DONT BUY HAUPPAUGE THEY SUCK...GET A AVERMEDIA STEREO!!!!!

[locco]

Ive tried ever Hauppauge and they are all low quality and hard to get working...some ppl like them I know but save your time and money and trust me...buy an AVERMEDIA STEREO for 40$. Its the best investment you will ever make for technology like this....also make sure you put you TV cards in slot 1 or 2 and dont crowd you cards give em room...later!!!

[Dave B]

Maybe you can help the guys on this thread with their AverMedia problems.

http://www.vcdhelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=112831

Funnily enough, Hauppuage's WinTV card has always been hassle free when I've used it.

[locco]

Whatever works! Ive tried all the HAUPPAUGE and they are cheaply made and not very user friendly...also take a look @ the instructions, it looks like a 3rd grader wrote them....thanks anyway...goodluck!

[Dave B]

Whilst the manuals, presentation and customer support leave a lot to be desired, the Hauppauge WinTV card is based around the BT878 chipset.

There's not much better under $100.

[locco]

My AVERMEDIA was 40$ and looks the same as HAUPPAUGE......

[SHS]

locco wait a one dran min are you said you got WinTV-PVR 250 which not even come to a AverMedia being AverMedia is AVI card where the PVR 250 is MPEG2 card and what do you mean hard to get work I own Hauppauge card for all must as long Hauppauge has been around the 6+ yrs ago.

[bbb]

Yup,

You know it too SHS. Hauppauge PVR-250 is a PAIN in the Buttocks to get to work.

[SHS]

Yes that ture for some user 10% of the time they don't install the CD first which has to done with PVR 250 then update the drivers I'm working on getting this change being the web update don''t come with Hardware INF which setup the PVR 250 hardware.
Most people automatic download the latest drivers then try install them which not gone to work with PVR 250 so they going have one h@ll time getting it to work after word even steve point this out.

[vhelp]

morning all.

shs,
yeah, that about right actually. I got mine when they first came out, which
was in 1996. It has a timestamp/datestamp on the shield of 96, and mine
I got in Summer of '96. Anyways. . .

Locco,
My first Haupp was in '96, and the installation WAS a snap. You just got
ta read the instructions - at least once!
* first, you install your Graphics card
* next, you graphics drivers
* next, if required, the correct Direct-X (usuualy, though, they install it
during the cap card driv. instllation)
* next, you THEN, proceed to install the Haup card
* next, you SKIP the boot-up driver installation (SKIP IT) (Haup card)
* next, you install it's drivers (after you SKIPPED driv install during boot)
* next, install the software (unless it did ALL driv/software installations above)
* if you don't already have it, you need the VFW driver

HISTORY:
I remember in the old days, the first card required a MEM address change
to work w/ some graphics cards. Mine at the time, was an Diamond Speedstar Pro.
Then, it was an STB Velocity 128 PCI NTSC 1.82 w/ TV out - though I
never used it. It had (still have it) an RCA and S-Video plug area.
I don't know what the S-Video is for (weather its for IN or OUT) but I seem
to have lost the drivers for.
Well, anyways, that's enough for history on my TV card endeavors.

But, between getting the card, installing it (them all) and up and running,
has pretty much always ben a snap, and ranging from the following:
* Intel: 486 D2 33Mhz to 486 D4 100Mhz,
* Pentiums: 75Mhz, 90Mhz 233MMX
* AMD: 233MMX, T-Brd, Athlon XP's
.
.
Give or take a few cpu's etc if memory serves me well - don't quote me

My '96 Haup was used mainly for watching TV - and it was FUN, FUN, FUN!
...was THE only person who had this techknowlegy MILES around.

About the ONLY card I was a tad bit dissapointed w/ is my WinTV PVR usb.
...just too many blocks and color was washed out on the bright side when
viewd on PC monitor.

Currently, I mess w/ the WTVGO (TV GO) and other cards.
That's about raps it up w/ my experience.

-vhelp

[SatStorm]

I own a Hauppauge win tv primio fm and it is probably one of the best cards I ever had! I use it only for grabbing with virtualdub and works amazing well! Grabbs hours without drop frames and never had a prob with it in win98se and win2k.

[locco]

From my experience I would NERVER EVER recommend a HAUP there is such better alternatives out there, please take my advise, and yes I did read the instructions vhelp thx, if you dont want to waste 24 hours of your life trying to get this damn thing to work get a AVER card....and take my advise listed above on istallation....thx for you replys fellas! I feel loved!

[Fozzee]

Hi
SHS you state AverTV is an avi card earlier in the thread.
It is NOT
It is an mpeg capture card. But it can capture AVI too. You get better results with PowerVCR2 tho.
I have been on the net with Loco for almost 3 days solid trying to get these cards working. The poor lads been up all day and night. I'm pleased it is finally sorted 4 cards later

Fozzee

[SHS]

Oh Fozzee AverTV dose not have hardware MPEG encoder chip nor host MPEG encoder it only dose REALtime Software MPEG encoding you have use apps like PowerVCR, WinDVR, etc, etc which are Software base MPEG encoder with have HIGH CPU useage in order to record MPEG.

[Anonymous65]

Yes, a TV tuner card with the BT848 chip (ALL TV tuner cards that costs less than $100) are basically all the same card. They might have a different capture application, but they all send uncompressed AVI video to the PC.

The PVR-250 is totally different. It has a complete audio and video processor and encoder onboard, and send a highly compressed mpeg stream to the PC. If you want to get this highly compressed mpeg file to make a VCD, SVCD or DVD from a BT848 card, you will need a very powerful PC and a real-time capture software and encoder, and even then, the quality will be lower than when it's done in hardware.

[Fozzee]

Hi
I never said it did have an mpeg encoder on board.??
Maybe I didn't explain myself properly but I meant it captures mpeg better than avi. Don't know what u mean by high CPU usage cos obviously capturing will take up a lot of CPU.

I think the only point trying to be made here is, for a cheap Tv card the AverTv does a great job of capturing.

Fozzee

[SHS]

Fozzee read your own words on which you said

"SHS you state AverTV is an avi card earlier in the thread.
It is NOT
It is an mpeg capture card. But it can capture AVI too."

3rd line what did you say "It is an mpeg capture card" wrong the AverTV is not a MPEG card it and RAW AVI card.

With the AverTV
Video input is SVideo > BT8x8 > Harddisk as and Raw AVI File.
Video input is SVideo > BT8x8 > Raw AVI > Soft MPEG Encoder > Harddisk as and MPEG File.
Video input is SVideo > BT8x8 > Raw AVI > DivX Encoder > Harddisk as and DivX AVI File.
Audio is done by the host CPU.
The CPU automatic joint the two

Now with the PVR 250
Video input is SVideo > iTVC15 > MPV--\
------------- which automatic joint the two > Harddisk as and MPEG File.
Audio is done by the iTVC15 > MPA------/

[Fozzee]

At the end of the day I get great results with the Avertv studio when capturing mpeg2.
End of story.

[SatStorm]

Lucky you
Also, lucky me, because I was able to do the same, the very first day I bought win tv primio FM from Hauppauge . (with nanodvr and winvcr 2)
The point is that sometimes hardware is crazy. It works perfect for me and don't work at all to someone else. It is a matter of luck I think.
Also, those cards are good for capture to avi and then encode to mpeg. If you want direct mpeg, then PVR cards are the way to go!

[vhelp]

Evening all.

Yes, I agree... that some i/o cards will or will not work in some PC setups
but to a point.
.
.
Case experience? I/O Magic's PC PVR (PCPVR)
I tried for months to get this thing working, but finaly gave up on it cause
after all, the card's software and drivers said Windows 98SE and higher.
And, this card only ships w/ WDM driver - obvious! But, for some reason, I
thought that I read somewheres that you can get it to work in Window 98.
Well, long story short, after giving up on it approx a year ago, I decided
to play around w/ it some more on my 2nd pc. Guess, what, after hours of
diddling around, IT WORKD!

The moral of this story is that you have to have the right Driver and Software
to operate certain I/O cards. With the PCPVR card, I can capture w/ it, using
the VFW drivers, EVEN THOUGH it states and comes w/ WDM drivers ONLY. If you
know your way around a PC, AND software/driver issues, etc. you can accomplish
almost anything! I'm a hard person to give up on things. Once I get going,
there's no stopping me, IF I really want something to work, hence the PCPVR.
The bottom line is, if the software or driver (driver mostly) doesn't know your
i/o device (genericly speaking) you'll probably NOT get it working. And/or, if
you don't have a better than average understanding of Driver installation or
issues experience, you'll most likely NOT get the device to work for your given
system. As I've said, this happend to me. But over time, I built up:
* pateance
* driver installation and issue
* experience w/ PC setup and fussyness
* and, a sence of awareness (way around)
And, because of this (above list) I was successful at installing and operating
my PCPVR card.

As to the AVERTV card, I've done some research on it. Though it looked good
at first, I found an issue that stopped me from given it a try. It utilizes Line
Doubling in it's 720x480 capture. In other words, it captures at 720x240
and doubles the 240 up to 480. I can do this w/ software.
And, the AVERTV captures via sotware MPEG1/2 - no hardware. But capture to AVI
as well.

I believe that the issue w/ a previous bad expeirence w/ the Haup card, COULD have
ben installed and working properly, but that the experience just wasn't enough to
accomplish a successful install. Oh well.

For most peoples patiance, they're limited, and are given up to another card that
works. And, that's fine.

-vhelp

[therick]

I, too have installed and relied upon a Haupauge card for a good long while now. Never had a bit of problems. Installed it easily before I knew HALF of what I know about PCs/video now.

skittleson-
"a TV tuner card with the BT848 chip (ALL TV tuner cards that costs less than $100) are basically all the same card"

hmmmm. That is what I was thinking. But it seems like locco is comparing a relatively simple card (basic TV Tuner) to a MUCH more complex card (hardware MPEG1 + 2).

[tuco1979]

Hi
I never said it did have an mpeg encoder on board.??
Maybe I didn't explain myself properly but I meant it captures mpeg better than avi. Don't know what u mean by high CPU usage cos obviously capturing will take up a lot of CPU.

I think the only point trying to be made here is, for a cheap Tv card the AverTv does a great job of capturing.

Fozzee

Not entirely true. Capturing either mjpeg or huffy uses low cpu usage with my wintv card. I only have a 650 but I never get above 40% using mjpeg. Also any card can capture mpeg1/2 but needs to be really fast in order to get decent quality

[DVWannaB]

It all comes down to patience......well just a little. I had/have used Hauppauge WinTV FM & recently PVR-250. FM was a breeze to set up on my Win98 & Win2000. PVR-250 had a hick-up. I asked a few questions to people on this board and checked the company website and......wallah......some of the best mpeg-2 caps ever. Sometimes a little patience gets stretched a bit, in that case just take it or send it back, when you have had enough messing with it. It does not mean the product sucks or is inferior to others on the market in its class, it just had config problems with your particular machine.

Finally let me just say that HAUPPAUGE ROCKS 8)

[kreg]

Seems there are alot of hauppauge users in here. Perhaps i could get some help with my recent OS change.

http://www.vcdhelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=113521

I agree that the hauppauge win tv pci is a great card. locco, i do belive that your main troubles are from the bundled software that comes with your cards that you are trying. try to think differently about the card since all bt8x8 uncrompressed captures typically behaive the same. in my shop, i only use the hardware out of the box and toss the bundled software aside. i use the manufactures latest driver and focus only on 3rd party applications and interface them through the driver. i don't bother with complex bunddled capture software as they all have that wonderfull feeling of being "proprietary".

Mr_Kreg

[locco]

My pc is brandddddddddddddddd spanking new...read my components page...if hauppauge doesnt work for me its sucks!

[Fozzee]

Hi
Don't let people con you that you require an expensive Tv card.
AVERTV STUDIO is the biz I capture to mpeg2 7500 bitrate then encode after.
I use PowerVCR2 to capture then TMPGEnc 2.58 Plus to encode. I get F****** Excellent results.

Fozzee

[locco]

Me to fozzee!!! I capture @ 10 mb/s and it owns!!!!!!!!!! only payed 35 bucks!!!!!!!! also AVERMEDIA is 3 spots above HAUPPUAGE on TOP COMMENTED on vcdhelp CAPTURE CARDS page....


SHS is a muppet....

[lusid]

OK, gotta chime in on this one:
First, lets compare apples and apples, no WinTV PVR.

Hardware wise, they're pretty much the same. I've got 2 Hauppauge WinTV-FM (401) cards and two Avermedia TV Stereo cards.

Capture quality is pretty much identical on both cards.

The Hauppauge card is a little more expensive:
Hauppauge WinTV 401: $100
Avermedia Studio: $80

The $50 avermedia Stereo is a better deal than the $50 WinTV-Go, since the WinTV-Go is mono.

The Avermedia Studio has a better remote than the Hauppauge WinTV model 401, and it's a little cheaper.

The Audio out from the avermedia is softer than the Hauppauge.

The Avermedia comes with software mpeg recording/pvr software. (I've never gotten it to work, but maybe thats just me)

My conclusion: the avermedia is a better bargain, esp at the low end. But they're both good cards.

[locco]

Not only is he right but hes RIGHT!!!!
Dont even buy the STUDIO package....unless you want a gay remote for 40$ just buy the STEREO package on www.buy.com for 35 bannanas!!!!

[locco]

Oh YA and KREG

NO SH*T!!

[Nelson37]

A PC is a device composed of many, widely varying pieces of hardware, running on OS composed of many, widely varying bits of software and drivers, operated by users of many, widely varying skill levels.

To state that ANY piece of hardware or software is bad (or good) based on ONE experience is simply invalid.

Obviously some people agree with locco, and some disagree.

Hauppage has been around a long time and has a good reputation for quality - that doesn't mean they don't ever make a bad product, but it does indicate they would be less likely to, and more apt to fix driver/hardware problems than some low-buck company.