Questions about Hauppauge 1196 WinTV HVR-1250 PCI Express Card

[Wizard23]

I am looking to replace my wintv pvr 150 capture card with something that supports capturing from a digital cable line. I was checking out Hauppauge 1196 WinTV HVR-1250 PCI Express Hybrid High Definition TV Tuner Card. I was thinking of buying it to capture my tv shows from my dvr in sd digital format. Right now i am using my 150 card to capture using video composite plug running off the back of my dvr box for directtv. I'm running windows 7 32bit

Any thoughts on the card weather it can do what i want it to do? I have sd digital cable from directtv. 50 bucks is my limit to spend on a new capture card. If someone has any other choices for me feel free to post them.

[jagabo]

Digital tuner cards like the HVR 1250 support ATSC (over the air), clear (unencrypted) QAM from cable companies, and composite/s-video. Unless your DVR puts out ATSC or clear QAM (I've never heard of one that does this) you won't be able to capture from it digitally. You would have to use an antenna with the ATSC tuner or connect directly to the cable (not a sattelite box) coax for the QAM tuner. Most digital cable channels are encrypted so you will likely only get the local broadcast stations and a few others.

You might be able to use an AverTV HD PVR to capture HDMI (with the old drivers that allow the capture of HDCP protected signals). But HDMI is uncompressed video so you will have to recompress.

[Wizard23]

My dvr is the reguar sd dvr not the hd one. I was hoping to find a nice tv tuner card that will let me capture capture from the extra digital cable line i got connect it to a tv tunder card in sd digital format rather than using my dvr all the time to record. Is is the best way is by composite video plug from the back of the dvr to the card to capture from the dvr live tv or from the playlist on the box. Do you know if there is quality degrade from video composite video plug rather than using a coax cable line?

[jagabo]

Do you have a TV with a QAM tuner? If so, try running the cable directly to the TV and see what channels it gets. That's what you'll get with a digital tuner card.

RF and Composite video are the lowest quality connections you can use. S-video is usually a little better, component video even better. There aren't many cards that capture component video though. Some capture devices will do slightly better than the PVR-150 but standard def isn't going to get much better.

Some recent threads:
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/331817-Best-MPEG-2-Capture-Device
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/326560-Which-is-better-usb-stick-vhs-cap-or-hd-pvr-...for-vhs-to-dvd

[Wizard23]

I know i got the basic package for directv so i got over 100 channels.

[Brad]

You don't have digital cable, you have digital satellite. The only thing that can tune to DirecTV is its own hardware and smartcards. You can still use the analog hole, as you are.

[jagabo]

I didn't think Directv had a cable service, but I wasn't sure.

Wizard23, satellite and cable TV use completely different systems. As vaporeon800 points out, the only thing that will tune Directv's satellite signal is their own satellite box.

Doesn't the PVR-150 have an s-video input? If your satellite box has an s-video output try switching to s-video. It should be a little better than composite.

[Wizard23]

Ok i will try the s video plus on the back of the 150 card.

[PuzZLeR]

Latest digital tuner products from the better known companies should have no problem capturing digital cable, ClearQAM/QAM, ATSC signals.

So recommending one is as simple as saying choose the latest AverMedia, Hauppauge (such as your model), ATI (such as the 750), etc. Since they are all capturing the same thing without doing much, all will have the same quality and use very low PC resources.

Unfortunately, that's the easy part.

The hard part is finding out what is indeed available, or unencrypted in your area and service. Unless you have a friend in your area with your service and a tuner who knows you're pretty much on your own. Much of it isn't documented and call center reps aren't trained to answer such questions.

And I doubt you can do this with DirecTV either.

Your research then should be in an adequate analog solution as a backup. Capturing analog SD is rather easy via composite yellow or S-video but quality varies among capture devices. I suggest you look at those links suggested before you purchase anything.

But if analog is fine with you, I can't see why your 150 can't do it now, directly from your PVR or box. And yes, I recommend S-video too - major difference in my eyes.

[SHS]

Keep in mind that the HVR 1250 only dose Software MPEG2 Encoding with composite/svideo a better option is the HVR 1800/1850 which has a Hardware MPEG2 Encoder

[PuzZLeR]

Keep in mind that the HVR 1250 only dose Software MPEG2 Encoding with composite/svideo a better option is the HVR 1800/1850 which has a Hardware MPEG2 Encoder

As you probably know, if able to capture digital broadcasts, this isn't much of an issue. Other than the management of hard drive space, there's nothing to process really.

If capturing for analog captures, then yes, it's an issue to consider. However, stand-alone hardware based encoding IMO tends to hurt quality and is rather inflexible - at least from my experience and from what I've been seeing in threads of late.

[SHS]

Keep in mind that the HVR 1250 only dose Software MPEG2 Encoding with composite/svideo a better option is the HVR 1800/1850 which has a Hardware MPEG2 Encoder

As you probably know, if able to capture digital broadcasts, this isn't much of an issue. Other than the management of hard drive space, there's nothing to process really.

If capturing for analog captures, then yes, it's an issue to consider. However, stand-alone hardware based encoding IMO tends to hurt quality and is rather inflexible - at least from my experience and from what I've been seeing in threads of late.

That all depend 85% of the time it cuase by the source

[PuzZLeR]

That all depend 85% of the time it cuase by the source

How so? Can I get you to explain?

[SHS]

That all depend 85% of the time it cuase by the source

How so? Can I get you to explain?

That eazy let start with
Cable used a much lower bitrate so there for it has more compression artifacts but that also depend on channel.
Satellite used a much lower bitrate but not as bad as Cable but even it has some compression artifacts but that also depend on channel.
DVD/Bluray Player used a much high bitrate so there for unlike Cable or Satellite it has far less compression artifacts.
This even apply to HD-PVR model

[PuzZLeR]

I haven't compared multiple HD models, but regardless, yes - garbage in and garbage out. If it's a bad source, both a bad and a good capture/encoder will produce something bad too.

If it's a good source, such as blu-ray, then a good capture/encoder can make a difference in the result. And that's where I believe a hardware stand-alone encoder, in comparison, starts showing its flaws in weaker encoding, such as a softening of the video. This is what I've seen in SD tools.

Of course, this applies to analog captures. Digital is pretty straightforward as any competent tuner can deliver the same result, which has little to do with PC resources.

[Wizard23]

I'm letting you guys know that i'm going to capture again with s-video tomorrow. I had to order a longer s-video cable mine was to short.