Hauppauge WinTV PVR 150 vs. 250

[rubblerubble]

Hello,

I've been holding until post-holiday spending syndrome to purchase the WinTV 250 as it seems to fit the criteria I'm looking for in a capture card (hardware encoding, basic VHS capture, PVR). After glancing in today's Circuit City circular, I happily stumbled upon the 150 version on sale for $70 AR. My question is, what is the real advantage of the 250 as compared to the 150, if any at all? I'm sorry if I'm coming off as being lazy, but this would be a premature, impulse purchase and time is of the essence.

Thank you.

[SHS]

As for advantage over 250, The 150 has new 45 Button Remote / IR Blaster and few other small things.
Stop by SHSPVR forum.

[diven]

This link (also from the SHSPVR site) has a good comparison - http://www.shspvr.com/reviews/comparison/comparison.htm.

I haven't been able to find any reason why anyone would choose the 250 over the 150 (and pay more for the privledge).

I have a PVR-250 myself, but when I got it there was no 150. The 250 is a good card - I like that it doesn't take up much CPU (I'm on an older machine), has good configuration options, and produces good output. I think you'll enjoy which ever one you get.

Diven

[SHS]

diven there is one good reason to choose the 250 over the 150 only if your after Linux or OS/2 Warp support in tell some drivers get made for 150.

[rubblerubble]

Thank you for the responses. I decided to act upon the special price and purchase the 150. So far, I've only set up the PVR functions, but I'm liking it.

[Leoslocks]

I bought the 150 today also. No FM reciever on it which isn't an issue.

I spent the morning installing a cable amplifier and routing new cable to the back room. Killed two birds with one stone. I cleaned up the signal to the TV and have a second cable attached to the computer.

I like having my own personal TV available while on the computer. No install problems or software issues. I used the last available pci slot.

I am curious about how it looks on a large monitor. I am currently using a 15"TFT. I hope to purchase a 19" Samgsung 910T if the prices will drop a little after the hollidays.

[LRD]

Try your 150 with GBPVR. It is free and superior to the included software.

LRD

[Leoslocks]

The included software, Titan TV and WinTV Scheduler seem to be pretty easy and convenient to use. I am downloading the GB personal video recorder now and may give it shot.

[rumplestiltskin]

Looking for a reason to buy the PVR-250 instead of the PVR-150?

1. Audio problems with the 150 (way too loud). No fix available. I've tried all the registry tweaks; they don't work. Hauppauge tech is aware of the problem but can offer no suggestions.

2. mpeg encoding of the 250 superior to the 150 at settings of "DVD Extra Long" and higher compressions.

[SHS]

rumplestiltskin
1: I agree one is problem for some people but, the only thing I can think of is that the Manufacturer that build the card for Hauppauge is mess up the card some how or they have same kind of bad batch of part been not ever one has the this problem.

2: This is a small problem which I think can be eazy fix but we lack Registry Setting to fix or just maybe a bug with firmware.
In any case I found that MPEG file that made are very soild.

[tipstir]

What are you talking about problems? The WinTV PVR-150 with 45 button remote hasn't given me any problems. I've tweak the sharpness to the max from 3 to 7. No problems with the volume nor recording.

I don't use the drivers from SHS, and I am just sticking with Hauppauge drivers. I also have the Media MVP 1000 actually two of them. Plus I use GB-PVR 23.11 on my HTPC P4 2.61GHz.

Picture on the PC and TV from the Media MVP 1000 is excellent.

[rumplestiltskin]

Regarding the audio problems experienced by me (and many others but not everyone) - I would venture a guess that this may be related to the audio hardware in the PC; perhaps the nForce2 chipset (that's in my Shuttle FN41G2) isn't 100% compatible with the audio circuitry in the 150. Perhaps there's a bunch of bad chips that found their way into these cards and Hauppauge just isn't owning up to the problem.

In any case, the problem is, indeed, real for those folks that have experienced it (me included). Failing to get a resolution from Hauppauge tech support, I simply returned the card as defective so it will become Hauppauge's problem and not mine.

The 250 is working well and exhibits none of the audio problem.

[tipstir]

Good, you must be happy then!

Well the PVR-250 uses two chips: Audio and Video
The PVR-150 uses a single chip for Audio/Video

I was using Geforce FX 5200 AGP w/256MB DDR and found it to give me problems with video and it was slow even after using the Coolbit registry hack trick to overclock the Geforce it was slow, so I had returned it and stuck back in my ATI Radeon 7000 AGP and use SB Live! 5.1 Platinum PCI.

All set no problems...

[EAO]

Same Winpvr150 audio problems here. I traded up to the 250. Audio problems solved. Hauppauge is aware of the 150 audio issue but can't seem to fix it. I also wonder if it's a batch of bad chips or perhaps it may be related to hardware... but not exclusively to nf2.

Why?

Because I run an A64 3500+ on a A8V deluxe ver 2.0, with 1024 meg of ddr 3200, 256mb 6800GT OC, Windows XP Pro SP2.

The Hauppauge 150 card was installed on a clean install. I tried everything. Video driver updates, Reg tweaks, different pci slots.

Something is def going on, and if it turns out to be on Hauppauges end, they should replace the bad cards. If it turns out to be system related... that's different.

Whatever the end solution...future potential purchaser's should be made aware of this issue and only buy the card if they know they can return it.

[tipstir]

Well I have onboard video and audio, but like I had said I've disable them both. Installed my own AGP video and PCI audio. Maybe that's why I am not running into these issues that all of you are having..

[SCDVD]

I have heard the the PVR 250 defeats Macrovision. Do you know if the PVR 150 does as well?

[SHS]

Far as I know of only MCE will use make of Macrovision carp sorry I haven't test that SCDVD I was to buzy test min diff size motherboard to see how low this thing can go any you can see it rigth here in below link.
http://www.shspvr.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6893