I recently purchased the Hauppauge 1212 and am now able to capture shows off my Comcast STB in High Def. But I'm not sure of what settings I should be using.

Constant or variable bitrate (and what settings?) From searching the forums, I understand the difference, but am not sure of recommended settings for action movies and basketball games in HIGH DEF H.264 format (constant max is 13.5 MB and variable max is 20.2). [Most of the prior postings deal with MPEG-2 differences, not H.264] Any rules of thumb that you can suggest?

Also, my HTPC CPU (AMD 4850e) is working at around 50% when capturing. Would selecting variable make CPU usage higher?

My SPDIF input is working for audio, but I can choose between AC3 and AAC. Is one preferable to the other for the types of things I record (basketball games, action movies and Letterman)?

Thanks for any insight or help on these topics.[/b]