difference between 250MCE and 250

P

potroast

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 3, 2004
Messages
401
I'm looking at building a new HTPC (got a Silverstone LC01 that will make a great enclosure) and I'm at the stage of deciding what TV Tuner to use.

I am seriously interested in the PVR-500 due to it's dual-tuner support. However, what is the difference between the normal "500/250" and the "500/250MCE"?

thanks.
 
From another thread:
Crim said:
Heres a rundown on the 250 series.
250: Orginal PVR 250 card

250 MCE: Update to the 250 bringing a cooler encoding chip as well as other new technologies and a little more simplfied design for a cheaper price

Rosyln: More simplifed design for a cheaper price

PVR 150: More simplifed design, more of a "hy-brid" of the 250MCE and Rosyln with some updated technology

The PVR 150 is being positioned as a replacement for the 250MCE cards, they are alittle smaller as well as cheaper.
Click to expand...

A PVR 500 is just two PVR 150s on the same board using a "cable splitter" chip to draw two cable connections.

The difference between the MCE cards and the non MCE cards is that the MCE cards are OEM and the non MCE cards are the retail versions. There isn't much difference other then the packaging. I should caution though, right now only the PVR 150 and PVR 500 work with MCE 2k5. The problem is that they are slightly new designs so most software other then MCE needs an update to work with it correctly.
 
interesting, my understanding was that the 500 was a dual-250 design... is it in-fact a dual-150 design?

If so, would two single 250 cards be better? Or is the 150 card better?

If MCE is just OEM packaging, then I'll do that, just have to decide which card(s). I want 2 tuners, but I'm not opposed to using 2 pci's if they don't have a suitable dual-tuner card.
 
As confusing as it is the PVR 500 is (in a round about way) two 250s since it's derived from the PVR 150 which is a hybrid of the Rosyln design and the 250MCE design. So technically you're right when you say that. :)

What software are you going to run on it? Other then the already mentioned software compatabity issues either card will fit in your case. Neither card is "better" since they all carry the same quality.
 
I will want to run Windows Media Center 2005. The only other option is SageTV, but there's no remote with that....

I am concerned with the MSDV format, however... I want to be able to move recorded shows to other systems, which I believe cannot be done with MSDV.

How does SageTV record? I want something easily portable and possibly easily edited. But then what remote to use?

PCI's shouldn't be a problem because I'm using a silverstone LC-03V which will take a full-atx mobo (probably either an MSI 865 Neo, or Intel D865PERLL).
 
Sage records in regular MPEG2 unlike MCE which does a proprietary version of MPEG2. They have an update that lets you playback MCE recordings on other XP systems but I don't think you can do it under other OSes. :(

As for what remote to use, that's up to you. :) The Firefly remote is a really good one or maybe you'll want to use your Universal remote with it. In that case you'll want to read through this thread and then look through the Sticky for "USB-UIRT/ LIRC."

I haven't tried MCE 2k5 but I really like using Sage for PVR duties. :D
 
I'll definitely check out that ir receiver.... if I can get that working, I'll use my Sony LCD remote and SageTV...
 
There are couple other differences between the 250 and the 250mce. The 250 mce has a radio tuner integrated into it. The 250 comes with and integrated remote, the mce dosn't. Lastly, but honestly the reason I went with the mce, the mce version has seperate right and left RCA jacks for sound. The normal 250 uses a stereo phono jack like a set of headphones.
 
Daemon1313 said:
There are couple other differences between the 250 and the 250mce. The 250 mce has a radio tuner integrated into it. The 250 comes with and integrated remote, the mce dosn't. Lastly, but honestly the reason I went with the mce, the mce version has seperate right and left RCA jacks for sound. The normal 250 uses a stereo phono jack like a set of headphones.
Click to expand...
ya, oddly enough the MCE is the "inexpensive oem" yet it has nicer features onboard, remote control notwithstanding. I only went with the pvr250 since it was on sale and had a remote (didn't know how cheapish the remote would be).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top