Blurred DVD playback with MPC-HC

[FlimsyFeet]

Ultimately my aim is to be able to watch DVDs off my PC, upscaled to 1080p (either 25 or 23.976 progressive fps) through a DVI to HDMI cable to my plasma display.

So I was trying to set up and calibrate the display last night using the PAL version of Digital Video Essentials. Here is a screenshot of a resoltuion test:
http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/6825/proper.png

And here is what it looks like in MPC-HC v1.2.908.0:
http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/6232/blurred.png

Looks like there is some kind of deinterlacing destroying the picture, but I've tried altering the settings in the MPEG-2 decoder, and in the video card drivers (ATI Catalyst Control Center) but cannot retrieve the lost detail.

[mark0077]

Ultimately my aim is to be able to watch DVDs off my PC, upscaled to 1080p (either 25 or 23.976 progressive fps) through a DVI to HDMI cable to my plasma display.

So I was trying to set up and calibrate the display last night using the PAL version of Digital Video Essentials. Here is a screenshot of a resoltuion test:
http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/6825/proper.png

And here is what it looks like in MPC-HC v1.2.908.0:
http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/6232/blurred.png

Looks like there is some kind of deinterlacing destroying the picture, but I've tried altering the settings in the MPEG-2 decoder, and in the video card drivers (ATI Catalyst Control Center) but cannot retrieve the lost detail.

Yes, mpc-hc is not very good out of the box for dvd playback because it assumes the DVD's interlaced flags are set correctly (when they hardly ever are). You need to go into the internal filters and double click the mpeg2 filter. You need to force de-interlacing to "weave" and this will double your DVD quality.

I hope to convince the mpc-hc developers to change the behaviour of this option in an upcoming release to make mpc-hc better out of the box.

[FlimsyFeet]

I already tried forcing "weave" but it made no difference to the output.

[mark0077]

I already tried forcing "weave" but it made no difference to the output.

Have you tried changing the scaling options in the "Output" tab of mpc-hc. When using evr-custom presentation, you can select various resizing algorithms to use. The bottom most is the sharpest I believe. That might make the image sharper when scaled... worth a shot if you havn't tried it.

[Jong]

I already tried forcing "weave" but it made no difference to the output.Did you go back a chapter and then forward again to that frame, after making the change?

DVE displays still frame images not moving video for these tests. the screen is not redrawn until you manually refresh it.

I have just done exactly this test here. I can confirm that using "auto" deinterlacing you get "bob" and half resolution - just what you see. "weave" correctly displays full resolution after you refresh the image.

By the way, Cyberlink MPEG2 decoder displays full resolution in "auto" mode and uses DVXA. Generally I would recommend uisng an alternate MPEG2 decoder if you have one, if it can use DXVA and hardware de-interlacing.

[clsid]

Does the blurring also occur when playing in windowed mode? Resizing before deinterlacing is a possible cause of blurring.

[Jong]

The screenshot clearly looks like bobbing to me, not blurring.

[FlimsyFeet]

Did you go back a chapter and then forward again to that frame, after making the change?

DVE displays still frame images not moving video for these tests. the screen is not redrawn until you manually refresh it.

I have just done exactly this test here. I can confirm that using "auto" deinterlacing you get "bob" and half resolution - just what you see. "weave" correctly displays full resolution after you refresh the image.

By the way, Cyberlink MPEG2 decoder displays full resolution in "auto" mode and uses DVXA. Generally I would recommend uisng an alternate MPEG2 decoder if you have one, if it can use DXVA and hardware de-interlacing.
I tried going back then forward agian, and got the same half-resolution result.

Also tried using the Cyberlink video decoder within MPC-HC, and that gave the same results as well.

However, if I play the disc with PowerDVD, then I get the full resolution.

[Jong]

I tried going back then forward agian, and got the same half-resolution result.

Also tried using the Cyberlink video decoder within MPC-HC, and that gave the same results as well.

However, if I play the disc with PowerDVD, then I get the full resolution.Hmm. That is odd. Did you try the different deinterlacing options for the Cyberlink decoder? Right-click on MPC-HC then select "filters", then Cyberlink decoder, then properties.

And it might help to list all the filters you see when you right click. Have you got ffdshow video decoder doing any post-processing?

[Jong]

The screenshot clearly looks like bobbing to me, not blurring.I don't know what I was thinking! The screenshot is clearly NOT bobbing (if it were the top right box would be all black and the bottom left all white). It is blending. Still changing to weave should fix it, as should using the Cyberlink decoder. That filter list will help.

[FlimsyFeet]

Filters in use:
default directsound device
video renderer
audio switcher
mpeg2 video decoder
ac3 audio decoder
dvd navigator

I think it is something to do with the display scaling; if I take a screenshot now with alt+i it shows the full resolution. (Also, if I press F11 for full screen). It was probaby forcing "weave" that fixed it, but that didn't reflect in the winodwed display I was viewing.

Edit: It appears to be caused by enabling View -> Video frame -> Keep aspect ratio