Lots of Q's (HE,Cable,etc)

EnderXC

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 20, 2004
Messages
449
I'm thinking about getting a TV/FM tuner to use in my comp so I can record shows and old family videos off VHS. Interesting article on the frontpage about the ATi550, but after reading threads comparing it to the PVR150; the 150 seem to be the better choice. My question is whether I will be able to do other things on my comp while recording shows, aka are both cards totally HE? It seems like the extra ram on the 550 would make it better. But I'm not sure, my setup is an A64 3000+, 1GB of RAM, 6800NU. Will I have Driver conflicts with ATI/nvidia drivers?

Here are the two I'm looking at:

ATi550

PVR150

The 150 doesn't have software Apps so I'll have to get those if I go that roiute, Any recommendations?

Could I hook my Xbox up to one of these?

Also, maybe this should go in another thread but I'm going to have a cable connection in my room so my father doesn't have to look at the Cat5 cable I strung across the hallway and taped down after getting fed up with wireless, is there any way to use the same cable line for tv and my router, or will that hamper performance on either?


Thanks guys
 
Don't order from newegg, pcalchemy is usually cheaper and support the htpc community much better.

There's not much between those 2 cards, so I'd go on price and get the 150MCE (that's what I'm running now.) Both cards will only take up 5-10% CPU while recording so you can do other stuff with the PC, but don't try defragging your HD or copying lots of files at the same time. The extra ram on the 550 won't make much difference, and there shouldn't be driver conflicts.

Software choices are
Sage (complicated to setup, very powerful)
BeyondTV (Easy to setup, not as flexible)
MediaPortal (free, hard to setup)
GotAllMedia (GAM - never used)
MCE (whole new OS reinstall, looks good, not flexible)
Meedio (New, probably buggy, but very well integrated with the Meedio frontend)

Running your xbox through either of those cards will be laggy, unless you use dscaler.
 
To answer the question about using the same line, you will need to get a splitter for that one cable into two. The first will go into your cable-modem the second into your video capture card.

The thing to remember is that ever splitter you have in between the source and destination will degrade the quality to some extent. That means quality of the splitter is very important. Don't get a low quality splitter, you will loose signal strength which will effect both picture quality and the chances you have of dropping off line for your Internet connection.

I got my one splitter from Radio Shack and it is a 1 to 4 splitter. I don't have the model number right now but I am very happy with it. Just remember the fewer splitters the better.
 
I'm going for the 150MCE with sageTV, will I have any problems becuase it's the MCE version? What's dscaler? Can I use it with this card? Thanks Guys

[EDIT]: Is the 150MCE a dual tuner card?
 
The MCE version doesn't come with the remote or crappy Hauppauge software, but does include an FM tuner. I'd recommend the MCE remote, get it in a bundle w/ card + software from alchemy and you'll be good to go.

The 150 is a single-tuner card, the 500 is dual-tuner.

Dscaler is a separate program you could use with that card and your xbox, do a search of this forum for more info.
 
And two more Questions:

1. If I get Sage TV 2.2 in a bundle from Pcalchemly is it the full version and includes updates like to 3.0 and such?

2. How much can a 160GB HDD hold at standard NTSC format?

Thanks
 
MCE remote will work fine in any windows XP.

Sage in the bundle is the full version, should have upgrades (email them to check if you want)

At maximum quailty (9Mbit/sec) a 160GB drive will hold more than 40 hours, at 5Mbit, it'll hold about 75 hours.
 
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