Desire to run MULTIPLE tv tuner cards in one PC

[nerys]

Ok I have a Tivo like machine I put together using a hauppauge pvr 250 works great !!

I record everything in mpeg1

I am trying to make a SECOND tv tuner card play nice (Grrr to many shows on different channels at the same darned time)

I found that a Tv wonder VE would play nice if I did some tweaking

I HAVE to load the tv software FIRST if I load wintv first tv wonder will not load but if I load TV wonder first wintv also loads fine and they play nice

I have 2 problems with the wonder ve I am hoping you guys can help with

Problem 1 - recorded sound volume is through the freakin roof !! I mean bust your ears and your speakers kind of loud. DISTORTING the sound kind of loud :-)

Adjusting volume sliders has no effect on RECORDED sound ? suggestions ?

Second intermittantly I get LOTS of dropped frames I do not mind this so much except when it makes the recorded video unwatchable :-)

Now I know why its doing it so no not asking for a fix.

this is a multi purpose low powered machine running ftp server vnc server it serves multiple hauppauge tv set top units and is my file server ad runs seti

its a celery 1.6 with 256mb ram

I plan to stick with celeries I plan to up to 2.0 or 2.2 if the mobo will take it but not much more (need to watch power heat and noise levels and maintanence issue (more pwoer equals more maintanence)

I have to stick with intel since they play nicer with hauppauge cards - the pvr 250 is working near flawlessly so I am not going to screw with that :-)

Sometimes it records fine with little stutters here and there (I can live with that just fine) but I am never around when it records so I have no idea why sometimes it records FINE and sometimes gets 60% or higher dropped frames.

if the ati card is recording its because the hauppauge is also recording (the ati is my conflict resolver so to speak)

Suggestions ? (both recording mpeg1)

the hauppauge if it starts without crashing is flawless no matter how I load the machine (withing reason of course) and I believe this is because the hauppauge has a hardware encoder while the ati uses strictly software

is there another hardware encoding PVR card (must have guide data recording ability like the hauppauge via titan tv and the ati via there own software) that will play nice with the pvr250 ?

also I THINK i get better results if the tv software is minimized while its recording (they then do not have to reder to the screen overlay)

but when they start recording they auto restore. is there a way to make them stay minimized ? or better is there a way for at least the wonder ve card to record WITHOUT the tv viewer even running ie NO rendered display on the screen ? might free up enough resources to make it work acceptably ?

I grabbed a $30 card from a show once and I could not even make it work alone not to speak of with anythig else :-) banished to ebay with it :-)

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I am thinking of upping the power a bit more so I can do other stuff with it if I did that I would love to try and get 3 cards working Grr sunday night 4 shows at the same time grrrr would love to at least get 3 and watch the 4th on the primary pc :-)

but for now I just want to make 2 tuner cards both play nice and record acceptable video at mpeg1 resolution :-)

the pvr250 has to stay its reliable and captures good video. so it has to play nice with the hauppauge with a sub 2ghz intel based pc.

any help is greatly appreciated - Suggestions ?

Chris Taylor
http://www.nerys.com/

[nerys]

Oh forgot to mention. I am running a Radeon 6000 video card from ati in it (the built in video card caused problems with the hauppauge) they suggested ati over nvideo so for this system thats what I went with and it works great

would an All In Wonder ati card improve performance ie is there any hardware assist in encoding in the AIW cards or would it be the same as the radeon ve combo ? also would an AIW cause any problems with the hauppauge ? (PCI All In Wonder)

I would love if this would work since I would fee up my lsat pci slot so I could add desperately needed firewire to this system :-)

Right now I have 3 slots filled with 1 video and 2 tuners :-) mini atx formfactor)

Chris Taylor
http://www.nerys.com/

[edDV]

You might want to consider this approach

http://www.snapstream.com/Community/Articles/medusa/default.asp

[nerys]

you SO freaking rock !! that is SO EXACTLY what I wanted !!!!! WOW

Gonna go read up on that right now !! and I can use mulotiple HAUPPAUGE cards !!! yippee !!

How did you find that ?? I googled till I was blue !!

Chris Taylor
http://www.nerys.com/

[edDV]

I remembered it coming up when reading about Beyond TV.