Powercolor Theatre 500 Pro PCI-e 1X thoughts...

RagingSamster

RagingSamster

2[H]4U
Joined
Jun 6, 2003
Messages
3,097
First time with this card and the image quality is better than my AIW9700pro. I am running into some issues with being new to Windows Media Center edition (power color card is not recognized, but I haven't updated the drivers from ATI yet.) So far the install went painless, some minor audio issues - pops and an ocassional hiss, but again I think an updated driver will fix that.

Does anyone else have one of these yet? If so, how has your experience with the card been?
 
Where did you get that from? I saw the pics of it a while back but didn't know it had been released.

Some pics of it in your setup sould be nice :)

 
I'm interested in this card for a shuttle SN25P, being that it's the only PCI-e tuner i know of atm. I'm eager to hear people experience with them so far as well.
 
I just received and installed mine today. Install was painless and getting it to work in Media Center 2005 required me to go through the setup again. Once setup in Media Center it is easy to use.

My only problem is that some channels will have this like hiccupping effect where it's just not smooth. It also is noticeably slower than what is showing on the tv if I'm mirroring it on my flat panel (video lag?) This is my first tv tuner card and im happy with it so far. I need a little more time to play with it before I give a final opinion.

My system:
X-qpack
3200+ venice
Biostar tforce 6100-939
Bfg 6600gt
Onboard sound
Powercolor Theatre 550 Pro PCI-e 1X
 
That's because the Theater550 was developed to support multiple buses from the get-go, basically meaning it supports PCI and PCIe without needing an HSI-style translator hub. The PVR series was developed long ago, ages before PCIe ever appeared in the mainstream market. I'd be surprised if they released a PCIe 150-500, but the replacement line-up is guaranteed to appear in PCIe first.
 
First day impressions of Windows MCE and the Powercolor Theatre 550 Pro (PCI-e)

The tuner is now working flawlessly, the pops and hisses went away after installing a SB live card (on-board sound always sucks)

The channel to channel delay is around 1 second, I was using the power. The recording is flawless although its a bit bulky ( I have 41 hours available with 152GB) the picture is as sharp as the picture provided from my digital cabel box using standard 480i signals. DVD playback is awesome. I was using DVI and the screen on my Hitachi wasn't calibrated to the signal so the saturation level was a tad high. I would much rather have to turn down settings then to turn them up.

Media Center rocks, plain and simple the guide and search functions along with the ease of use makes me forget ever using Guideplus (shudder) The remote that ships with the 550 appears to be made for MCE and all various controls appear to be mapped to the buttons in an intuitive manner.

The software provided with the card may be usefull, but I don't want to load PowerBackup, Musicmatch Power2go, etc etc etc. All I need is a DVD decoder and the tuner software associated with the card.

**** Overall picture quality
**** Ease of use
**** Price
*** Software Bundle
**** Overall rating
 
How you liking the 6100 mobo? I'm trying to find a good alternitive to Asus's 6150 (don't need the IGP, going with a 7800GT) for an HTPC build. Which Biostar board is it?
 
I had to bump the voltages for DDR and Vcore slightly (even with the new 500W PSU) to keep it stable at stock - I've had reset issues. From all I have heard the Tforce is the better board, but my Geforce after bumping the voltages above seems to be stable (crosses fingers) I'm running folding@home and the TV card now cpu reads 40 gpu 35 (on the qpack frontpanel - which is usually low 5 degrees) I'm headed out for a couple of hours if everything is running fine when I get back I'll post!
This rig is not going to see much OC'ing so I'll be happy with stability
 
maxBR said:
I'm interested in this card for a shuttle SN25P, being that it's the only PCI-e tuner i know of atm. I'm eager to hear people experience with them so far as well.
Click to expand...


Sorry to bump a somewhat-older thread, but I too am looking for a card like this to put into a Shuttle SN25P. Any current thoughts after using it awhile? Also, maxBR, did you ever get it and verify it fits into an SN25P? Thanks!
 
I've only been using mine for a few days, but it works decent.
Updated the drivers off ati.com, MCE 2005 works with it now (errors with the included drivers).

Picture quality is as good as can be expected for cable TV.

Overall I'd give this a 5/5 rating.
 
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