the TiVo was really making a "medium" recording:-

http://www.swanstep.f2s.com/tivo/pics/Med75(high55best100).jpg

Interesting. This looks better - but wait! The bitrates in the log show the recording was made at 3600000/6000000 - that's "high"! Sure enough, the TiVo UI lists the quality of the recording as "high" too, and that's what it is. So Stuart is proved right: the TiVo has interpreted the RQ setting of 75 (the second highest) as "high" and made a "high" recording - even though I selected "medium" in the UI when I set up the recording, and the RQ of 75 is the RQ stored in the database for "medium"!

This explains why my "medium" recording with an RQ of 75 looks worse than the "best" one with an RQ of 40.

So I've proved myself wrong! The numeric value of the RQ has no significance other than as a placeholder. The values might as well be set to 0, 1, 2 and 3. OK, so let's try that:-

MinRecordQuality=0
MaxRecordQuality=3
DefaultRecordQuality=0
DefaultLiveRecordQuality=0
RecordQualityBest=3
RecordQualityHigh=2
RecordQualityMedium=1
RecordQualityBasic=0

3: http://www.swanstep.f2s.com/tivo/pics/Best3.jpg

2: http://www.swanstep.f2s.com/tivo/pics/High2.jpg

1: http://www.swanstep.f2s.com/tivo/pics/Med1.jpg

I've checked the tvlog and the recordings were made at the appropriate "best", "high" and "medium" bitrates and are described correctly in the TiVo UI.

Conclusion: Dang! It looks like there's no way to have more than two "high quality" recording modes. It clearly doesn't matter which "quality" you use, although if you assign the 2nd highest RQ to "medium" you will be in a world of confusion as your "medium" recordings will be transformed into "high" ones by the TiVo UI rendering "medium" somewhat obsolete!

Of course, this still doesn't explain why the default RQs are 0, 40, 75 and 100 though. As proved above they might as well be 0-3 or, I guess, any other ascending sequence. But the thing that really gets to me, as a progammer, is that I fail to see why anybody would choose values like 75 and 40 unless they meant something other than simply "75 is higher than 40"....

Eh? Uh? ... Duh?

sanderton

03-30-2005, 03:30 AM

I'd guess Tivo's engineers experimented with having different numbers of quality settings (doesn't one US version have an "Ultimate" above Best?), so an even 4 way didn't work. Or perhaps it's their subjective judgement of quality on a scale of 1 to 100? Or they didn't like the rounding of having 0/33/67/100. Or perhaps the db does some maths logic and they needed to be sure the quality settings worked right with that? Or maybe they loved tennis and thought its scoring system was great? :)

blindlemon

03-30-2005, 03:53 AM

In that case I guess "high" ought to be called "deuce" :D:D

I'd love to know what prompted them to choose such an odd set of numbers. If 0,1,2 and 3 are good enough then why on earth would they not use them?

Ahh well - I guess we'll never know.... unless one of them is reading this thread? TiVoRich? TiVoPony? Hello?

On a more serious note I'm pretty disappointed that it doesn't seem possible to have more than 2 really sharp Mode 0 qualities. I was hoping to go for something like (assuming the RQ number actually meant something):-

Best: 7500000/9000000, Mode 0, RQ 100
High: 4800000/6000000, Mode 0, RQ 95
Med: 3660000/4800000, Mode 0, RQ 75
Basic: any old crap!

Still, it's interesting that the 3rd quality (medium) does look a lot better (cleaner and smoother) in Mode 0 with the higher bitrates above - and with VBR, doesn't seem to take up much more space than at 2760000/5960000 which I was using before.

I'll live with these settings for a while and post anything significant.

On a different but related note, I was tinkering with CBR bitrates a while back and found that using 15000000, the theoretical maximum of the encoder was awful for white flashes on movie credits! Absolutely horrendous!

sanderton

03-30-2005, 04:23 AM

I've turned off VBR now as I found the extra artifacting - on pans, zooms and fades in particular - was too annoying. As a lot of recordings have shifted the the MCE box, I can afford the extra space.

gyre

03-30-2005, 04:28 AM

What values do you use now stu?

-- gyre --

sanderton

03-30-2005, 04:36 AM

Normal ones for Best. I didn't find the improvement for Mode 0 particularly noticeable with the "quality" of Sky input, and I have no problems with DVDs from Mode 4 video.

terryeden

03-30-2005, 08:52 AM

Best: 7500000/9000000, Mode 0, RQ 100
High: 4800000/6000000, Mode 0, RQ 95
Med: 3660000/4800000, Mode 0, RQ 75
Basic: any old crap!

For basic, I found you can get down to 675000.
See my post http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=222298

Perfect for recording on the radio - a 30 minute recording is around 172MB. So, 101 hours of Radio 4 on a 40GB TiVo.

Terry

sanderton

03-30-2005, 09:25 AM

If you enable VBR, radio recordings plummet no matter what notional bitrates you put in.

ccwf

03-30-2005, 09:45 PM

Normal ones for Best. I didn't find the improvement for Mode 0 particularly noticeable with the "quality" of Sky input, and I have no problems with DVDs from Mode 4 video. This is an important point. If the real resolution of the source signal is less than mode 4 resolution, then, by itself, using mode 0 instead of mode 4 yields no real improvement in quality. One is better off using mode 4 (or even lower resolution than that depending on the source) but increasing the bitrate.

That is what I myself have done. I performed Fourier transforms of signals from various channels (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=209816) to see how much horizontal resolution was really in them. Then I set up a range of modes for recording quality settings adequate to cover each of those source resolutions. Finally I increased bitrates.

gyre

04-04-2005, 12:00 PM

Folks,

Am I right in thinking that changing 'high' to mode 0 and a 7500000 bitrate would give the same recording as changing 'best' to the same set of values?

i.e. a quality of 75 is the same as a quality of 100 as far as the resulting recording is concerned.

The reason I don't want to change 'best' is that I don't wish to get white flashing on live tv.

Thanks!

-- gyre --

bobones

04-04-2005, 12:24 PM

Am I right in thinking that changing 'high' to mode 0 and a 7500000 bitrate would give the same recording as changing 'best' to the same set of values?
-- gyre --
Yes, but you may as well try VBR and save disk space as well as increasing resolution yet have enough bitrate headroom to avoid artifacts.

I use 9000000/4800000/mode0 on Best (100) and 7000000/3200000/mode0 on High (75) with excellent results. (My default recording mode is High, but live is viewed on Best).

Remember the filesize/disk usage will be related to the vbr figure, not the maxvbr figure.

bobones

04-04-2005, 12:29 PM

This is an important point. If the real resolution of the source signal is less than mode 4 resolution, then, by itself, using mode 0 instead of mode 4 yields no real improvement in quality. One is better off using mode 4 (or even lower resolution than that depending on the source) but increasing the bitrate.

The difference between mode0 and mode4 is very clear on my 43" display no matter the source. UK Freeview channels have a lot of widescreen output were the resolution does matter, but not only that, mode4 suffers from colour misconvergence that's not apparent in mode0. This is very clear with red text on a white background.

gyre

04-04-2005, 12:29 PM

bobones

04-04-2005, 12:39 PM

I will try VBR. Seems sensible if it works and doesn't give me artifacts nor lip sync problems.

My question was whether it made any difference if I changed the values for 'high' as opposed to 'best'. i.e. whether I'd see any difference in the recorded video quality. I think your answer is saying that I woudln't see a difference.

From the discussion above in the thread, it looks to me like you can have up to 2 sharp resolutions.
-- gyre --

VBR doesn't affect the white flashing, which seems to happen whatever bitrates are used with mode 0. Lip sync can occasionally be a problem, but whether it's down to VBR, I don't know. Others have reported other artifacts with VBR but I have never noticed anything amiss myself.

This whole Record Quality thing is a red herring. Just keep the defaults and change the bitrates to whatever you want. I don't see why you can't assign high bitrates to medium and basic if you leave the RQ values as they were.

gyre

04-04-2005, 12:47 PM

I've done mode 0 on 'basic'. It seemed blurred compared to what I'm getting on 'high'.

This might be a figment of my imagination, or it might be that only 2 modes are nice and sharp and the other 2 are blurry.

I'm willing to be proved wrong :)

-- gyre --

blindlemon

04-04-2005, 02:16 PM

or it might be that only 2 modes are nice and sharp and the other 2 are blurry.I used to think that the RQ in itself was what made the difference, but I am now convinced (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=2730638&&#post2730638) that it was indeed at least a pink herring as, regardless of RQ, you can only have 2 "sharp" qualities, and 2 slightly blurry ones.

It is possible to set "basic" to be one of the sharp ones, so long as you assign it one of the 2 highest RQ values out of the 4 allowed.

I agree with Bobones though, that a higher VBRbitrate will result in an improvement in PQ even in the 2 "blurry" qualities.

If you want to avoid flashes on Live TV then set the DefaultLiveRecordQuality to the same RQ as a quality that doesn't use Mode 0.

gyre

04-04-2005, 02:27 PM

This all makes sense. Thanks you folks :)

-- gyre --

bobones

04-04-2005, 07:08 PM

I now concur with blindlemon. The lower 2 RQ values are always slightly softer than the higher 2, no matter the values. It's as though the highest frequencies are filtered out on the 2 low RQ values. The real benefits of mode 0 will not be seen on anything other than the two higher RQs.

ccwf

04-04-2005, 07:20 PM

The difference between mode0 and mode4 is very clear on my 43" display no matter the source. UK Freeview channels have a lot of widescreen output were the resolution does matter, but not only that, mode4 suffers from colour misconvergence that's not apparent in mode0. This is very clear with red text on a white background. I've read about the colour convergence issue but have never seen it myself (it only seems to affect UK TiVo DVRs).

On Freeview, are you saying that all Freeview channels are high-resolution or that you only watch Freeview? Because if you use a plain old aerial instead of Freeview, then there should be no real benefit to mode 0.

bobones

04-04-2005, 08:27 PM

On Freeview, are you saying that all Freeview channels are high-resolution or that you only watch Freeview? Because if you use a plain old aerial instead of Freeview, then there should be no real benefit to mode 0.
I am saying that much of the programming on Freeview is high-res anamorphic widescreen where mode 0 offers noticeable improvements over mode 4. And, no I don't use the plain old aerial on my tivo at all, only freeview.

sanderton

04-07-2005, 02:35 PM

Remember Freeview defaults to mode 2, not 4.

martinpw

04-25-2005, 08:38 AM

I've changed by settings for best, and want to change them back, but I forgot what the original settings are!! can anyone help?

blindlemon

04-25-2005, 08:44 AM

5960000/5960000, Mode 4 (mode 2 for CATV), RQ 100

mrhatken

05-13-2005, 11:36 AM

Howdy All,

Thanks for this great thread! I'm an Aussie with a Thomson UK TivO that's working very well down-under (even though we don't have an official TiVo service here). But that's another story ...

I am writing here to ask a few questions about setting my TiVo to use Mode 0. I've read through this thread (and others) and made the changes suggested in LJ's Mode 0 page, with BoBones settings for 720 VBR (setup on the High slot).

The settings I used were:

CATVHighVBRBitrate 3660000 -> 4800000
CATVHighMABBitrate 3660000 -> 90000009
CATVHighResolution 2 -> 0

I made sure I hit enter when changing all the resources. I copied LJ's file to the TiVo in binary mode and replaced the original with the new file. I turned on "Save Disk Space" then rebooted. The TiVo crashed (rebooted) frequently for a while (6 times?).

It crashed when I was watching live TV (on Best settings). It crashed after a couple of minutes when I tried to record on the new 720 High settings. It crashed when I tried to watch previous recordings.

It has now stopped rebooting. I guess it has worked things out - flushed out any inconsistent settings somewhere (life TV buffer or whatever). So I am happy, but I am unsure if the image quality has improved.

I have a Standard Definition STB (free-to-air digital TV) that sends input to the TiVo using RGBS (SCART) and the TiVo sends its RGBS (SCART) signal to an LCD TV (1366x768) via a RGBS to Component converter.

My questions are:

1. How can I be sure that a recording is made on Mode 0 (720x568)? The recording says High (as configured) but I would like some secondary confirmation that it is Mode 0. I am using VBR so I don't think I would see huge files.

2. I set the DefaultLiveRecordQuality from 100 to 75, hoping that it would now make Live-TV work at Mode 0 (since 75 corresponded to the High settings). How can I confirm this? TiVo still suggests it is recording at Best. Is this possible?

Thanks in advance for any information and suggestions. If I can get this to work I will be one happy camper. Currently, on what I think is Mode 0, I am seeing no flashes and no artifacts.

It's a great picture but I would like to know for sure that it is not just the great picture we previously got on Best quality.

Cheers,
Ashley.

--
Ashley Aitken
Perth, Western Australia

blindlemon

05-13-2005, 11:42 AM

If you look in the TVLOG just after changing channels on Live TV or starting a Mode 0 recording you should see a message with the phrase "using VBR, bitrate 4800000, maxBitrate 9000000".

If you see "using CBR, bitrate 5960000, maxBitrate 5960000" then you're not using Mode 0.

BTW, I assume your bitrate of 90000009 above was a typo? ;)

mrhatken

05-14-2005, 01:38 AM

Many thanks Blindlemon!

That tip helped me see that I wasn't even experiencing Mode 0 - I should have used DBS rather than CATV (I think).

Do others see a few crashes (3-4) after making changes? But then things settle down and I've had no problems since (no flashes yet, or lip sync problems).

And yes, that was a typo (but thanks for pointing it out).

Cheers,
Ashley.

05-14-2005, 06:00 AM

Do others see a few crashes (3-4) after making changes? But then things settle down and I've had no problems since (no flashes yet, or lip sync problems).I didn't get any reboots directly after changing mine. Usually my TiVo reboots are due to TiVoWeb searches producing too many results or, like yesterday, when I rebooted to enable the latest version of cachecard drivers.

davisa

05-27-2005, 04:55 AM

Hi all.

Look, I don't normally do this, but after reading 11 pages worth of posts in this thread I'm totally confused and rather overwhelmed by so much information!

I've got Cable (Telewest) and want to try to improve the recording quality of TiVo from the default setup. I'm not bothered about mode 0 though as any sound slip or white flashes would drive me mad.

Can anyone suggest some sensisble settings to try to give a general improvement - particually for transferring on to DVD? I know many suggestions have been posted before - I just need a few pointers!

iankb

05-27-2005, 06:17 AM

davisa

05-27-2005, 08:02 AM

Do not assume that you will get white flashes and sound sync problems. I am using Mode-0 VBR with 'bobones settings', and this gives me DVD resolutions, 50% space saving, very, very rare white flashes, and no sound sync problems at all. It seems to depend on your hardware, as to what you will experience.
Thanks, I will dig out 'bobones settings' and give it a try.

I hated having to ask the question as I knew it had allready been answered so thanks for the reply. :D

swuk

05-27-2005, 12:37 PM

I spent hours pouring through various threads to make sure I was doing the right thing. Like you, I'm using Telewest digital, and in the end I changed the DBSBest settings to mode 0, and upped the MaxRate to 9,000,000. (I think I changed the other rate as well, but I'm not at home now so can't check - sorry I'll check on this and edit over the w/e) And that was it. I left all the quality settings the same. I don't get lip sync issues nor white flashes.

tivo_boj

05-27-2005, 05:20 PM

I changed to mode 0 4800000, 9000000 , and get more than flashes, I get some of the main picture flashing up at the bottom of the screen. Not usable at all. Left settings the same but changes to mode 4. all OK

What are the best non mode 0 setting for best, high. medium and basic?

blindlemon

05-27-2005, 06:49 PM

I make most of my recordings at 3660000/6000000, Mode 0 and hardly ever get white flashes, so that might be worth a try.

Out of interest, what's your program source? Aerial, or BBC channels on freeview seem to be the worst for triggering white flashes, IME.

tivo_boj

05-28-2005, 05:50 AM

Changed all the settings ( ie CATV, Aerial etc,)and was worse off freeview, but was not good for any. Even live TV ( which I beleive uses best) was bad.

I will try the lower settings, but it looks like my encoder/decoder is specfically bad as some of the High and Medium recording also showed the problem.

tivo_boj

05-28-2005, 06:08 AM

Tried3660000/6000000, Mode 0, and looks OK from Sky, but freeview (RF) still have flickers every 5-10 secs, but much much better. BBC2 the worse followed by BBC1

What were the original settings for all 4 , as I may try then at Mode 0 and work back from there.

What about going for CBR for Best (ie Max. and min the same) mode 0 - would this improve things. Want the best Mode 0 setting so I can re-use the recording ( if you know what I mean)

davisa

05-29-2005, 04:16 PM

Well I've done the deed and used the 'Bobones' settings for mode 0 and VBR. I set Top Gear on High (3200000-7000000 mode 0) and sat down to watch via component on my Sanyo projector projected onto a 7 foot glass bead screen - expecting a magnificent result the like of which I've never seen on TiVo before :) Well, it looks absolutely terrible! Loads of MPEG artefacts and really severe colour banding :( The old 'High' setting was 3660000 CBR mode 2. I just don't understand why that would be better- unless Top Gear was particularly badly filmed.

Anyway, set The Last Detective on 'Best' so i'll see if that's any better.

Confused to say the least.

(oh, didn't notice any white flashes or lip-sync issues)

iankb

05-29-2005, 05:50 PM

If you're really aiming for large-screen quality, rather than DVD resolution and space-saving, then you will need to use CBR. The main reason for wanting DVD resolution is not so much for quality, but to speed up the creation of DVD-based 'archives'.

There are one or two users on this forum who have been experimenting with high bit rates and CBR.

Dougal

07-10-2005, 02:42 PM

I'm new to all this bit rate and resolution stuff so have just trawled through this thread to try to educate myself :)

Having read through all this I have a couple of questions that would help my understanding:

1) What is the native broadcast resolution of a widescreen (16:9) and standard (4:3) programme. For optimum quality v disc space compromise, shouldn't we be choosing a resolution close to the broadcast resolution of widescreen?

2) So, if you record a widescreen programme on TiVo using a low resolution, when you play it back does the mpeg decoder automatically interpolate to fill the screen?

Aside:
3) Believe it or not I have only just bought a 16:9 TV having had the same 4:3 TV for the last 10 years :-) Judging by the TV's auto-format change it seems that most analogue aerial broadcasts are still only 4:3. Is this so?

Thanks

sanderton

07-10-2005, 02:57 PM

1) What is the native broadcast resolution of a widescreen (16:9) and standard (4:3) programme. For optimum quality v disc space compromise, shouldn't we be choosing a resolution close to the broadcast resolution of widescreen?

It varies from system to system and even from channel to channel, but most is 720 x 576.

Since it goes through anloguie there's no advantage from matching that per se.

2) So, if you record a widescreen programme on TiVo using a low resolution, when you play it back does the mpeg decoder automatically interpolate to fill the screen?

Sort of. "Interpolate" isn't the right word, as the output is analogue.

Widescreen and 4:3 recodings are entirely identical, except for the widescreen flag.

Aside:
3) Believe it or not I have only just bought a 16:9 TV having had the same 4:3 TV for the last 10 years :-) Judging by the TV's auto-format change it seems that most analogue aerial broadcasts are still only 4:3. Is this so?

Thanks

All analogue TV is broadcast 4:3; widecreen originals are sometimes letterboxed ina 4:3 frame though to 16:9 or the vile 14:9.

GarySargent

09-10-2005, 09:27 PM

Time to resurrect this huge thread after reading through it - took a while!

Can someone tell me where abouts (the path) in MFS these resources are? I don't have TiVoWeb installed and so I just want to change them via the tivosh shell.

Thanks.

mrtickle

09-11-2005, 06:08 AM

It seems to be one of the ResourceGroups in /SwSystem/ACTIVE . the TiVoweb code loops through them all and provides a menu with Constants, Bitrates and AltBitrates - then you edit BitRates. To be honest I think it would be easier to install TiVoweb and use the Resoure Editor module than to work out where it is below /SwSystem/ACTIVE. (I've just tried for a few minutes and given up!)

GarySargent

09-11-2005, 06:46 AM

No network card in this TiVo so TiVoWeb is not an option.

I can see resource strings in those ResourceGroup areas that look like the kind of values for the bitrates, but there is no string like "Resolution" or "MAXBitrate" etc associated with them. Where does TiVoWeb get those strings from as they don't seem to be in the same place.

GarySargent

09-11-2005, 07:16 AM

Ah I see - tvres-2.5.res has the mappings from nice names to position in ResourceGroup.

Should be able to work it out I think.

What is the difference between the "Bitrates" and "AltBitrates" groups?

blindlemon

09-11-2005, 07:18 AM

Hi Gary,

Here's a TCL script that does it for you :)

I've included LJ's fixed fpga module too.

GarySargent

09-11-2005, 07:29 AM

Aha excellent - was just thinking of writing such a script, you saved me the bother :)

6022tivo

09-12-2005, 03:01 PM

Call me stupid

FTP the two files in the zip above

Chmodded and ran, got the message as below.

Now what???

Should I have put the fpga file somewhere else, or did the script do this??

Can I delete the two files from the var/hack now they have been worked omn??

Should I have a module running in tivoweb or something? I did have one refering to bitrates, but moved it from the modules folder?. Should I have a look for it and put it back.

So now when I select BEST, is this mode 0??

How can I tell?

Cheers for any forcoming help?

bash-2.02#
bash-2.02# chmod 755 setupMode0.tcl
bash-2.02#
bash-2.02# ./setupMode0.tcl
Resources set to Mode 0 (Option 1) values
bash-2.02#
bash-2.02#

GarySargent

09-12-2005, 03:09 PM

The setup TCL script is a one time thing.

Follow the instructions here to install the fpga file: http://www.ljay.org.uk/tivoweb/tivo_fpga.html

You might want to follow the instructions in this post which tweaks the colour and luminance by a mod to the startup file: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?postid=1401427#post1401427

iicset utility referenced in that post is in the attached ZIP.

6022tivo

09-12-2005, 03:12 PM

I have found the Resource module for tivoweb, but get

INTERNAL SERVER ERROR
--cut here--
action_resources '/' ''

when selected??.

Ideas??

How reading the fpga page, cheers.

GarySargent

09-12-2005, 03:13 PM

Attached is my modified TCL script which has some extra methods. One to reset to default values, another to set BEST quality acording to bobones defaults, and another to dump out all current values.

(Edit the last line in the file to call the right function!)

GarySargent

09-12-2005, 03:23 PM

Don't forget to reboot! :)

6022tivo

09-12-2005, 03:23 PM

Hmmmm, having issues

bash-2.02#
bash-2.02# chmod 755 setupMode0.tcl
bash-2.02#
bash-2.02# ./setupMode0.tcl
bash: ./setupMode0.tcl: No such file or directory
bash-2.02#
bash-2.02# setupMode0.tcl
bash: /var/hack/setupMode0.tcl: No such file or directory
bash-2.02#
bash-2.02#[B]

I checked binary mode??. I will try again.

Also don't understand the edit the last line bit, I did check the file re bones?

GarySargent

09-12-2005, 03:29 PM

Might be a windows/dos line endings thing?

Try ftping just the TCL file using ASCII transfer mode.

The TCL script I posted has a few different functions, and the last line calls one of them. That's what I was talking about.

6022tivo

09-12-2005, 03:38 PM

I have tried it again Gary, have just overwritten with the one posted yesterday and that installs ok... I will restart as the tivo is struggling anyways, does the ZIP you posted extract and work ok for you??

GarySargent

09-12-2005, 03:46 PM

I think it was probably in Windows line end mode not UNIX. I've converted it and uploaded again in the post above.

Without modification, the script will reset to UK defaults, then set the BEST quality to be mode 0 using bobones settings.

6022tivo

09-12-2005, 03:56 PM

Still having the same problem, the file in the zip for me is the same size date and time as the first, so maybe a local NTL cache problem, I will try again later. Cheers.

Ok, now time changed, and ran ok.

A reboot fixed the tivoweb issue.

Now I have the extra options in the bitrates section of tivoweb (bobones), and you have answered my next question about how do you select mode 0, as you choose best, ok nice.

Will update if I notice a difference, thank you for your time.

mrtickle

09-12-2005, 04:32 PM

What is the difference between the "Bitrates" and "AltBitrates" groups?

I think it is for "tuner 1" and "tuner 2" where tuner 2 is DirecTivo, or possibly "lineup 1" and "lineup 2" (eg Sky+Freeview lineups)?

mrtickle

09-12-2005, 04:36 PM

No network card in this TiVo so TiVoWeb is not an option.

Actually it is with a £5 serial cable and PPP which is how I used it for around a year ;)

blindlemon

09-12-2005, 05:46 PM

AltBitrates are used when you select "video smoothing" in the TiVo UI.

6022tivo

09-15-2005, 02:30 PM

Hi

I did the fpga and the script from Gary's post above.

The picture looks a little closer to the AUX bypass picture, but I think the brightness or contrast is too high???

Can some options in the bitrates or something be change to improve this??

Lysander

09-15-2005, 02:59 PM

The colour and brightness is altered using the iicset command. Gary included the link to that thread at the top of this page.

HTH

James

blindlemon

09-15-2005, 06:17 PM

Read the thread backwards too - the alternative iicset (iicsetw) attached near the end is less likely to crash your TiVo than iicset :)

GarySargent

09-15-2005, 07:23 PM

Looks like I didn't upload iicset anyway - must have picked the wrong file! :)

6022tivo

09-16-2005, 03:26 AM

I must admit, I could not find it in the thread.

Anyways I did a search and found the iicsetw, it worked a treat, have settings of 19 and 20 (I think). It does make a big difference to me.

Many thanks.

sanderton

09-16-2005, 04:28 AM

Yes you did Gary - I used it!

GarySargent

09-16-2005, 05:52 AM

I think when I tried to overwrite the setup TCL script I overwrote the post with the iicset in not the one I intended to - which also explains why 6022tivo still couldn't get the script working! :)

surrey lad

10-03-2005, 10:00 PM

I've spent the last 4-5hrs reading through these forums and I just can't find simple step by step instructions anywhere :confused: :confused:

I must admit, I could not find it in the thread.

Anyways I did a search and found the iicsetw, it worked a treat, have settings of 19 and 20 (I think). It does make a big difference to me.

How did you actually load/install iicsetw, and don't say using a computer!! :D

Also can someone please explain, (in laymen's terms :o ) Exactly how do you go about reinstalling /var/hack/setrgb.sh

BTW, my tivo is on our home network. Just!

surrey lad ;)

surrey lad

10-05-2005, 04:31 AM

Anyone!! :o

The problem I have is that my TiVo was working fine with a preconfigured mode0/iicsetw drive but for what ever reason I lost the /hack partition. I’ve been told that this happens sometimes if the TiVo is restarted unexpectedly.

I’ve managed to restore the bin, setup, mytools, scripts and tivoweb-tcl partitions within /hack using tivo255Generic.hack.tar.gz but it doesn’t contain /setrgb.sh and I can’t for the life of me work out how to restore this with the iicsetw settings

Last night (after much digging around on these forums, great forum lads!!) I managed to check if mode0 was still running by examining the tvlog and by the looks of it all is fine there.

I then examined the kernel log and found that rc.sysinit is requesting /var/hack/setrgb.sh and then says that directory does not exist. I’ve now reinstated the /setrgb.sh folder but I don’t know what to put in it. :confused:

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. :)

mike0151

10-05-2005, 04:51 AM

From the command you have posted (and the suffix), setrgb.sh is a script file, not a directory. I haven't tried mode 0 so I can't help further with the contents of the script.

Mike

blindlemon

10-05-2005, 06:30 AM

Setrgb.sh varies from machine to machine, but the basic script just calls iicset (or now iicsetw (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=3088170&&#post3088170)) to change the RGB parameters.

I have attached a sample script that should be FTP'd to /var/hack and made executable with chmod 755. There is no need for a directory called setrgb.sh

You may want to change the values (I've used 20 and 21) to suit your setup - in which case I would recommend editing the file in-situ on the TiVo using joe.

surrey lad

10-05-2005, 12:10 PM

Many Thanks

I'll give this a go when I get home tonight ;)

surrey lad

10-05-2005, 07:50 PM

Hmmm!

Oct 5 23:09:36 (none) kernel: eth0: unknown interface.
Oct 5 23:09:51 (none) kernel: setrgb.sh: adjust RGB input 38=luminance
Oct 5 23:09:51 (none) kernel: /var/hack/setrgb.sh: /var/hack/bin/iicsetw: No such file or directory
Oct 5 23:09:56 (none) kernel: setrgb.sh: adjust RGB input 39=colour
Oct 5 23:09:56 (none) kernel: /var/hack/setrgb.sh: /var/hack/bin/iicsetw: No such file or directory
Oct 5 23:09:56 (none) kernel: setrgb.sh: Finished

After all that looks like iicsetw wasn't installed after all :confused:

blindlemon

10-06-2005, 02:12 AM

I included a link (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=3088170&&#post3088170)to it in my previous post :)

Just FTP it to /var/hack/bin and make executable with chmod 755.

surrey lad

10-06-2005, 05:28 AM

Thanks, I do appreciate all the help. :)

I must be doing something wrong.

Last night I downloaded on to my desktop and unzipped the iicsetw.zip file.

Using smartftp (in binary mode) I uploaded the iicsetw file to var/hack/bin/.

I then via telnet typed

rw

cd /var/hack/bin/

chmod 755 iicsetw

ro

reboot

Am I doing something wrong here?? :o

blindlemon

10-06-2005, 05:33 AM

It sounds like you have done all you need to.

If you list /var/hack/bin with ls -l what output do you see?

surrey lad

10-06-2005, 09:43 AM

:)

I'm at work at the moment so I can't check

If you list /var/hack/bin with ls -l what output do you see?

Sorry to be a pain but exactly what do you mean re the above :confused:

blindlemon

10-06-2005, 10:20 AM

cd / var/hack/bin
ls -l

:)

surrey lad

10-06-2005, 02:57 PM

Thanks Doc!

TiVo: {/var/tmp} % cd / var/hack/bin
TiVo: {/} % ls -l
total 30
drwxr-xr-x 2 0 0 1024 Sep 20 10:44 bin
drwxr-xr-x 2 0 0 3072 Dec 5 2003 dev
drwxr-xr-x 2 0 0 1024 Dec 5 2003 dist
drwxr-xr-x 4 0 0 1024 Dec 5 2003 etc
drwxr-xr-x 2 0 0 1024 Dec 5 2003 etccombo
drwxr-xr-x 2 0 0 1024 Dec 5 2003 initrd
drwxr-xr-x 2 0 0 1024 Dec 5 2003 install
drwxr-xr-x 2 0 0 1024 Dec 5 2003 kernel
drwxr-xr-x 3 0 0 1024 Sep 20 10:44 lib
drwxr-xr-x 2 0 0 12288 Dec 5 2003 lost+found
drwxr-xr-x 2 0 0 1024 Dec 5 2003 mnt
dr-xr-xr-x 4 0 0 0 Jan 1 1970 proc
drwxr-xr-x 2 0 0 1024 Dec 5 2003 prom
drwxr-xr-x 2 0 0 1024 Sep 20 10:44 sbin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 8 Dec 5 2003 tmp -> /var/tmp
drwxr-xr-x 2 0 0 2048 Dec 5 2003 tvbin
drwxr-xr-x 7 0 0 1024 Dec 5 2003 tvlib
drwxr-xr-x 12 0 0 1024 Jan 1 1970 var
TiVo: {/} %

Now i'm really lost!!!

I'm gonna try and upload iicsetw again, see what happens.

Fozzie

10-06-2005, 03:07 PM

Hehe, there's a typo from blindlemon. You should have typed:

cd /var/hack/bin (then ls -l)

surrey lad

10-06-2005, 03:12 PM

Fozzie

10-06-2005, 03:16 PM

Do a:

cd /var/hack
ls -l

sanderton

10-06-2005, 03:20 PM

Same problem as Carl. Is there a script doing the rounds which sets that directory up wrongly?

This is what I get:

257 "/" is current directory.
PORT 192,168,0,125,5,236
200 PORT command successful.
LIST -aL
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for file list.
226 Transfer complete.
1131 bytes transferred. (2.35 KB/s) (469 ms)
CWD /var
250 Directory change successful.
PWD
257 "/var" is current directory.
PORT 192,168,0,125,5,237
200 PORT command successful.
LIST -aL
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for file list.
226 Transfer complete.
1412 bytes transferred. (2.75 KB/s) (500 ms)
CWD /var/bin
250 Directory change successful.
PWD
257 "/var/bin" is current directory.

surrey lad

10-06-2005, 04:02 PM

Thanks Guys!

-rwxr-xr-x 1 37330 4000 49164 Oct 1 02:30 od
-rwxr-xr-x 1 37330 4000 31448 Oct 1 02:30 paste
-rwxr-xr-x 1 37330 4000 28448 Oct 1 02:30 pathchk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 37330 4000 48024 Oct 1 02:30 pr
-rwxr-xr-x 1 37330 4000 25184 Oct 1 02:30 rarp
-rwxr-xr-x 1 37330 4000 27452 Oct 1 02:30 rmdir
-rwxr-xr-x 1 37330 4000 50016 Oct 1 02:30 sort
-rwxr-xr-x 1 37330 4000 33612 Oct 1 02:30 split
-rwxr-xr-x 1 37330 4000 130308 Oct 1 02:30 strace
-rwxr-xr-x 1 37330 4000 46684 Oct 1 02:30 su
-rwxr-xr-x 1 37330 4000 28932 Oct 1 02:30 sum
-rwxr-xr-x 1 37330 4000 32848 Oct 1 02:30 tac
-rwxr-xr-x 1 37330 4000 39480 Oct 1 02:30 tail
-rwxr-xr-x 1 0 0 241690 Oct 1 02:30 tar
-rwxr-xr-x 1 37330 4000 28284 Oct 1 02:30 tee
-rwxr-xr-x 1 37330 4000 43980 Oct 1 02:30 touch
-rwxr-xr-x 1 37330 4000 44748 Oct 1 02:30 tr
-rwxr-xr-x 1 37330 4000 26716 Oct 1 02:30 tty
-rwxr-xr-x 1 37330 4000 27256 Oct 1 02:30 uname
-rwxr-xr-x 1 37330 4000 31196 Oct 1 02:30 unexpand
-rwxr-xr-x 1 37330 4000 33304 Oct 1 02:30 uniq
-rwxr-xr-x 1 37330 4000 29208 Oct 1 02:30 uptime
-rwxr-xr-x 1 37330 4000 29940 Oct 1 02:30 wc
TiVo: {/var/hack/bin} %

This is a different world to me.

Fozzie

10-06-2005, 04:10 PM

And from my last post?

cd /var/hack
ls -l

surrey lad

10-06-2005, 04:16 PM

And from my last post?

cd /var/hack
ls -l

File system on / is now READ/WRITE - type 'ro' to reset to READONLY
TiVo: {/var/hack/bin} % cd /var/bin
TiVo: {/var/bin} % chmod 755 iicsetw
TiVo: {/var/bin} % ro
File system on / is now READONLY - type 'rw' to make READ/WRITE
TiVo: {/var/bin} % cd /var/hack
TiVo: {/var/hack} % ls -l
total 3789
drwx------ 2 37330 4000 1024 Oct 1 02:30 bin
-rwxr-xr-x 1 0 0 21380 Oct 6 19:02 iicsetw
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 0 256000 Oct 1 02:30 joe.tar
-rw-rw-rw- 1 500 506 17169 Oct 1 02:30 joerc
-rwxr-xr-x 1 0 0 349656 Oct 1 02:30 nic_config_tivo
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 0 10936 Oct 1 02:30 readme.txt
drwxr-xr-x 2 0 0 1024 Oct 1 02:30 scripts
-rwxr-xr-x 1 0 0 216 Oct 5 19:55 setrgb.sh
drwxr-xr-x 2 0 0 1024 Oct 1 02:30 setup
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 0 2693120 Oct 1 02:30 tbin.tar
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 0 45 Oct 1 02:30 tivo255Generic.hack.tar.g
z
drwxrwsr-x 5 1000 1000 1024 Oct 1 03:36 tivoweb-tcl
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 0 501760 Oct 1 02:30 tivoweb-tcl-1.9.4.tar
drwxr-xr-x 2 0 0 1024 Oct 1 02:30 tytools
TiVo: {/var/hack} %

I've just uploaded to var/bin to see if that made a difference. The wife is watching tivo at the mo so I can't reboot. I'll soon send her to bed :D

;)

sanderton

10-06-2005, 04:46 PM

No need for the ro / rw stuff - /var is always read-write.

blindlemon

10-06-2005, 06:09 PM

OK, so now you have iicsetw in /var/hack you just need to move it to /var/hack/bin :-

In telnet,

cd /var/hack
mv iicsetw bin
cd bin
ls -l

blindlemon

10-06-2005, 06:28 PM

Is there a script doing the rounds which sets that directory up wrongly?Stuart,

They have both used tw_setup (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=2160165#post2160165) which is what I use to install TiVoWeb and the TiVo binaries etc. The /var/hack/bin directory is created by cpio when it's extracted from tbin.tar:-

gzip -d ./tbin.tar.gz
cpio -idu -H tar < ./tbin.tar
mv tivo-bin /var/hack/bin
This results in the permissions of the bin directory being set to drwx------ rather than drwxr-xr-x which is OK if you just want to execute stuff from the bin directory, and OK from a bash prompt too, but no use if you want to FTP to it.

I have uploaded a revised version that sets the directory to the 'normal' permissions with chmod 755 after it's created.

RichardJH

10-07-2005, 06:38 AM

I am following lj's instructions for putting the new fpga file but at the point where he says to check that the new file has same size and attributes I did a ls -l and got the following

Welcome to the wonderful world of TiVo hacking :)
Filesystem on / set to READONLY - type rw to make READ/WRITE
TiVo: {/var/tmp} % cd /lib/modules
TiVo: {/lib/modules} %
TiVo: {/lib/modules} % ls -l
total 1006
-rwxr-xr-x 1 0 0 37320 Sep 25 17:31 cachecard.o
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 0 2932 Feb 14 2002 fan.o
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 0 182112 Feb 14 2002 fpga7114.o
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 0 182112 Oct 7 10:18 fpga7114.o.original
-rwxr-xr-x 1 0 0 182112 Oct 7 10:27 fpga7114.o_lj_20030922
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 0 182112 Feb 14 2002 fpga7114_p15.o
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 0 23068 Feb 14 2002 fpgacombo.o
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 0 16556 Feb 14 2002 i2c.o
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 0 9276 Feb 14 2002 ideturbo.o
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 0 10716 Feb 14 2002 mixaud.o
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 0 40920 Feb 14 2002 oslink.o
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 0 87840 Feb 14 2002 pxmpegdecode.o
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 0 7128 Feb 14 2002 scartmux.o
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 0 2932 Feb 14 2002 therm.o
-rwxr-xr-x 1 0 0 21340 Sep 25 17:31 turbonet2.o
-rwxr-xr-x 1 0 0 24960 Sep 25 17:31 turbonet2_debug.o
TiVo: {/lib/modules} %
TiVo: {/lib/modules} %

The attributes shown for the new file do not match the old before I go on to the next step can someone tell me how to alter the attributes or are they OK as is

blindlemon

10-07-2005, 06:56 AM

Richard,

If that's one of my drives then you already have the correct file :)

If not, then to make it the same as the original, type

rw
chmod 644 fpga7114.o_lj_20030922

(You don't actually need to change the attributes though as leaving it marked executable won't cause any problems.)

surrey lad

10-07-2005, 06:58 AM

350 Restart okay, awaiting file retrieval request.
PWD
257 "/" is current directory.
CWD /var/hack/bin
550 Directory change failed; permission denied.
CWD /var/hack/bin
550 Directory change failed; permission denied.

Trying to upload iicsetw using smartftp I get the following message??

Hi mate,

I'll try moving it across tonight, if it allows me to!

After moving the iicset file across would I then still have to chmod it??

These forums remind me of 'Eastenders', a great community spirit :D

blindlemon

10-07-2005, 07:04 AM

According to the listing in post #378 it is already marked executable, so no.

You might want to make the bin directory executable/readable etc. though to make it easier to FTP stuff directly to it in future:-

cd /var/hack
chmod 755 bin

RichardJH

10-07-2005, 07:25 AM

Thanks Blindlemon that was easy :) and wow mode 0 is great. Now it is hack on some more :D

surrey lad

10-07-2005, 07:26 AM

Thanks ;)

Hopefully this should be it, what a week, what a learning curve!! :)

No more boring the wife with my reboots. No more late nights. No more over sleeping. No more getting to work late :D

surrey lad

10-07-2005, 03:04 PM

:up: sorted

A BIG thanks to Blindlemon and all you other guys for all your help!! ;)

smiffy

10-24-2005, 02:58 PM

Silly Mode 0 Recording Questions.

In the TiVo resouce editor, presumably I set the fields

DBSBestResolution = 0 (was 4)
DBSBestVBRBitrate = 8000000 (from 5960000)
DBSBestMAXBitrate = 8000000 (from 5960000)

and then once I've rebooted and installed the LJ patch all future BEST resordings will be Mode 0

Second question is regarding these settings on the TivoHeaven website - would I be correct in thinking that these revised modes have the Mode 0 resolution, but at the lower quality (bitrates)?

Best : Mode 0, 7500000/9000000, RQ 100
High: Mode 0, 3660000/6000000, RQ 75
Med: Mode 0, 2500000/5960000, RQ 55
Basic: Mode 1, 1700000/2000000, RQ 0

Third question - Is there an easy way to tell if its worked?

blindlemon

10-24-2005, 04:21 PM

If you are using Sky as your source then you need to change the DBSxxxx bitrate fields, if Freeview the CATVxxxx and if Aerial the Rooftopxxxx.

If you set Best for your source to 8000000/8000000 then you will be assumed to be trying to disable VBR, and the TiVo software will use CBR mode instead, regardless of what you specify with the "save disc space" menu option.

The three modes (best,high,med) described as "Mode 0" are Mode 0. The lower bitrates of High and Medium will increase the amount of pixellation on fast moving scenes and reduce, to some extent, the subjective "smoothness" of the picture. Even though it is Mode 0, Medium won't be as sharp as High or Best as the TiVo software only allows 2 recording qualities out of the available 4 to be "sharp". However, I prefer the look of Mode 0, Medium to the the look of the default Mode 1, Medium, which is why I use it.

To check that you are using the bitrates and VBR/CBR setting you want (although you can't check the "mode") have a look in the tvlog logfile just after starting a recording or changing channels in Live TV. You should see a line similar to the following with the bitrates of the selected quality:-

Oct 23 16:50:00 (none) TmkMediaswitch::Trace[151]: using VBR, bitRate=7500000, maxBitRate=9000000

mrtickle

10-24-2005, 07:02 PM

Silly Mode 0 Recording Questions.

In the TiVo resouce editor, presumably I set the fields

DBSBestResolution = 0 (was 4)
DBSBestVBRBitrate = 8000000 (from 5960000)
DBSBestMAXBitrate = 8000000 (from 5960000)

and then once I've rebooted and installed the LJ patch all future BEST resordings will be Mode 0

One other thing (because you haven't mentioned it) - after pressing Enter on each setting before you reboot you need to click the "update resources" link otherwise it'll all be lost.

Third question - Is there an easy way to tell if its worked?

See blindlemon's answer. Also look for a very obviously clearer picture on Live Tv. Also go back into the Resource Editor and see if your values are still there :)

smiffy

10-26-2005, 10:25 AM

Oct 23 16:50:00 (none) TmkMediaswitch::Trace[151]: using VBR, bitRate=7500000, maxBitRate=9000000

I seem to be getting

Oct 26 14:20:11 (none) TmkMediaswitch::Trace[142]: Lost VBI lock

Which strikes me as a little worrying! :(

iankb

10-26-2005, 11:20 AM

Which strikes me as a little worrying!I get 'Lost VBI Lock' all the time, but it doesn't seem to cause me any problems.

blindlemon

10-26-2005, 11:33 AM

Yes, 'Lost VBI lock" is quite normal.

Do a search through the log for the strings "VBR" or "CBR" and you will find the lines you are interested in.

6022tivo

11-18-2005, 03:34 PM

Enough is enough...

Got to get rid of the white/green flashes.

It maybe to do with my HDD starting to fail, getting more and more stalls now??. And tivoweb and menu's are getting really slow..

Anyways my current settings are.

VBR 7500000
MAX 9000000

I don't really understand these values??. I am hoping that reducing them slightly will get rid of the flashes??

Should I reduce them say both by 20%??? and see how it goes?.

Can someone also explain what VBR/CBR is??

Heuer

11-18-2005, 05:25 PM

Flashes are caused by the TiVo MPEG convertor which is not the best available. Mode 0 pushes it beyond its design parameters and is probably why 'Best' is set at 4 by the designers. The amount of flashing varies by individual TiVo because of the build tolerances.

CBR = Constant Bit Rate
VBR = Variable Bit Rate

You only need to use VBR if you want to save disk space and ease transfer from TiVo to DVD. For ultimate quality you need to go for as high a 'Max Bit Rate' as possible, consistent with not stressing the MPEG convertor, and use CBR.

So to reduce the flashes go for CBR, Mode 0 and set the Max bit rate to a high value - 9000000 is a good place to start. Reduce this by 1000000 at a time until you arrive at a point where the flashes stop. You can then start incrementing the bit rate by smaller units until you find the cut off point for your TiVo. You may find this reduces your disk space so you can switch on VBR with a lower Min Bit Rate (typically 2000000 less than the Max). This will not affect the flashing, simply makes more efficient use of the disk. Do this via TivoWeb and remember to hit return after each change and 'Update'. You may also need to reboot.

In my experience the flashes seem to be worse on BBC stations and during dark scenes. Small price to pay for the increase in picture quality but it can be annoying.

sanderton

11-18-2005, 07:42 PM

I found switching from CBR to VBR reduced the flashes to a managable level.

Heuer

11-19-2005, 03:53 AM

VBR will reduce the flashes as it will use the lower bit rate when appropriate - but it will not get rid of them. CBR will use the bit rate you set, so by cranking it down to the point where flashes disappear you will find the Max bit rate for your TiVo. You can then switch on VBR and set a lower bit rate to take advantage of smaller files.

If you use a scaler you can alter the picture size slightly so the flashes are off screen at the expense of a few lines at the bottom.

sanderton

11-19-2005, 05:29 AM

Because the flashes only occur every few seconds, and becuase VBR typically only maintains peak bitrate for a very short time, I think you can get a higher peak and average bitrate with an acceptable while flash count that way.

That's my theory and I'm sticking to it! :)

thechachman

11-19-2005, 07:38 AM

Must be lucky, using the patched fpga file and running with the below for about a year with no issues ...

DBSBestVBRBitrate 7680000
DBSBestMAXBitrate 9900000
DBSBestResolution 0

mrtickle

11-19-2005, 09:15 AM

So to reduce the flashes go for CBR, Mode 0 and set the Max bit rate to a high value - 9000000 is a good place to start. Reduce this by 1000000 at a time until you arrive at a point where the flashes stop. You can then start incrementing the bit rate by smaller units until you find the cut off point for your TiVo. You may find this reduces your disk space so you can switch on VBR with a lower Min Bit Rate (typically 2000000 less than the Max). This will not affect the flashing, simply makes more efficient use of the disk.

Interesting method! It hadn't occured to me to find the cut off point for my TiVo. :) . Don't the flashes depend on the video content though, making testing difficult?

Do this via TivoWeb and remember to hit return after each change and 'Update'. You may also need to reboot.

Yes you do also need to reboot every time you change the bitrates. The "update" page in TiVoweb hints at this ;)

Heuer

11-19-2005, 01:04 PM

Interesting method! It hadn't occured to me to find the cut off point for my TiVo. :) . Don't the flashes depend on the video content though, making testing difficult?

Indeed, so the trick is to use a recorded programme that produces flashes and keep repeating.

Having said all this I use VBR and:

DBSBestVBRBitrate 7680000
DBSBestMAXBitrate 9000000
DBSBestResolution 0

My response was only to help 6022tivo who said 'enough is enough' and wanted rid of the flashes!

sanderton

11-19-2005, 01:56 PM

I use

DBSBestVBRBitrate 7500000
DBSBestMAXBitrate 9000000
DBSBestResolution 0

With an entirely acceptable level of flashing.

6022tivo

11-19-2005, 04:30 PM

I have reduced it today, but still flashing, like a green pixelation... Does not look so bad.

My cache card is arriving next week, and a different Tivo and HDD will be in its place, with the current one moving rooms. So this may improve things.

I really notice it on the bedroom TV.
Setup is TiVo in widescreen for the lounge TV, piped up to the bedroom via RF.
TV in bedroom has been "Modded" was standard 4:3, I have been inside and squashed the display and moved it up to the top of the CRT so the teletext lines have gone. So the bottom third of the screen is blank, gives a widescreen aspect so things are not squashed up.

Now because of this I really notice the white flashes at the bottom, more than most people I suppose, and that is what I am trying to get rid of.

Anyways, will keep trying and hope the other tivo is a little better at managing this.

For me it appears a lot worse whilst recording BBC1 and especially Eastenders..

iankb

11-20-2005, 01:02 PM

I use 4,800,000 / 9,000,000 / 0 for Best with my 32" Sony TV.

It will go months between flashes.

blindlemon

11-21-2005, 05:00 AM

For me it appears a lot worse whilst recording BBC1 and especially Eastenders..I don't know about Eastenders as I never watch it, but all BBC channels tend to be worse for white flashes, IME.

I think it's something to do with the digital sharpening they apply to the signal, which makes the picture slightly grainy. IMHO this is what trips up the MPEG decoder as it tries to keep up with millions of tiny dots everywhere as opposed to the larger smooth areas you get with other digital channels.

stevelup

11-21-2005, 05:04 AM

Hi

I reckon film grain is a major cause of the white flashes as it is completely impossible to encode efficiently.

I find the flashing most noticible on dark scenes, and this is probably more to do with the fact that the picture is often noisier on the dark scenes.

I stuck a PC northbridge cooler fan on the MPEG decoder chip and I believe this has helped. I haven't done any scientific test but subjectively it has improved the situation.

Steve

blindlemon

11-21-2005, 05:07 AM

Interesting.... :cool:

What about noise from the fan?

stevelup

11-21-2005, 05:10 AM

Interesting.... :cool:

What about noise from the fan?

It's a 12V fan but I'm running it off the 5V rail so it's running slowly.

It's less noisy than the drives. I can't notice whether it's on or off.

Steve

sanderton

11-21-2005, 05:14 AM

The BBC thing may be that they run at higher bitrates in the broacast, so have more detail; the softer pics on other channels may encode/decode more easily.

blindlemon

11-21-2005, 05:17 AM

Very possible, but I think they do tend to be a bit "sharpened" looking as well.

There are definitely some tiny grainy artefacts that look like digital sharpening if you look closely - and these must be a nightmare (a bit like an RF signal) for the MPEG decoder.

sanderton

11-21-2005, 05:22 AM

Have you tried turning on the noise reduction option in the menus, intended for exactly that?

blindlemon

11-21-2005, 05:52 AM

All that does is use the 'alternate' set of bitrates AFAIK, so no.

Although if you know any more I'd be interested to hear about it... :)

blindlemon

11-21-2005, 05:56 AM

It's a 12V fan but I'm running it off the 5V rail so it's running slowly.What fan did you use? Could you post a link?

Heuer

11-21-2005, 08:54 AM

Although not the one referred to I have used these with some success: http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/fan.htm

You can probably get away with a suitably sized CPU heatsink glued to the chip. Spot of thermal jelly in the middle and four spots of superglue in the corners should do the trick. Doubt you need to go as far as a dedicated fan though. The TiVo motherboard runs fairly cool with most of the heat coming from the HD.

Interesting idea though about the MPEG chip being heat sensitive - could go some way to explaining why the flashing is intermittent. Lots in summer, few in winter? Never thought to check!

Fred1

11-22-2005, 07:56 AM

Thanks for this info. I was just about to jump in and find the threshold for my encoder chip, but it hasnt really been flashing this week. Then I noticed the bit about cooling and as my Tivo is very cool at the moment (see extract from Daily mail below), this may explain it.

TiVo temperature is 29C / 84.2F (Running cool -- the case must be open).

I think I might try a heatsink before setting the optimum level.

Does anyone else have any evidence that the encoder chip is heat sensive at the edges of its design performance?

Lysander

11-27-2005, 12:11 PM

The heat thing intrigued me, so I bought a Northbridge heatsink and thermal glue from quietpc.com. Glued it on the IBM MPEG Decoder chip this morning and have told the kids to look out for white flashes. Will post if I see any - although none so far.

Cheers,

James

6022tivo

11-27-2005, 12:36 PM

I have gone back to 9000000 and 7500000, was noticing some softness on the TV.

It was still flashing.. Now after much research, it is really only on BBC1 I notice it...
Understand from previous replies it is probably due to the BBC's compression. Also may be something to do with NTL's transmission if others don't have this problem?

Heuer

11-28-2005, 06:37 AM

I have Sky and I only see flashing on BBC1 and BBC2 (rarely). Only happens on dark video segments and especially where the dark part is in the lower part of the screen.

I will be interested to see if the heatsink works though.

mrtickle

11-28-2005, 03:10 PM

It is something to do with black I'm sure. It used to happen in the end titles when the BBC showed "24". Probably happened with "Extras" too...

MikeMcr

12-20-2005, 01:14 PM

markabuckley

12-20-2005, 02:15 PM

Well I did the Mode 0 tweak the other day, and it is a noticeable improvement, better resolution and less colour bleed - BUT I do get the flashes, quite often, using 8MB bit-rate.

It doesn't really distract fom watching programs, and my wife hasn't mentionned it yet, so it can't be that noticeable.

Has anyone modded the FPGA file to have even lower contrast and colour, as still a lot more saturated, and much more contrasty than "AUX".

Thanks, Mark.

blindlemon

12-20-2005, 02:47 PM

For some reason corrections to contrast/saturation in the fpga file don't seem to have any effect.

However, using iicsetw to tweak the registers during startup works fine - as this monster thread (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=102371&highlight=iicsetw) illustrates :)

markabuckley

12-20-2005, 02:51 PM

I read that thread a while back - but got a bit too technical for me - I'm not entirely sure what I need to do with iicsetw to get it to work ? I thought iicset only worked until you changed channel ? Also the "crashing" part put me off- my wife would kill me if I ended up crashing the TIVO just before Christmas, or is it always recoverable ?

Thaks, M ark.

cashew1970

01-04-2006, 05:56 AM

Lysander

01-04-2006, 07:25 AM

Did the heatsink fix the white flashes problem; have you seen any since?

Still getting occasional white flashes, I would suggest it makes little difference. :(

AMc

01-04-2006, 08:05 AM

Just to back up cashew1970's request.
I now have a networked Tivo (Horrah!) but I'm still hunting for a simple guide to getting Mode 0 and VBR working.
I know there's some suck it and see with each Tivo but has anyone got a short FAQ?

pmd

01-04-2006, 10:28 AM

I have looked at this thread for some time now, and have finaly decided that I need to take the plunge and have a play with the Mode 0 settings.

I have searched for the Bobones Settings that are mentioned in the thread, and can't seem to find them....

Does anyone have these to hand.... or a nice simple HOW to??

Cheers... and Happy New Year to you all

Martin

I believe the post that people refer to is #20 of the thread entitled 'Tivo picture quality help please! (I can't post the URL until I've made 5 posts, despite the fact I've been a member for over a year!)

Paul

blindlemon

01-04-2006, 10:58 AM

I'm still hunting for a simple guide to getting Mode 0 and VBR working.OK, here goes...

1. Get networked.
2. Replace your /lib/modules/fpga7114.o file with LJ's hacked version from here (http://www.ljay.org.uk/tivoweb/tivo_fpga.html).
3. Run my setupMode0 (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=6445) script.
4. Reboot and enjoy Mode 0 :)

If you want to tinker with the bitrates etc., this can be done via the resources editor in TiVoWeb.

AMc

01-04-2006, 11:18 AM

Oh thank you! Tinkering to be done now :)

cashew1970

01-04-2006, 11:40 AM

Thanks.... Getting there now.....

worked out that I had to chmod 644 to get the correct permissions on the file from LJ

Do you have to do anything special to run the tcl script??

cashew1970

01-04-2006, 11:49 AM

Clenched those butt cheeks and went for it...

Cant wait to get home so I can chek it out...

Hope there will be no smoke comming out of it!!!

Thanks for all the help....

cashew1970

01-05-2006, 02:43 AM

Thanks to Blindlemon again....

All has gone smoothly, and, until the weekend when I will get a chance to play with the settings!!, is up and running fine....

Cheers

Martin

jonny m

01-05-2006, 06:02 AM

Hi all

Can I just confirm the below, I have a networked tivo, but not installed tivoweb yet.

To enable mode 0 all I have to do is:
2. Replace your /lib/modules/fpga7114.o file with LJ's hacked version from here.
(not use the version in the zip file below?)
3. Run my setupMode0 script
chmod 644 the file to execute it
4. Reboot as normal

Does this change best to be mode 0?
If I wanted to change back to the original best setting (say the flashes really got to me) would I just rename the file back or has high become what best was previously and I could just select that instead?

Thanks all in advance

John

cashew1970

01-05-2006, 06:07 AM

Hi... Its the fpga file that needs to be 644 "ed" so that the permissions are as the original...

If you make a note of the current values in in the resources, then all you should do is replace them, and remae the fpga and all should be back as it was....

Pretty sure you will need tivoweb for the resouce bits...

jonny m

01-05-2006, 07:23 AM

Hi cashew
Thanks for that, can you confirm the fga file is used to fix the problems with mode 0 (offset etc) and the script is used to change resolution.

John

Heuer

01-05-2006, 10:20 AM

To be clear we have four steps here:

1. Enable Mode 0 via Resource Editor in TiVoweb
2. Change max/min bitrates via Resource Editor in TiVoweb
3. Switch on space saving in TiVo main menu

This will get you going with Mode 0 and VBR. There are a couple of problems that you may want to address caused by these changes, namely a green bar down the side of the screen which you need to shift and a chroma/luminance problem for which you have to address the FPGA chip. This is step four but is 'optional' to Mode 0.

jonny m

01-05-2006, 11:53 AM

Hi Heuer
Thanks for that, I thought blindlemon's setup script negated the use of Tivoweb or are you saying is it required after all?
Generally I prefer to do the least possible with Tivo not being very confident around linux - If I can get away without installing Tivoweb then I won't.

Heuer

01-05-2006, 12:08 PM

No experience of Blindlemon's script as I did all my modifications via TiVoWeb. I have no doubt the script will work as described but not sure if it does all the steps outlined. Great if it does!

Cainam

01-05-2006, 01:10 PM

Gary modified Blindlemons's original script here (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=3237696&&#post3237696)

You set a value in the file so that you can either set up Best as Mode 0, set it up back as the default if you cannot live with the flashes, or to dump out the current values.

Both Blindlemons and Garys scripts stop the need for TivoWeb i.e. you no longer need to enable Mode 0 or set the values in resource editor.

You still need to enable space saving manually though, as well as the thing with the fpga file to cure the right shift problem.

IIRC correctly you only needs to fix the bit about the colours and brightness if you enable RGB, which is different from setting up Mode 0 (as Heuer says)

markabuckley

01-05-2006, 01:15 PM

They are all superb walkthroughs, I'm Mode0 enabled.

Could someone walkthrough the best "RGB" colour/brightness sub-due method please.

Thanks, Mark.

Cainam

01-05-2006, 01:20 PM

If you enable RGB output on the Tivo menu, the colours look really bright and horrible. Some clever people worked out a fix to this using a program called iicset, but it caused some Tivo's to hang. Someone else modified the iicset program to iicsetw that seems to work much better (I have not heard of it hanging anyone's machine), so much so that I have a line in my startup file to call it. Have a look at blindlemons post here (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=3317250&&#post3317250) for an example.

I actually have the line

(sleep 40; /var/hack/rgb/iicsetw 0x8C 0x38 21 0x39 20) &

in my startup script which works great for me. :)

markabuckley

01-05-2006, 01:31 PM

Thanks - I may try that Cainam.

If the TIVO hangs is it terminal - or can you normally boot to a point where you can remove the file ?

Lastly I take it the and at the end is not a typo.

Where would I put this in my startup script ? Beginning or end or does it not matter ?

Thanks, Mark.

jonny m

01-05-2006, 01:39 PM

Thanks all for the info.

But now Im abit worried about the RGB thing, is this just when you enable mode 0? or do I have this at the moment as Im using RGB out from Tivo and I think its ok but I can see that its different from aux, I thought it was just the mpeg process affecting the image.

markabuckley

01-05-2006, 01:40 PM

Jonny M - don't worry.

RGB IMO is WAY over-saturated/bright etc in all modes. If anything Mode 0 is "better" than the others colour bleed etc wise.

Mark.

Cainam

01-05-2006, 01:43 PM

I forget the exact menu option, but there is an option in the setup to say if you want to output RGB and PAL or PAL only (I think). If you have the RGB one on, things look funny.

Your choice if you turn it on or not, completely independent from Mode 0, but if you are enabling Mode 0 for quality reasons, you might as well go for RGB!

When it crashed it WAS quite terminal, and involved a reboot. And then, after 2 or 3 reboots, it seemed to work OK. But the lastest version seems fine, and has never crashed on me.

The & at the end is correct - it forces the command to run in the background.

Mine went at the end of my startup.author.edit (or whatever it is called!) script, but I do not suppose it matters much.

markabuckley

01-05-2006, 01:45 PM

Reboot is OK.

I presumed when people said terminal it meant complete re-blow of Hard disk.

Mark.

markabuckley

01-05-2006, 03:40 PM

Since (sleep 40; /var/hack/rgb/iicsetw 0x8C 0x38 21 0x39 20) &

would go in startup script ...

if I just type iicsetw ......... from telnet

How long do these settings last for - till next reboot or till a channel change ?

Thanks, Mark.

blindlemon

01-05-2006, 05:22 PM

The values changed with iicset(w) last until a reboot.

I can confirm that iicsetw has never crashed any TiVo I've installed it on, whereas iicset used to do so with tedious regularity.

By 'terminal', I think Cainam meant that you had to reboot to clear the hang. I have never seen iicset(w) do anything more serious than hang the TiVo.

Sorry, I forgot to mention that you need to turn on VBR via the "save disc space" option. If you leave it off then the encoder will use the higher bitrate only. Also, my script only sets the resource values - you need to install LJ's modded fpga file (to fix the green line) yourself. The script as posted sets the mode and bitrates for all sources to the following values:-

Best : Mode 0, 7500000/9000000, RQ 100
High: Mode 0, 3660000/6000000, RQ 75
Med: Mode 0, 2500000/5960000, RQ 40
Basic: Mode 1, 1700000/2000000, RQ 0

jonny m

01-05-2006, 08:14 PM

Hi all
Thats brilliant! So to get the best picture you need to :
copy fpga file across - to fix mode 0 offset
run the script - to enable mode 0
copy across the iicsetw from somewhere - for fixing rgb issues
run /var/hack/rgb/iicsetw 0x8C 0x38 21 0x39 20 & - to fix rgb

err anyidea where to get iicsetw ? is it part of tivoweb?

Thanks again all!

cashew1970

01-06-2006, 02:59 AM

It can be found here (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=3088170&&#post3088170)

jonny m

01-06-2006, 09:21 PM

Thanks for the info!! Will get playing.
Strange that all these addons have appeared to fix all these things, you'd think tivo would have got it right first time round - esp the rgb colour.

markabuckley

01-07-2006, 02:15 AM

Heuer

01-07-2006, 03:53 AM

RGB tweak worked a treat - thanks for all the help guys.

It makes the PQ much better in my opinion.

I get quite a few white flashes from Res 0 tweak - but you can just ignore them - I don't find them that distracting at all.

Mark.

On some monitors you can move the picture down a tad which will help further. The flashing is just on the last two lines of the picture and seems to happen only on BBC programmes (at least via Sat).

dave h-j

01-07-2006, 04:48 AM

Thanks for the info!! Will get playing.
Strange that all these addons have appeared to fix all these things, you'd think tivo would have got it right first time round - esp the rgb colour.

:eek: Can't believe it taken me over 12 months to try this fix !!! Just run it now and the output from my Tivo now matches the output from my sky box..

Now all I need to do it move the picture down a little bit - any easy way to do this?

6022tivo

01-07-2006, 05:22 AM

On some monitors you can move the picture down a tad which will help further. The flashing is just on the last two lines of the picture and seems to happen only on BBC programmes (at least via Sat).

I wish it was just two lines. Mine varies and will be more than two lines in the bottom right hand corner.

jonny m

01-07-2006, 10:38 AM

markabuckley

01-07-2006, 12:47 PM

I get mine most of the time - but don't find it distracting at all.

My wife hasn't even mentionned it - so it can't be that obvioius.

Mark.

6022tivo

01-07-2006, 01:58 PM

6022tivo
Do you find that its too distracting? I still havnt switched to mode 0 and was conviced but am still abit worried about the flashes, I would love tivo to have aux quality but im reluctant to see the flashes. When do you see yours? It is a particular channel? analogue bbc1 for example? how are sky or freeview?

Hi Jonny..

It is not too distracting, it is normally always on BBC1, and especially during darker scenes in Eastenders :rolleyes:

I have tried lowering the rates bit by bit, but it did not make much difference, so gone back to the recommended 900000 (I thinbk) for Mode 0.

The picture quality is worth it to go Mode 0 and put up with the flashes in the bottom right. They are mainly green and white for me, and not constant, just notice the odd flash every minute or so.

blindlemon

01-07-2006, 02:12 PM

I would love tivo to have aux quality but im reluctant to see the flashes. When do you see yours? It is a particular channel? analogue bbc1 for example? how are sky or freeview?I mostly see white flashes on BBC channels - both on Sky and Freeview.

I do sometimes see them on other channels - usually when the picture is contrasty or grainly - but they're fairly infrequent on both my TiVos. Many evenings I can watch TV for 3 or 4 hours and not see one - then if I pick the 'wrong' BBC recording I could see 20 in 5 minutes - so YMMV, greatly.

Nevertheless, Mode 0 can be turned off just as easily as it can be turned on (easier in fact, as you don't have to remove LJ's fpga file) - so why not give it a try?

jonny m

01-07-2006, 04:20 PM

Hi blindlemon
Would I just reverse your script? :)

If I knew the values to change I would create the backout script and try it out.

I had a look at your tcl script and its amazing - not many tcl guides on the net. I've done alot of perl and its...nothing like tcl by the looks of things.

If you could tell me how to reset it then I would definately give it a go!

Cheers
John

blindlemon

01-07-2006, 04:28 PM

Stuart posted a modified version here (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=3237696&&#post3237696) that includes a reset method.

jonny m

01-07-2006, 04:35 PM

brilliant !!
thanks blindlemon I will give it a try.

jonny m

01-07-2006, 05:47 PM

WHoops having trouble!
I've renamed the fpga with the new version
but when I run the setupMode0.tcl, I get the below,and it is there as cat-ing the file works fine.
bash-2.02# ./setupMode0.tcl
bash: ./setupMode0.tcl: No such file or directory

Ive set its permissions to :
rwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 12113 Jan 7 22:42 setupMode0.tcl

ANy ideas? I've not rebooted yet just in case something else has gone on.

jonny m

01-07-2006, 07:09 PM

I've even done a simple hello world script to test I can run tcl scripts ok and it fails, looks like my tcl setup isn't working? Am i missing something that should be installed with tivoweb?

bash-2.02# cat test2.tcl
#!/tvbin/tivosh

puts "hello world"
bash-2.02#
bash-2.02# ./test2.tcl
bash: ./test2.tcl: No such file or directory
bash-2.02# test2.tcl
bash: test2.tcl: command not found

Fozzie

01-07-2006, 08:22 PM

'chmod 755 test2.tcl' ?

jonny m

01-07-2006, 08:31 PM

Hi Fozzie
Thanks for your suggestion, I tried that and it was the same result.
Here are my file permissions:
-rwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 12113 Jan 7 22:34 setupMode0.tcl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 0 0 350 Jan 7 23:48 test.tcl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 0 0 43 Jan 7 23:49 test2.tcl

If I do a chmod 644 test2.tcl I get the below:
bash-2.02# ./test2.tcl
bash: ./test2.tcl: Permission denied

So I can execute the file, it just can't seem to call the /tvbin/tivosh.

Tried the iicsetw rgb fix - very nice BTW. Made a big difference.

jonny m

01-07-2006, 08:45 PM

Got it fixed - just supplied the full path and the file to be executed. Still a mystery to me though, it should work without this.

bash-2.02# /tvbin/tivosh setupMode0.tcl
Resources for BEST mode set to Mode 0 (bobones settings) values

:)

Cheers all

jonny m

01-07-2006, 09:48 PM

Thanks guys all working now and the quality is superb!
I havn't set disk saving to on yet and I've seen a few artifacts but they weren't anything to notice and they might be freeview as well.

cashew1970

01-09-2006, 03:15 AM

I am also having issue swith the script that Gary posted.

Have copied to /var/hack (Tried both binary and Asci)

I chmod 755ed it

When I telnet to the tivo, I get the message

"No such file or directory"

It is there, and I have checked that I am putting the correct case.
Have also used the Tab button to select the file that way.

Any clues anyone??

jonny m

01-09-2006, 05:33 AM

Cashew
I had the same issue (see above posts) use you need to specify the command interpreter, try with the below command.

# /tvbin/tivosh setupMode0.tcl

cashew1970

01-09-2006, 06:54 AM

Tried that too after reading your thread, but had the same issue...

I can't seem to put the file in /tvbin/tivosh with Core FTP Lite..... do you think that is the issue.... or should I still be able to run it from /var/hack??

jonny m

01-09-2006, 07:26 AM

Cashew
what happens if you type
/tvbin/tivosh
do you get the tivosh running?
it won't matter where the script is stored, what you are doing now is running an instance of tivosh but supplying a script to run.
you don't need to put the script in /tvbin/ and esp not /tvbin/tivosh as thats a file and not a directory.

cashew1970

01-09-2006, 07:34 AM

If I telnet to tivo and type /tvbin/tivosh i get a percentage sign, if I then type the path I get the same error

Welcome to the wonderful world of TiVo... :)

File system on / is now READONLY - type 'rw' to make READ/WRITE

Bash /var/tmp #/tvbin/tivosh
% /var/hack/setupMode0.tcl

% couldn't execute "/var/hack/setupMode0.tcl": no such file or directory
% %

jonny m

01-09-2006, 07:48 AM

Cashew
The % indicates you are in the tivosh-ell - which is good.
You are not starting that the then typing in the filename - you need to type both at the same time and from the directory that you have setupMode0.tcl located in - in your case it looks like /var/hack
i.e. type full line below then hit return.
/tvbin/tivosh setupMode0.tcl

cashew1970

01-09-2006, 09:08 AM

Thats done the trick... thanks Jonny.....

jonny m

01-09-2006, 09:43 AM

Glad to be of service!

jonny m

01-25-2006, 04:45 PM

Just want to say after a couple of weeks running mode 0 the quality is FAB! I get I would say 1 flash a week as I run mode 0 only on my freeview box and mode 4 for the internal tuner. Mode0 for the internal tuner was flash city so wouldn't recommend.

Cashew
I know the reason we had to run the shell script with the shell path first is that we prob downloaded the file onto windows which will inset a ^M CTRL+M character at the end of the line and when the unix shell tries to run this it sees "\tvbin\tivosh^M" which of course is nonsense - you can see this if you load the joe editor but not if you cat the file to the screen - which is confusing. I fixed my script by loading into textpad and saving as a unix file - which will remove the ^M's.

Thanks guys for all your help.

djb2002

05-14-2006, 01:55 PM

Does anyone know what the default bitrates are normally ?

And does anyone know if these settings could cause pixelling along the bottom right of the screen, and occasional freezing of the image (and now and again freezing the box completely) ?

Thanks
Daniel

djb2002

05-20-2006, 01:52 PM

blindlemon

05-21-2006, 05:38 AM

No. That sounds like a drive problem - sorry :o

djb2002

05-21-2006, 05:45 AM

No. That sounds like a drive problem - sorry :o

Even when there is only a small pixelling at the bottom right of the screen ??

Thanks again
Daniel

6022tivo

05-21-2006, 05:53 AM

No small pixeling is normal with Mode 0 in the bottom, normally right corner.

I think Blindlemon was refering to the "and occasional freezing of the image (and now and again freezing the box completely) ?", which sounds very like the HDD failing.

djb2002

05-21-2006, 06:43 AM

6022tivo

05-21-2006, 06:51 AM

With Mode Zero, you normally get a small amount of white/green flashes in the bottom right hand corner, I would not describe it as pixeling???

Excessive pixeling may be a HDD failing or bad freeview reception is you are on freeview??.

Personally I was getting fed up with the flashes in the bottom right and tried adjusting the bitrates down to get rid of them, this did not make much difference, so I just kept with the Full Mode zero and got used to them.

If you have tivoweb adjust the bitrate settings in the Bitrates tab(I think).

If it is excessing pixeling and freezing, then replace the HDD and see how it goes.

djb2002

05-21-2006, 07:29 AM

Yes, I think I did describe it badly by saying 'pixeling' - It is, as you say, a white/green flash. Do you happen to know the 'factory bitrate' settings to remove mode zero, and set it back to how they were originally set ?

The freezing happens occasionally, but there are errors showing in the kernel log that indicate a bad hard disk, but I can't tell from the errors which disk is faulty, as it refers to both hda and hdb.

May 20 17:29:18 (none) kernel: hda: drive_cmd: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
May 20 17:29:18 (none) kernel: hda: drive_cmd: error=0x04 { DriveStatusError }, secCnt=127, LBAsect=12734272
May 20 17:29:26 (none) kernel: hdb: drive_cmd: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
May 20 17:29:26 (none) kernel: hdb: drive_cmd: error=0x04 { DriveStatusError }, secCnt=127, LBAsect=12734271

Anyone have any ideas for either problem?

Thanks again
Daniel

sanderton

05-21-2006, 08:27 AM

The white flased depend on what channel you are watching (bizarrely) and the bitrate which triggers them varies from machine to machine, you just need to experiment until you get an accptable level.

Heuer

05-21-2006, 09:01 AM

Or if you have fixed pixel display (Plasma or LCD) you should be able to move the picture down a couple of lines which will reduce the annoyance.

djb2002

05-21-2006, 09:36 AM

I'm just using a standard CRT TV.

I've no idea about 'bit rates', so not sure what to try reducing it to - Whether I reduce it by 10 or by 100 or 1000 ???? - Do you happen to know what the original settings are ? - At least I could work from there.

Also, from the error messages I was getting, does anyone know which of the hard drives appear to be faulty (or whether they both are) ??? - Is there any scan I can run while connected to the TiVo (via telnet), that doesn't involve taking them out and putting them into a PC ?

Thanks
Daniel

Heuer

05-21-2006, 01:19 PM

Standard bit rates are 5960000, 3660000, 2760000 and 1700000 for each of the four quality settings. You can change them via TiVoWeb (enter after each change and 'update resources' to finish).

Best to change both drives as if one is going down the other will not be far behind. Blindlemon can sort you out a new drive ready configured with ewverything I believe.

ciper

07-14-2006, 03:10 AM

I almost posted a link to the "other" forum. Instead Ill copy and paste a recent post of mine for your reading pleasure:

Based on the information in the following picture (source link below) I have come up with what should be the most efficient settings for each resolution. What do you guys think?
http://i2.tinypic.com/1zxpel3.gif
http://www.mediachance.com/dvdlab/tutorial/bitrate.html
From this page you can find information for two of the resolutions available on the tivo (720 and 352). I then used these resolution/bitrate combinations to extrapolate the other two resolutions.

resolution number 0 720x480
max based chart = 7800
vbr based chart = 6300

resolution number 1 352x480
max based chart = 4000
vbr based chart = 3200

resolution number 4 544x480
max 720 based (544 / 720) * 7800 = 5893
max 352 based (544 / 352) * 4000 = 6181
vbr 720 based (544 / 720) * 6300 = 4760
vbr 352 based (544 / 352) * 3200 = 4945

2 Med/ 480x480
max 720 based (480 / 720) * 7800 = 5200
max 352 based (480 / 352) * 4000 = 5454
vbr 720 based (480 / 720) * 6300 = 4200
vbr 352 based (480 / 352) * 3200 = 4363

I could have averaged those together but they already seemed quite high compared to what others were using. Instead I decided to take the calculated numbers based on 720x480 and round down to come up with the following settings.

*BestVBRBitrate 6300000
*BestMAXBitrate 7800000
*BestResolution 0
*HighVBRBitrate 4700000
*HighMAXBitrate 5800000
*HighResolution 4
*MediumVBRBitrate 4200000
*MediumMAXBitrate 5200000
*MediumResolution 2
*BasicVBRBitrate 3200000
*BasicMAXBitrate 4000000
*BasicResolution 1

edit: oh yeah here are my other settings which you probably arent interested in
MinRecordQuality 0
MaxRecordQuality 100
DefaultRecordQuality 0
DefaultLiveRecordQuality 100
RecordQualityBest 100
RecordQualityHigh 75
RecordQualityMedium 40
RecordQualityBasic 0

Im very happy with the results so far. Before making any recordings I noticed an immediate difference in clarity on "live" shows. I had configured my tivo to use cable + satelite even though I only have cable. This was to enable the video inputs on the back. I then configured only one channel on the satelite feed (channel 100 "pay-per-view previews). I connect the video out of my computer to the tivos video in and when i choose channel 100 i can see the computers output. I played the intoduction to the price is right (which usually has a ton of artifacts) and the picture was alot better. Combine this with the 1 hour live tv buffer i just enabled and Im very happy :)

smiffy

07-16-2006, 11:30 AM

Does somebody have the default settings?

I put my tivo into mode 0 some time ago, but now I want to revert to the original settings - but I didnt keep a note of the settings.

blindlemon

07-16-2006, 05:42 PM

Check the post two above yours ;) :)

ciper

07-18-2006, 02:00 AM

Here are the defaults from my sony svr-2000 since Heuer's are incomplete
Resource Name Resource Value
MinRecordQuality 0
MaxRecordQuality 100
DefaultRecordQuality 100
DefaultLiveRecordQuality 100
RecordQualityBest 100
RecordQualityHigh 75
RecordQualityMedium 40
RecordQualityBasic 0
DBSBestVBRBitrate 5215000
DBSBestMAXBitrate 5960000
DBSBestResolution 4
DBSHighVBRBitrate 3202500
DBSHighMAXBitrate 3660000
DBSHighResolution 2
DBSMediumVBRBitrate 2415000
DBSMediumMAXBitrate 2760000
DBSMediumResolution 1
DBSBasicVBRBitrate 1630000
DBSBasicMAXBitrate 1630000
DBSBasicResolution 1
CATVBestVBRBitrate 5215000
CATVBestMAXBitrate 5960000
CATVBestResolution 2
CATVHighVBRBitrate 3202500
CATVHighMAXBitrate 3660000
CATVHighResolution 2
CATVMediumVBRBitrate 2415000
CATVMediumMAXBitrate 2760000
CATVMediumResolution 1
CATVBasicVBRBitrate 1630000
CATVBasicMAXBitrate 1630000
CATVBasicResolution 1
RooftopBestVBRBitrate 5215000
RooftopBestMAXBitrate 5960000
RooftopBestResolution 2
RooftopHighVBRBitrate 3202500
RooftopHighMAXBitrate 3660000
RooftopHighResolution 2
RooftopMediumVBRBitrate 2415000
RooftopMediumMAXBitrate 2760000
RooftopMediumResolution 1
RooftopBasicVBRBitrate 1630000
RooftopBasicMAXBitrate 1630000
RooftopBasicResolution 1

bretski

09-22-2006, 11:12 AM

EDIT>>> LOL Just noticed the post above, how observant of me! :o

Could anyone list or point me to all the default Bitrate resource settings please? I modified them all months ago and have now found my Tivo a new home so need them all at default for the new novice owner.

Are the AltBitrate settings the defaults? Im in TivoWeb at the moment.

Thank you for any help you can provide,

Brett

blindlemon

09-22-2006, 12:06 PM

Those are US values which are optimised for NTSC.

The attached script will set the values back to the UK defaults for CBR, with the added bonus of actually having different "vbr" values for VBR too :)

bretski

09-22-2006, 12:26 PM

smiffy

10-07-2006, 04:59 AM

The attached script will set the values back to the UK defaults for CBR, with the added bonus of actually having different "vbr" values for VBR too :)

Thanks for that - very useful ;-)

Pete77

12-02-2006, 11:52 AM

All that does is use the 'alternate' set of bitrates AFAIK, so no.

Although if you know any more I'd be interested to hear about it... :)

Blindlemon,

As a confirmed Basic recordings man I have just finally got myself round to enabling Mode 0 (largely for the benefit of watching Live Tv) and can confirm that under the Messages&Setup/MyPreferences/RFVideo menu changing from "No don't smooth the video" to "Yes smooth the video on RF Channels" indeed has the effect of selecting the "alternate bitrates" set which I had left at their original settings. I couldn't initially figure out why all the recording hours capacities quoted in "Video Recording Quality" had gone back to exactly their original values after initailly seeing new changed recording hours values after changing settings in Bitrates in Resources Editor and rebooting. Anyhow this is certainly a handy feature in terms of it being an easy way to get straight back to the original non Mode 0 setup if people are at all bothered by White flashes. The number of hours in Video Recording Quality changed right away even mid way through a recording but I imagine Mode 0 recording or in Live tv would only actually start again on the next recording or channel change?

On the Basic quality recording setting in Resource Editor does VBR (Save Disk Space) not actually operate then as the Tivo screen for Save Disk Space suggests is the case (but then it lies because as supplied VBR/Save Disk Space doesn't operate at all) or does it now operate due to our manual adjustment of settings in the Resource Editor? Of course I suppose I can check this via the tvlog file after doing a recording. As one moderately content with Basic on my crappy old 4:3 29" 100hz telly on many recording types would I get a better quality Basic quality with some loss of total program hours by setting the Maximum bit rate at say 2500000 or even 3000000 while leaving the minimum at 1700000? Or should I go for lower bit rates with Mode 2 if I want to achieve this end?

Lastly on the iicsetw file option so far as I could tell when I installed the two files in /var/hack/bin and rebooted I actually got a less acceptable more bleached picture quality than before so have now disabled it by sticking a # on the start of the line that I had inserted to call it. Can you recommend any different setting values for a 100hz digital scan 4:3 29" telly or are the default values that go with Mode 0 and Ljay's revised file already acceptable for a CRT without modification. And yes I do output RGB to my telly as the picture is immedately less sharp as soon as I change the menu option on the Tivo to output PAL. By the way I have previously also installed the No Flicker upgrade set.