Hauppauge HVR-1600 HD tuner with MCE 2005

[rallynavvie]

I just added this card to my system so that I could toy with OTA HD programming. Here are my first impressions:

The installation next to my existing PVR-250MCE went just fine. The HVR-1600 showed up with the drivers I had downloaded from the Hauppauge site on the first boot. I didn't have an HD antenna yet so I was just going to use it as a second tuner on my analog cable. However the two wouldn't play together when recording simultaneously. I was using a good, non-amped splitter for the analog cable signal so perhaps the terrible picture on one card was due to the splitter?

For now I've disabled the PVR-250 while I play with the HVR-1600. I'll mess with swapping cables to them later to verify the split signal was the issue. If it was then will I need to run another coax cable from another part of the house? Aren't they all just split from one point anyway or do I need an amped splitter?

I got my HD antenna today from NewEgg, just a decent Terk unit:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882145018
Unfortunately MCE is telling me that my reception on most of the big broadcast antennas is only 1 out of 6 "bars" of strength, however a few are 4 bars. The single bar channels won't even come in, but the 4 bar channels stutter so bad it gives me headaches to watch. I can't imagine that 4/6 strength would be that bad so I'm asking others with HD tuners to let me know what their experience is like with varying signal strengths with MCE. I'm thinking perhaps it has something to do with PureVideo not liking the HD signal? Maybe my nVidia MPEG2 codec?

I'm using a GeForce 7600GT for my output via DVI to a 1080p LCD TV.

[edDV]

Put your address into www.antennaweb.org to find direction and distance to the transmitter. If you're in the boonies, you will need an outdoor antenna.

Is this MCE software? Did you try the Hauppauge software?

I'm curious about this card but can't use it here. A ridge blocks reception.

[vhelp]

Last time: May 19, 2007 8:20pm

Hay, good evening everyone.

First, I want you all to know that I am using an outdoor antenna inside
my 2nd floor apt. Antenna is in my bedroom.

I've been using the HVR-1600 for more than a month now. It's a good
card. But, I've been way too tired lately to bother posting any review
for it. I also managed to develope a patch tool for it because of the
buggyness of the wint2000 recorded mpegs, but have not posted anything
about it nor the tool, itself. Again, too tired. I was going to, today,
but I have not had time to refine it to a point worth posting, officially.
Its not like there's a ton of requests for such a tool. At least there
is the VideoReDo app to get you by, but that route requires re-writing
a new mpeg file. And if your file is big or huge.. you get the picture.

I have no idea what MCE is, and i'm pretty sure that I am not using it.
So I can't help in that department.

I'm using the wintv2000 software that came with it. I know that there
is the GBPVR and SageTV but all these and *other* 3rd-party software
require the INTERNET (for the tv guide, I think) and I don't want my
*new* XP Home to be anywhere near the internet, less I want to risk
contamination. So, I guess that is why I am using the wintv2000 software
as my primary hdtv capture app.

Through trial n error, I have learnt a few things about the HVR-1600 and
hdtv in general. There are a lot of things that can sway your performance
or mileage, in terms of getting a finished hd-mpeg video.. be it with a
1280 x 720p or 1920 x 1080i/p format, and the worse being 704 x 480i
because these are SD-converted or DN/UP scaled and they just plain suck.
If you are getting these [704 x 480] don't be too discoraged. you are
bound to get some in your antenna's channel reception. Just concentrate
on receiving your primary channels.. ie, CBS; NBC; ABC; PBS; CW; because
these will be your HD-quality channels, depending on your area, of course.

Also, when tuning to an HD-quality channel, and depending on your area,
your channel may have sub-channels. Be watchful of them because your
bitrate (quaity) of those may suffer, a little. In my area, I have a
channel group that consists of 4 channels. And all those channels
(sub-channels) are 704 x 480 and between 2000 and 4000 bitrate.

In my opinion, the best time to search (tune) for hdtv channels is during
the evening hours. During the day, traffic (Airport and Radio, etc) get
a lot more use than they do, evening onward. But, later hours can be
no good, too, because some areas will shut down (or, decrease) their
wattage broadcast, and if you try to tune to station (ie, past 11pm) you
could be pulling your hair our for nothing because there is nothing to
receive.

Also, depending on seasons, your mileage will vary, depending on how
far you are from the main antenna. Channels might come in during the
mid cold months, while in Spring and Summer, nothing. That is the
case with my area. PBS and NBC come in the Mid Winter, but litteraly
disapear in the cosmos, aftwards. I was able to capture Heroes, and
some PBS documentaries during those Mid Winter weeks, and now I can't
get anything.

So, adjusting for channel reception (for some people's location) can
be a tricky thing.

So, if you are having trouble receiving *any* major channels, you can
bet that you fall inside these causes.

If you are starting out with an hdtv capture card, and you have not
had an external hdtv receiver before, than depending on the capture
card, you will have some trouble tuning to hd stations. I have several
hdtv receivers. And so, I have some experiences, in terms of expetation
and understanding. What I'm trying to say is that some cards will
not be easy to adjust the channels in. The HVR-1600 is difficult in
that area. You really can't adjust the hd channels like you can on
some hdtv receivers. Either the card will set the station or it won't.
Other cards might provide better options in channel reception adjustments.

I once wrote here, (somewhere) that I use one of my hdtv receivers to
search and bring in the channels that are available in my area, according
to the direction I point my antenna to. It helps to be able to adjust the
antenna direction while reviewing the receiver's signal strength gauge.
So, the receiver acts like a guide for me. That's the easy part. Then, after
cataloging the channels that I can tune to, I set up my hdtv card [hvr-1600]
to the tuned anntena, and let the software tune them in. Otherwise, using
the hvr-1600 on its own without knowledge of exact direction and its strength
thereof, you will have problems finding channels. You might be able to
just point your antenna to a given degree, etc., but that will not be enough
if you are in an area that is already difficult (distant) to a station
and tuning in to it. So, having something external, IMHO, is a bonus.

RESOURCES:
** FROM: https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?p=1459554#1459554
** SUBJ: Question about MyHD cards
** FROM: https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?p=1527071#1527071
** SUBJ: HDTV - Adjusting Antenna for better reception

I can't think of anything else at the moment. I hope that this much helps shed
some light to your situation.

-vhelp 4276

[rallynavvie]

MCE is Windows Media Center Edition. I'm running MCE 2005, the last version built around XP Pro before they went to Vista with it. I don't have plans to upgrade to Vista in the near future so this is it. I originally ran a MythTV box around my PVR-250 but I wanted to consolidate so now I use MCE so that I have both an HTPC and a Windows XP Pro workstation.

I don't use the Hauppauge software for TV playback obviously and I don't trust installing it as it may take over the card for its use rather than allow Media Center to use it. Media Center does have HD tuner support as it has a very simple walkthrough to program the digital OTA channels. It scans the ones you're trying to receive and gives you that signal strength feedback in the form of "bars" that I mentioned above. It does this continuously to allow you to adjust the antenna for better reception.

I've already hit antennaweb.org and other locals have already told me that the major stations are broadcast from almost due south of me. The problem is likely that I have an east-facing apartment on the north side of the apartment block so the antenna is facing through approximately 100 feet of apartment. I am on the top floor (2nd floor) so there isn't anyone above me to interfere.

What sort of feedback does the Hauppauge software give you on signal strength? Would my 4/6ths compare to that somehow (66% strength)? If I can get confirmation that channels come in OK with that much signal strength then I'll know that the problem lies somewhere other than the signal strength.

[edDV]

...

Also, depending on seasons, your mileage will vary, depending on how
far you are from the main antenna. Channels might come in during the
mid cold months, while in Spring and Summer, nothing. That is the
case with my area. PBS and NBC come in the Mid Winter, but litteraly
disapear in the cosmos, aftwards. I was able to capture Heroes, and
some PBS documentaries during those Mid Winter weeks, and now I can't
get anything.

So, adjusting for channel reception (for some people's location) can
be a tricky thing.

On this subject, I've been monitoring the AVS forums noting other's experiences especially for long distance reception. The area between San Francisco and Sacramento California is known for thick ground fog in winter months. Observers in the Vacaville and Davis regions report poor reception for San Francisco at ~60 miles no matter how large an antenna is used. Meanwhile, I've been helping a friend that lives over 115 miles from the San Francisco transmitters but above the fog layer at 3000 ft. Once the directional antenna is pointed properly, he can get >50% for San Francisco channels year around. There would be no way to point that antenna without knowing the DTV channel number and setting it manually first. Channel scanning only sees the stations where your antenna is pointing.

[FulciLives]

I got the Hauppauge HVR-1600 for free ... I was a BETA tester. This was thanks to user SHS who runs the unofficial Hauppauge website: http://www.shspvr.com/

My impressions?

Not ready for prime time.

I had many many many issues getting this thing to work correctly and finally gave up on it. It is a POS although the analog side seems to work OK at least when I tested it with some VHS captures. Appears to be like the WinTV PVR 250 in that regards.

But all the HDTV captures ... pure hell. This thing just does not work well at all!

I hope you kept the sales receipt.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[edDV]

I've already hit antennaweb.org and other locals have already told me that the major stations are broadcast from almost due south of me. The problem is likely that I have an east-facing apartment on the north side of the apartment block so the antenna is facing through approximately 100 feet of apartment. I am on the top floor (2nd floor) so there isn't anyone above me to interfere.

How far to the south are the stations? Ask others which antennas they find successful.

[edDV]

For USA viewers, you can get Grade B contour maps from the FCC website.
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/audio/tvq.html

These maps give an indication of the limits for medium signal strength for a moderate outside antenna. Greater didtance is possible with more directional antennas and signal amplifiers.

They don't adjust for mountains or other barriers. The database behind www.antennaweb.org is based on topographic and transmitter power data which makes it more predictive.

This contour map is for KGO-DT Ch24 San Francisco

[vhelp]

..It is a POS although..

I'm sorry that you threw yours away.. you could'ov helped beta test my patch
tool. Oh well. But..

When I first got the thing, I too, thought the same thing. But mainly
because I did not know the x,y and z of things. Now that I do, (sort of)
I get better results in terms of operations and MPEGs.

True, the captured mpeg's are pretty buggy. And when played on their,
the effective quality of playback will depend and vary from user to user
and their computer setup.

In the patch tool I've been working on, I describe the problems and causes,
based on my observations. And the patch, for the most part, works flawless.
But my belief goes with the fact the its on account of the mpeg decoder, or
rather, the mpeg's HD-Ready decoder and the decoder that the *calling*
software is using. For instance, on my XP Home system, WMP by default
uses the MainConcept mpeg decoder.. the one that comes with the Hauppauge
card via driver cd disc. When I play the wintv2000 captured (PS) mpeg's,
WMP uses the MainConcept mpeg decoder, and the playback (in most cases)
is flawless.

But, take that same flawless played back (PS) mpeg inside another app, such
as DGIndex, dvd2avi, VirtualDub-MPEG2, or even VideoReDo, and the results
are corrupt or buggy playback, if that. But, sometimes, even WMP will
not play back the mpeg and instead will produce a black screen. This is
the 2nd side, effect. And I account this to poor or corrupt recordings
of the (PS) mpegs.

The botton line, Fulci, is two-fold. The mpeg decoder and wintv2000
recording software. It's too sensitive to outbrakes (week or intermitent)
signal strength.

Now, I've been performing my own test of investigative work. Some of it
I have vaguely described, above. But in terms of playback, I have invested
a lot of time, trail n error and debuging the (PS) mpeg playback for the
popular tools like DGIndex and VirtualDub-MPEG2. And after applying the
patch (HVR1600Patch) these tools now open and properly report the mpeg's
detail, not to mention, you can now process your mpegs, which I'll assume
is for re-encoding purposes.. ie, divX / XviD / new mpeg format, etc.

-vhelp 4277

[FulciLives]

I still have it but I'm in no mood to try it all over again.

Kinda low on HDD space right now BUT I plan on buying a new HDD very soon (knock on wood) so once I do that perhaps I will give it another try *sigh*

So any tips you can give (vhelp) on what driver version to use and how to use/apply your patch will be helpful.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[rallynavvie]

At $80 it's not worth returning it when the analog tuner on it works OK.

However now that I'm using it as my primary tuner I'm seeing that the recording isn't as good as my PVR-250. Most channels are coming in darker and with less contrast. Are there settings for each individual card somewhere in MCE?

And those of you using dual tuners how are you feeding your analog cable signal in to the two tuners? Are you splitting the signal behind your PC? What sort of splitter are you using? The one that I suspected was not working for me was a RadioShack unit:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103924&cp

Unfortunately with my travel schedule I don't have time to mess with it for a couple weeks but hopefully I'll be able to research the issue a little more online during that time.

[rallynavvie]

EDIT:
Just did a complete driver cleaning of both my Hauppauge cards and my video card and channels that are showing 4/6ths signal strength are playing much better. I had a feeling that the issue may lie in the drivers somewhere since I have hardware encoding/decoding across the board for HD as well as SD signals.

Now I need to figure out how I'm to get the other channels to show up. I really only want the big networks like NBC, ABC, and CBS but instead I'm getting FOX (which I don't think is DT) and some other garbage channel. The strange thing is that the FOX antenna is within a few degrees of the other stations so if I can pick up one I should be able to pick up the lot. They're only something like 30 miles away.

[edDV]

30 miles needs more antenna than you are using. Simple as that.
Research antenna solutions. FCC says you are entitled to roof access.

[rallynavvie]

I think it's excluded within my lease agreement. Dishes are allowed on balconies but I haven't seen them on any other part of the complex. It would be nice to have roof access for a directional ATSC antenna, I wouldn't be opposed to dropping another $100 on something like that.

I guess I'm also going to look into digital cable subscriptions as long as they provide full access to major network HD programming. At least then I wouldn't have to worry about bad weather or antennas for my reception.

[edDV]

I think it's excluded within my lease agreement. Dishes are allowed on balconies but I haven't seen them on any other part of the complex. It would be nice to have roof access for a directional ATSC antenna, I wouldn't be opposed to dropping another $100 on something like that.

I guess I'm also going to look into digital cable subscriptions as long as they provide full access to major network HD programming. At least then I wouldn't have to worry about bad weather or antennas for my reception.

The HVR-1600 isn't adequate for cable. It has no QAM digital tuning capablity (i.e. direct tune local DTV stations without cable box).

It will be a fight but your landlord is required to provide you access to free DTV reception. Same goes for neighborhood antenna restrictions.

Print this out and show it to your landlord.
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html

If they object, hire a lawyer to write a letter.

[vhelp]

rallynavvie,

If you are getting (any) of the major network stations, then you are getting
HD. Either 1280 x 720 or 1920 x 1080, but not 704 x 480.

If you are receiving 704 x 480 in your details report, then your mpeg tool
is in error. Most will report this detail because they do not include the
latest in HD routines, and are probably reading the mpeg structure (container)
a little off-balance in some way. Lets also remember the wintv2000's buggyness.

If you run your mpegs through VideoReDo and run them through its:

--> \tools\quickstream fix..

..the *new* mpeg should report the proper details, and you should probably be
reading something like:

--> 1280 x 720, 15000 bitrate, 59.940 fps, VBV: 914, etc.
--> 1920 x 1080, 19000 bitrate, 29.970 fps, VBV: ?, etc.


Otherwise, you'll be getting something like 704 x 480, 12000 bitrate,
vbv: 224, etc. in your reports.

-vhelp 4278

[otaota]

For USA viewers, you can get Grade B contour maps from the FCC website.
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/audio/tvq.html

These maps give an indication of the limits for medium signal strength for a moderate outside antenna. Greater didtance is possible with more directional antennas and signal amplifiers.

They don't adjust for mountains or other barriers. The database behind www.antennaweb.org is based on topographic and transmitter power data which makes it more predictive.

This contour map is for KGO-DT Ch24 San Francisco

Unfortunately, in many cases the FCC contours do not provide a realistic expectation of channel availability. The actual coverage of KGO-DT looks more like the following:

As you can see, the coverage does not extend to Stockton or Sacramento nearly as much as the FCC contour would have you believe.

_______________
Chuck

[otaota]

The area between San Francisco and Sacramento California is known for thick ground fog in winter months. Observers in the Vacaville and Davis regions report poor reception for San Francisco at ~60 miles no matter how large an antenna is used. Meanwhile, I've been helping a friend that lives over 115 miles from the San Francisco transmitters but above the fog layer at 3000 ft. Once the directional antenna is pointed properly, he can get >50% for San Francisco channels year around. There would be no way to point that antenna without knowing the DTV channel number and setting it manually first. Channel scanning only sees the stations where your antenna is pointing.

115 miles is really amazing! Being up on the mountain really helps.

The following image shows a Sutro tower channel coverage in the Auburn area. The higher altitude spots on the western slopes actually get much better coverage than places lower down, even though Auburn is much further away than Roseville or Sacramento (purple or no-color is very weak coverage, blue is strong enough to be fetched with a rooftop antenna).

It just goes to show that when it comes to OTA reception, height and the right location are your best friends.

_______________
Chuck

[edDV]

It helps to be west facing and 3000 ft up (>1000 ft above Stutro Tower). The blue you see in the upper right of the Auburn plot indicates increased elevation. Unfortunately I have a ridge blocking reception southwest from my home.

Begs the question as to where you obtained those maps?

Sutro Tower

[rallynavvie]

Begs the question as to where you obtained those maps?

They look like Google Earth overlays. Where did you get the overlay data for those and please tell me Dallas has something similar.

[edDV]

Back in 2000 I saw this small booth at NAB in Las Vegas for a company called Decisionmark. They were showing products for broadcasters that modeled DTV transmission coverage using various antenna location and power scenarios. Their software used government topographic data and RF propagation models to predict coverage to the local neighborhood level.

They were also announcing a joint venture with Intel and CEA to launch user level software to predict DTV reception at the house address level and recommend the type of antenna required. Their new service "TitanTV" was going to add custom program guides based on predicted reception.

A 2000 article on the foundations of TitanTV and later antennaweb.org.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2000_August_21/ai_64415692

These are the kinds of data www.antennaweb.org used to predict individual channel reception at a particular address but macro plots like those above were then only available for paying customers. Maybe there are other sources for this data now.


PS: Learn something every day

For DBS Satellite customers ... This database determines whether you get a local or national network channel in the "Waiver" process.
http://www.decisionmark.com/SHVA.aspx

[otaota]

Begs the question as to where you obtained those maps?

You can find maps for the top 261 metros here. They are all available for FREE!!! However, you'll need to get set up with BitTorrent in order to download the files. Once you do that, the files are amazingly fun and accurate.

It gets really cool when you rotate and tilt the Google Earth world to examine the maps, but you'll need a beefy graphics card to do it. Although I'm guessing most of the people lurking on this forum have decent video setups . It also helps to turn up the vertical exaggeration in the Google Earth options.

_______________
Chuck

[edDV]

Thanks much.

This should be useful to many.

[rallynavvie]

Brilliant, those are wonderful tools.

[rallynavvie]

Last Saturday before leaving for the long weekend I thought I had my FOX signal, the only digital signal I can seem to get well enough, tuned in pretty well as I was watching some NASCAR programming in HD with surround. I was watching "live", so whatever small delay the recording/playback does with it, and it was running smooth with no issues. No hiccups in playback, CPUs running at less than 3% so the HD hardware decoding was in effect, and the audio was coming in great through my receiver which recognized is as an AC3 feed.

While I was out for the weekend I set up a single show to record and it did so seemingly fine. I was excited to get back home and play it back to see the show in HD since my test last weekend seemed to go OK. However playback was stuttered, but only after skipping around the program or when Comskip jumped a commercial segment. At first I gave up and stopped it but kept the DVR-MS file it was recorded to so I could play with it when I had more time.

I was messing with it last night and found that when it was stuttering I could simple jump back (I think Media Center default skip back is 10 seconds) until I got to a point where it would start playing smooth again. It would then playback smooth until Comskip or myself jumped position in the program. Then I'd have to do the skip-back to trick it into playing smoothly.

At this point I have to think it's a driver or codec issue somewhere. I think with all the new hardware I've added to this machine in the last month I'm due for a re-image and start fresh. That may very likely solve the driver/codec issue if it's to blame or at least rule it out. I'd like to get my FOX digital programming running smooth before football season at least

I did notice that the size of the DVR-MS file recorded was only 5GB for the hour. A normal SD show from my analog cable takes about 3.5GB. I figured there would be a larger difference, like I thought I had heard of an hour of HD taking 8GB. Is that just the PBS stations' high-bitrate 1080i feed that takes that much? Must be pretty good-looking.

Now that I think the stuttering may be driver/codec-related then I bet some of those other stations I was getting 50% signal strength on were actually strong enough for playing, just that the issue was interfering with them playing back properly. I bet if I record an hour program on those channels I can do the same skip trick, or just play through the commercials once I get it stutter-free.

[vhelp]

Morning rally,

Oh my XP Home, I get 40% to 60% CPU utilage. So, I must be set up poorly.
Still, I get my ABC in mostly clean. But, whenever someone comes up in
the apt with a Cell Phone, (you can hear them talking on their walky-talky)
it interupts the signal and you get mpeg breakage, etc. At least that
is what I'm blaiming some of the glitches on. All I do know is that when
they are not home, (there are 4 cell phone users in the apts) the signal
is mostly clean. Anyway.

I think that the skipping during play (after the recording) is probably
like most normal mpegs recorded -- they are sometimes glitchy when you
play them in *some* stand-alone dvd players. No surprise there. But
this could be a decoder issue. HD is still in its infancy. So there
seems to be a few more things ironed out before it gets better. Can't
wait.

Speaking of the DVR-MS, I can't play these mpegs on my XP Home system.
And being that this is an MS thing, too, I don't know why I can't. I
figure the codec would be a default install, but I guess wrong. Anyway,
I have a few that I was able to produce the WatchHDTV v1.950 recording
software -- now, it won't work.. its *very* fussy -- and it records to
DVR-MS mpegs. Docuemnt says it now supports HVR-1600, but I think thats
a mistake. Oh well. I'm still trying to find an alternative to wintv2000
software. And so far, all the others seem to require the internet, prob
for the tv guide listing and other things. But my XP Home is stictly
as my new video workstation, and Delphi/Pascal programming, too

Yeah. I was surprise about the 5 gig size too. True, FOX/ABC are only
1280 x 720p and although the bitrate is 15000, that is the MAX quote.
But, it is obviously been encoded using VBR mode setup at the source.
So that explains the low size. Hay, also, don't forget that we are
dealing with *clean* source, here. And that makes a world difference !

Last thing I wanna mention is (based on several posts ago) .. there are
problems receiving my ABC signal (as clean and high percentage it is)
that during most of the day, the video chirps/studders/glitches, etc.
and this can be very annoying when you you (me) are home, messing
around. Seems I am correct, in that day-time noise (cell phones;
radios; airports; talkys, etc) are too great, and the blame (at least
in my area) for the poor'er signal reception and lousy recordings.
This varies of course, from day to day, but its still a pain. Gosh,
I hope that when *they do* turn up the wattage and/or go full strength
with the ATSC thing, that the signal will be 100% better than it is,
currently. Gosh, I hope so. Cause it will be a shame if they do turn
off everything (analog'wise) and we are (still) stuck with poor signal
reception

-vhelp 4295

[edDV]

This is an example where having the separate Hauppauge software also working would help diagnose hardware vs. MCE issues.

First understand that the ATSC signal is already compressed as an MPeg2_TS stream and the individual program stream bitrate can be set anywhere the local TV station desires. Some FOX stations are receiving 720p/59.94 from the network but only send out 480p/59.94 or even 480i/29.97. This is no longer common in large cities but small markets may still be doing this.

If you record the full MPeg2_TS stream, you can later use generic tools to like HDTVtoMPeg2 to analyze the PIDs and extract the desired program stream. Tuner software can have the ability to extract only the subchannel of interest and may further compress it during capture. This is where it is convenient to compare what Hauppauge or BeyondTV might be doing in comparison with MCE and the DVR-MS file. I wish I had reliable DTV reception here so I could play around with these various programs.

So, there is the issue of reception which has light CPU loading and then there is HD playback which has moderately heavy CPU/GPU loading even for a dual core CPU and modern GPU.

DVR-MS files may have other playback issues for 720p/1080i.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVR-MS

[rallynavvie]

Did I forget to mention the reason I'm getting such low CPU utilization is due to my GPU? I upgraded to a GeForce 7600GT which does HD hardware decoding when used in conjunction with nVidia's codec. My 6600GT only did SD decoding with the same codec (which really only tells the player to utilize the hardware onboard the GPU) and I was updating my old 19" CRT to a 24" widescreen LCD so I needed the extra power of the faster video card.

I played the DVR-MS file in WMP11 just fine and could not replicate the stuttering I was getting in Media Center no matter what I tried. Seems like it must just be something within Media Center's playback specifically that's having issues. It's strange because Media Center's video player is pretty much a GUI of WMP so you would think the issue would occur in both.

[rallynavvie]

UPDATE:

Complete re-image with the latest drivers still didn't fix the stuttering issue with HD content playback within Media Center. Spent 5 hours today backing up, re-installing MCE, and then updating only the critical components.

At this point I'm forwarding the issue to nVidia. Hauppauge responded saying that they think it's a buffering issue with the video card, but since they don't support the HVR-1600 with Media Center they wouldn't help me any further. It's either the video card, its drivers, the PureVideo decoder, or something freaky with Media Center's embedded player. I'd have to guess that it's the latter since the HD DVR-MS files playback fine on WMP 11.

[edDV]

Starting to see this card deep discounted

Outpost 99-20 rebate =79
Fry's store 79-20 rebate =59

How does this card perform for MPeg2 encoding SD vs. the PVR-150 or PVR-250 ?
In other words is it worth it just for SD ?

http://shop2.outpost.com/product/5124646?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

PS. I found this on the web. Recent hardware and driver versions now support clear QAM cable tuning. I hope they still have some stock.
http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/support/support_hvr1600.html#driver_34c