Hauppauge HD PVR compatibility with PC

[dirk_diggler]

I just got a new Hauppauge HD PVR (1212) and I would like to record HD and SD movies/shows. I have a comcast HD PVR box, and would like to convert some of the shows I have to a format I can watch on my computers, tv's, etc. I have an older computer that I would like to use for a dedicated acquisition box. The specs are as follows:

Dell XPS Gen 4
Intel P4 3.2 GHz (native)... not dual or quad core, but HT capable
2 GB DDR2 SDRAM
500 GB SATA boot drive (may upgrade to 75 GB 10K rpm SATA)
1 TB storage drive

The minimum requirements on the HD PVR box states that at least a Dual Core processor is needed. From what I read in a previous post (http://forum.videohelp.com/topic357514.html) it seems that I can use an older computer to capture video, as long as I have a video card with H.264 decoding on it. Is this true? Also, I just got an upgraded video card, an EVGA 256-P2-N761-TR e-GeForce 8600 GTS. I believe the card was optimized for Vista, but my system is WinXP Pro SP2.

My questions are:
1) Will this PC be sufficient for what I want it to do? Or should I upgrade to a beefier PC. I'm just trying to avoid extra expenses for now, since I do have a spare PC and would like to use it for something other than a coffee stand.

2) Does anybody know if this vid card is compatible with WinXP Pro?

I will appreciate any comments and suggestions.

-Dirk

[jagabo]

The minimum requirements on the HD PVR box states that at least a Dual Core processor is needed. From what I read in a previous post (http://forum.videohelp.com/topic357514.html) it seems that I can use an older computer to capture video, as long as I have a video card with H.264 decoding on it. Is this true?

Yes. You can also use third party capture software that simply takes the compressed stream that arrives over the USB port and saves it to a file. That takes almost no CPU or GPU power.

Also, I just got an upgraded video card, an EVGA 256-P2-N761-TR e-GeForce 8600 GTS. I believe the card was optimized for Vista, but my system is WinXP Pro SP2.

My questions are:
1) Will this PC be sufficient for what I want it to do?

Yes. Capture and watching what you captured should be fine as long as you have drivers and a player that supports DXVA. The capture application and player that comes with the HD PVR support DXVA. You can also use MPCHC with DXVA support enabled.

2) Does anybody know if this vid card is compatible with WinXP Pro?

If nothing else you should be able to get generic Nvidia 8600 drivers that work for XP. I use an 8600 GT in my HTPC with a HD PVR.