Hauppauge PVR-250 VS PVR-350

[HereComeTheBugs]

Is the 250 more compatible with HTPC programs? The only differences that I can see are that the 350 has a FM tuner and it Includes a hardware MPEG player with composite and S-Video outputs. I'm not too concerned about the $40 extra that it costs over the 250 -- I actually wouldn't mind having a FM tuner for my HTPC... My main concern is that the 350 is buggier/less compatible than the 250 because of the extra bloat from the FM tuner and S-Video outs.

What do you guys think?

 

[jasonlitka]

The 350 uses the older revision '15' chip which runs hotter and requires a heatsink. The newer 250 cards all use the '16' chip which is much cooler.

Oh, and the MPEG2 decoding for the 350 only works if you use the video-out on the card. If you are watching it on the screen it uses a software decoder (or so I am told by a bunch of people at HTPCNews).

EDIT: The PVR250MCE includes the FM tuner. It doesn't have a remote but the Streamzap remote is very easy to use.

 

[CrimandEvil]

There isn't much different from a 250MCE and a 350. The 350 uses the hotter CX23415 encoder/ decoder chip, FM tuner, has both svideo in/ out and MPEG2 encode/ decode but that olny works if you use the TV out on the card. If your not going to use the TV out then it's pretty much like a 250MCE but more expensive.
Read this though.

 

[Ryokurin]

certain programs such as sage, and another open sourced project can actually display graphics out via the hauppauge tv out however, it still dosn't allow windows traffic to work. its good if thats all you plan on doing with your unit, but if theres going to be more just save the 50 dollars and get a 250.