ATi AIW9800Pro or ATi 9800 Pro with Hauppauge PVR-150

[tluxon]

I've put together a new PC and I'm in the final stages of locking down the graphics/video/TV/capture solution.

I've got the 32mb AIW Radeon and the AIW9600Pro, but I'm looking for a little more horsepower for workstation graphics. I'm hoping to softmod a 9800Pro (to a FireGL-X2) and have seen that people have been successful with the AIW9800Pro as well.

I like the idea of separate cards for flexibility, but I'm wondering if I'll be as happy with a 9800Pro/PVR-150 solution as I would with the AIW.

By the way, I don't really need another PVR because I have 3 ReplayTVs and the 2-tuner HD-DVR Motorola DCT-6412. I just want an analog cable TV window on my PC's desktop and the ability to record/capture high quality DVD-spec video.

Any input or comments are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Tim

[Hellbore]

I just want (blah blah blah) ...and the ability to record/capture high quality DVD-spec video.

Get the Hauppauge PVR 150 or 250. You will be much happier with the results of capturing. Plus it is rock-solid. All-in-weiner cards use the CPU too much so your captures can get screwed up by other things going on in your computer. Just get the separate ones.

Plus, ATI has the annoying habit of making their all-in-weiner cards use a slightly slower clock speed than the normal card. For example, I bet you the Radeon 9800 AIW is slower than the normal Radeon 9800. I read about this somewhere but I'm too lazy to find it. Just believe me, get the Hauppauge (also known as Housepig or Hotpig). I have personally used both the Housepig and the All-In-Weiner and the Housepig was hands down a better solution. You just capture and then you can author and burn. The files it makes are DVD compliant. Hooray for housepig.

[reboot]

Don't get the 150, too many problems. (search a few threads here to read more).
The 250 is an excellent choice!

[lordsmurf]

ATI and Hauppauge both put out pretty much identical quality. One is pure hardware, one is partial hardware, that's the only difference (has zero affect on quality). If you don't need two, then don't get two. It sounds like you already said you only need one card.

I prefer the ATI software, as well as the video filters it has available at capture.

[tluxon]

...
I prefer the ATI software, as well as the video filters it has available at capture.

I also really like the ATI software. Do the Hauppauge cards allow a similar amount of tweaking for captures?

Don't get the 150, too many problems. (search a few threads here to read more).
The 250 is an excellent choice!

Is there that much difference between the 150 and the 250? I was also looking seriously at the PVR-USB2 for intermittent use on my notebook - How does that compare if I don't mind the external box?

Thanks,

Tim

[reboot]

I can't comment, as I have no experience with USB capture. Again, there are threads here dealing with USB and it's associated problems.

I just want an analog cable TV window on my PC's desktop and the ability to record/capture high quality DVD-spec video.

The internal 250 takes almost 100% of the load off your CPU, and encodes directly to mpeg-2, so no additional encoding time needed.
Even some cheap BT8x8 cards, with the right software, can capture full D1 DVD mpeg-2. I do it with WinDVR 3.

[Hellbore]

Well maybe I did something wrong when I was using the AIW card, but I just have had better luck with the Housepig so far.

I did not know there were problems with the Housepig 150 card. I have a 250 myself, and I had heard they were pretty much the same as the 150 for capturing mpeg2, so I didn't know... Now I feel bad because a friend of mine just bought 2 of the PVR 150 cards, one for his dad and one for him, because he liked my 250 so much and heard the 150 was the same thing

[reboot]

There's numerous people on this forum that bought the 150, and have them stashed in a drawer somewhere, waiting for Hauppauge to find a fix.
I just got the 250 (a PAL only version) and I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the software.
I do find that it's full D1 captures are slightly better quality than my BT8x8 card, but I have to re-encode to NTSC, so I think I'm losing any advantage I may have had, especially in time spent encoding.
Currently doing experiments on my 3 dvd players, to see if they'll successfully play a full PAL dvdr, then I won't have to re-encode. I may not be 100% compliant, but I'll be able to watch what I cap!