Choosing the right pci card

[skidog]

Ok, my gf doesn't have a tv in her room, but she has a nice new computer there so i'm planning to run a standard ntsc cable to her room so she can enjoy tv on her desktop computer (she's on wireless internet right now)

I've been looking at a couple of cards and read a couple of the threads here, i just need some help.

computer: xp pro, 3.2 p4 HT, 1gig, 120gb hd, radeon 9550 agp, dvd-rom/cd-rw

Usage:
- watch live broadcast (non-digital) cable tv on a 17"/19" lcd.
- Slight chance she might be capturing one or two shows a week, still trying to talk her into this...
-HAS TO HAVE A REMOTE FOR CHANGING CHANNELS

I just want somthing simple that will work. I myself could easily dive into the deep end here, but if i put something in her computer with 5 different programs to use the card, she'll be to scared to try it.

I've looked at:
- ati(elite)/sapphire/msi theatrix 550 200$/105$ cdn (using other free software?)
- haugpauge 150/250/350 90-240$ cdn
- leadtek tv2000 80$cdn

I'm not cheap, but i don't want to buy to much card for her, on the other hand i definitly don't want to get something that she's going to be frusterating to use, or get crappy picture quality.

Ups and downs for each card would be appreciated, as i might get one for myself at some point.

[reboot]

Get the PVR-150 retail with remote, then add some good PVR software (the bundled stuff works, but not all that well).

[skidog]

after some more reading, the 150 looks to fit the bill. What are some other software options for it? mainly shedualed recordings in mpeg 2.

[reboot]

GB-PVR, Mediaportal, SageTV, BeyondTV, Showshifter...
The first two are free.
My personal pick, is GB-PVR. It will work with the hauppauge remote, and can do MUCH more than just record TV.

BTW, doesn't matter what software you choose, all your recordings will be mpeg-2, because that's all that card does. You can't record avi or mpeg-1 with it, although you CAN get software that will automatically postprocess your recordings to avi or mpeg-1 if you wish (gb-pvr will do this too).

[skidog]

cool thanks, i wasn't sure, cause people where saying they had to use the graph program or something to get the audio to play from the 550 cards, so i wasn't sure about gb-pvr, hopefully the 150 shouldn't have that problem

can u use 2 150 cards ? or what is a good stereo tv tuner card ? ie watch one channel and record another, or record 2 channels at the same time.

[Caple]

For what I read here in the forum two 150 cards will do the job without problems.

[jman98]

I have the Hauppage PVR-350 which is a great card. The only difference between it and the PVR-250 is that PVR-250 can't do TV-out. I don't know about the PVR-150, but the PVR-250 and 350 both can record MPEG-1 and MPEG-2. They can't do AVI. There have been unsubstantiated rumors of people getting external AVI recorders to work with these cards, but no one can confirm it. A few guys said they got them to work for a few minutes only and not very well at that. I tried and failed. Some people have said it is IMPOSSIBLE to record AVI on these cards because the chipset doesn't support it. That AVI stuff is just FYI in case you care. The PVR-350 has excellent picture quality. I have some DVDs I made of the Simpsons from cable TV and they look terrific, as good as the original broadcast. The PVR-350 has a remote. Not sure about the 150 and 250. ATI cards use the CPU for encoding, which I consider inferior to Hauppage, which has a chip on the card to encode your video. I don't know anything about Leadtek.

[reboot]

The Retail versions all have a remote.
The MCE versions may, or may not.
Two 150's (or two of ANY mix of Hauppauge PVR cards) will work with gbpvr.
At various times, I have had various combinations of the 150, 250, and 500 in my machines (sometimes all 3) with no troubles.

BTW, Amazon has the PVR-500 on sale for $134. Cheaper than two PVR-150's, and you get the remote.
(the 500 is essentially two 150's on one card)

[Caple]

I really want to buy a Hauppauge card, I believe the 150 would be good enough for me. But newegg does not ship internationaly, and other sites have a very high shipping price :/
It does work in PAL-M mode, right?

[justinluck]

ATI cards use the CPU for encoding, which I consider inferior to Hauppage, which has a chip on the card to encode your video.

What do you mean? The ATI 550 cards do mpeg2 hardware encoding as well.

[reboot]

Newegg only sells NTSC cards, because they are located in the US.
I would suggest you order directly from Hauppauge, or a european site that uses PAL-M.
The easiest way, would be to have someone purchase the card for you, then ship it.

[Caple]

I have a friend living in the US and I'm talking to him about it.

[reboot]

There are some versions of the PVR-250 that will do PAL (I and M) as well as NTSC.
I happen to have one for sale PM me if interested.

[Bjs]

If you dont want to suffer those pvr cards , try and locate an avermedia dvd ezmaker gold card , comes with crap software , but flawless install .

Dvd capture quality is superb , only usb2 beats it for picture quality .
No audio sync issue's

For better capture and editing results , go to ebay and buy nero6 to cover your capture , dvd burning and basic editing needs .

Total cost in au for both: $110.00
Add $105 for a dual layer dvd burner from sony

But after this you wont need anything else ...

[Caple]

Newegg only sells NTSC cards, because they are located in the US.
I would suggest you order directly from Hauppauge, or a european site that uses PAL-M.
The easiest way, would be to have someone purchase the card for you, then ship it.

I asked the Hauppauge support about the PAL-M thing and they said this:

No model purchased in Europe will work in Brazil (PAL M). Products
considered to have "Universal PAL" will not include PAL M/N. For support of
PAL M/N you need one of the models sold in the US. These use a tuner which supports NTSC and PAL M/N.

I hate this NTSC/PAL-M thing, everything gets messed up for me
At least now I know I can buy a NTSC card from Hauppauge and it will work for me. I believe I've read it also on ATI website, not sure.

[reboot]

I just checked my model number, and it does support PAL M/N.
thanks for clearing that up!