DVD Playback Apple G5 image problems
Discussion
Hi Guys
I have just purchased a G5 Mac (1.8 dual tower)to replace my old G4 400 and have connected it up with a v nice formac 20.1 monitor. Everything was looking pretty good until I tried playing back some DVDs and I have to say I was not impressed. Image quality was not particulary smooth or as sharp as I expected. In fact they appear better on my tv although this could be the effect of being further away? Now it has 1.5GB of ram and a spare 150ish GB hd so I am wondering what the problem is, graphics card? but even then I assume DVD playback isnt that intensive.
I have tried a few CDs of images to see if its the drive but they all worked perfectly and I dont understand why DVDs would playback with no skipping but just poor image
I am playing through the default DVD player in Tiger with latest updates/ can anyone recommend a better player?
Any help is appreciated Simon
I have just purchased a G5 Mac (1.8 dual tower)to replace my old G4 400 and have connected it up with a v nice formac 20.1 monitor. Everything was looking pretty good until I tried playing back some DVDs and I have to say I was not impressed. Image quality was not particulary smooth or as sharp as I expected. In fact they appear better on my tv although this could be the effect of being further away? Now it has 1.5GB of ram and a spare 150ish GB hd so I am wondering what the problem is, graphics card? but even then I assume DVD playback isnt that intensive.
I have tried a few CDs of images to see if its the drive but they all worked perfectly and I dont understand why DVDs would playback with no skipping but just poor image
I am playing through the default DVD player in Tiger with latest updates/ can anyone recommend a better player?
Any help is appreciated Simon
alfa dailey said:
Hi Guys
I have just purchased a G5 Mac (1.8 dual tower)to replace my old G4 400 and have connected it up with a v nice formac 20.1 monitor. Everything was looking pretty good until I tried playing back some DVDs and I have to say I was not impressed. Image quality was not particulary smooth or as sharp as I expected. In fact they appear better on my tv although this could be the effect of being further away? Now it has 1.5GB of ram and a spare 150ish GB hd so I am wondering what the problem is, graphics card? but even then I assume DVD playback isnt that intensive.
I have tried a few CDs of images to see if its the drive but they all worked perfectly and I dont understand why DVDs would playback with no skipping but just poor image
I am playing through the default DVD player in Tiger with latest updates/ can anyone recommend a better player?
Any help is appreciated Simon
Have you ticked the "Deinterlace" option on, I think, the View menu?
What do yo mean by poor quality? Don't forget your monitor is a much higher resolution device than your TV, and will only scale up the DVD image to fit your screen.
Does the picture look fine when it's not scaled to full screen?
A normal DVD picture is 720x480 and most monitors run at over 1280x1024 which is almost 4x the resolution. I have a 1920x1200 resolution monitor and the DVD don't look good on it either, but the image is being scaled by a factor of 9 though!
Does the picture look fine when it's not scaled to full screen?
A normal DVD picture is 720x480 and most monitors run at over 1280x1024 which is almost 4x the resolution. I have a 1920x1200 resolution monitor and the DVD don't look good on it either, but the image is being scaled by a factor of 9 though!
Cheers guys interesting suggestions (more welcome!)
I have tried it with de-interlace on and off, on seems to be the smoother of the two. I didn't realise DVD res was so low. How does it enlarge this to fit 1600x1200 res or thereabouts, some form of interpolation?
I played the DVD on my old G4 connected to a 19" CRT Mitsubishi and the picture is noticeably better - when displaying DVD Image where things like grilles/ patterns are shown the lines are straighter or appear to be. Is this simply the difference between CRT and TFT. If so how do they get TFT Televisions looking good for DVD esp the larger 30" plus ones, are these a lower res than Computer monitors.
Looking on the web I noticed the pixel response times for the 19" (xtreme 3) formacs are quicker than the 20.1, (Xtreme) would this go some way to solving the problem (I have to return it as it has dead pixels). Has anyone any experience of better graphics cards?
Love the G5 although I have concerns it may break my table in half, how can it be so much heavier than the G4!
I have tried it with de-interlace on and off, on seems to be the smoother of the two. I didn't realise DVD res was so low. How does it enlarge this to fit 1600x1200 res or thereabouts, some form of interpolation?
I played the DVD on my old G4 connected to a 19" CRT Mitsubishi and the picture is noticeably better - when displaying DVD Image where things like grilles/ patterns are shown the lines are straighter or appear to be. Is this simply the difference between CRT and TFT. If so how do they get TFT Televisions looking good for DVD esp the larger 30" plus ones, are these a lower res than Computer monitors.
Looking on the web I noticed the pixel response times for the 19" (xtreme 3) formacs are quicker than the 20.1, (Xtreme) would this go some way to solving the problem (I have to return it as it has dead pixels). Has anyone any experience of better graphics cards?
Love the G5 although I have concerns it may break my table in half, how can it be so much heavier than the G4!
Most of the latest HD TFT televisions are only 1366x768 resolution and if they are getting a lower resolution signal then they just interpolate - in most cases it is just a matter of doubling each axis.
TV's seem to display the picture better as you normally sit further away from them than a computer screen.
I find CRT monitors are better at scaling up without losing too much quality as they don't have a 'native' resolution as TFT monitors do.
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The G5 is a lot heavier due to the amount of metal in the construction compared to plastic in the G5 - although it did have a thin metal cage inside the plastic. The G5 also has a much heavier duty power supply, and more fans. My dualie sounds like a wind-tunnel sometimes.
>> Edited by mmm-five on Wednesday 25th January 10:34
TV's seem to display the picture better as you normally sit further away from them than a computer screen.
I find CRT monitors are better at scaling up without losing too much quality as they don't have a 'native' resolution as TFT monitors do.
---
The G5 is a lot heavier due to the amount of metal in the construction compared to plastic in the G5 - although it did have a thin metal cage inside the plastic. The G5 also has a much heavier duty power supply, and more fans. My dualie sounds like a wind-tunnel sometimes.
>> Edited by mmm-five on Wednesday 25th January 10:34
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