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tv tuner

Judging by my experience with CompUSA brand USB 2.0 cards I'd say that it's going to be terrible, I wouldn't be suprised if it made your PC burst into flames, calls you dirty names and hits on your Sister, Mom, and GF/Wife.

Do yourself a favor and spent the extra $15 or so and get a decent card although, personally, I wouldn't settle for less then a PVR150 MCE.
 
Anyone have anymore input on this? Remember im not looking for a great card. I basically want to know if tv will be basically unwatchable with this card?
 
It'll be watchable, I'd say about the same quality as a decent VHS. Just don't expect to be able to do much else with your system while recording.
 
Hmm I have an old AverMedia UltraTV PCI 300 I dont use anymore. I cant remember how much I bought it for. With my recent purchase of an all in wonder, I have no use for it.

Comes with a remote too. If your interested I can get some pictures.
 
IanG said:
It'll be watchable, I'd say about the same quality as a decent VHS. Just don't expect to be able to do much else with your system while recording.
Click to expand...

So recording tv is that much of a cpu hogg huh? Well I think im just gonna pick it up and test it out. If its no good ill return it.
 
I had a WinTV to Go for a while, and watching live tv/timeshifting with beyondtv took about 40-60% on my athlon 2100+

I switched to a 150-PVR which uses between 0-10%.

Yes, it is that much of a hog, but it works for light use.
 
IanG said:
I had a WinTV to Go for a while, and watching live tv/timeshifting with beyondtv took about 40-60% on my athlon 2100+

I switched to a 150-PVR which uses between 0-10%.

Yes, it is that much of a hog, but it works for light use.
Click to expand...

Hum.. 0-10% cpu usage of a 2100+ with 150pvr is impossible.

The htpc in my sig goes for 50-70% cpu usage.
Then again I am running MCE and have a bit rate of 8.5-10Mbps.
 
Try recording a show without having the mce frontend running (just sitting at the desktop.) You should see similar utilization.

I've switched to an A64 setup now (w/ msi rs480 board) but get similar results.

I just checked your sig and see you have a 9200se, which isn't a dx9 card. I think that mce is going to be doing most of the pixel-shading effects on the CPU which could explain your usage. I run beyondtv so don't have all those fancy effects weighing down the system.

 
IanG said:
Try recording a show without having the mce frontend running (just sitting at the desktop.) You should see similar utilization.

I've switched to an A64 setup now (w/ msi rs480 board) but get similar results.

I just checked your sig and see you have a 9200se, which isn't a dx9 card. I think that mce is going to be doing most of the pixel-shading effects on the CPU which could explain your usage. I run beyondtv so don't have all those fancy effects weighing down the system.

Click to expand...

Yeah, recording only take almost no cpu.
But live tv is another story.
Please check and report your cpu usage with live tv running (not paused).
 
Just gave it a quick test now. A couple of caveats - I'm connected using VNC, and the box is also folding, but task manager shows 10-20% most of the time, some spikes to 25-30%.

I'm using cyberlink decoder, 3d accelerated rendering and 'best' quality. I guess I never checked utilization while actually watching tv before, only while recording in the background. I know the old wintv go was up to 60% while only recording though.

 
I have made some interesting discoveries.

On my main system (see sig):
- windows media player plays 10mbps mpeg with 7% cpu usage (directx va NOT in use)
- power dvd 6 plays the same file with 15-20% (directx va NOT in use)

On Htpc (using same file):
- WMP 30-33% cpu (directx va NOT in use)
- Power dvd 6 8-18% cpu (directx va IN use)
- MCE 50-60% (directx va NOT in use)

Also, PDVD states that directx va is not in use in my main system even with hardware acceleration enabled. Actually PDVD disables hardware acceleration on my main system when playing the file (the check box is deselected and grayed out).

This makes no sense.

Looks like I am having issue the Power DVD. :(

How can I set it up so that directx va is always in use?
 
Do you have FFDShow installed on the systems? If you do FFDShow turns off HVA.
 
CrimandEvil said:
Do you have FFDShow installed on the systems? If you do FFDShow turns off HVA.
Click to expand...

No, I don't. At least, I don't think I do.
Can a program install it?

I never downloaded it and installed it on any of my systems except my laptop.
 
Maybe but I haven't seen an app that bundled itself with it (although, honestly, some should).

The most I can think of is that PowerDVD is running in Overlay mode while MCE is in VMR9 mode but the CPU usage shouldn't really be that bad since the video (if it's a DX9 level one) should be doing alot of the heavy lefting.

I average around 0-25% recording and most of that is due to the software used, playback is around 30-38% using either Dscaler5 or the NV codec, VMR9 fullscreen and SageTV.

Playing back a DVD (VMR9 FS, Zoomplayer) gives me useage of 25% or so.
 
The file I was playing was a MCE recorded show @ 10Mbps.

I find it weird that Power DVD would play the file with less cpu usage on the htpc than on my main system given their specs.
And look at how WMP compares; much better performance on the main system as you would expect.

Also, when you got to WMP options->DVD tab->advanced, I get different menu (WMP seems to be using a different decoder even both systems have PDVD installed).
Htpc use Power DVD and main system iDVD (Apple from iTune install ??? :confused: ).

Something is very off.

When I get home, I will get rid off PDVD and install ATI's DVD proggy.

Any recommendation as far as totally removing PDVD out of my system (including codecs)?
 
spectrumbx said:
When I get home, I will get rid off PDVD and install ATI's DVD proggy.
Click to expand...
Same thing, ATI's DVD codec is PowerDVD rebranded.

Apple doesn't make a Windows version of iDVD (although they should, easiest app for making DVDs I've evey used).

Yes, something is really wrong here. What software do you have installed (media wise) and install Gspot to see what codec is really in use when you're playing this file.

Also DL the trial version of NV's codec (check their page) and try that too.
 
Thanks, will try that.

Anyone knows how to select a codec to use when you have multiple of them installed on your system?
 
I think you can do that in Gspot but I'm not sure, you might also want to try the Dscaler5 decoder but it would be strictly for testing on your main box since it's not supported under MCE.
 
Gspot won't work for mpeg files - it's avi's only.

You could run the Microsoft MCE checker utility to see which mpeg codec is installed. It should also let you choose which one you want to have as the active one.
 
Ok, here is an update.
I use the MS tool for changing the decoder to use as default.

I tried Nero DVD decoder and Nvidia purevideo.

Nero:
- Good image quality
- smooth play back
- less cpu usage than PDVD but more than Nvidia
- No antialiasing though
- works in MCE but not supported

Nvidia:
- lowest cpu usage compared to Nero and PDVD
- Average image quality if no AA (antialiasing)
- awful play back (hiccups) and out of synch sound when AA is enabled even though cpu usage is the lowest (30-45% cpu usage) ??? :confused:
- MCE interface looks less nice (don't know why)
- whole system less snappy

PDVD:
- Highest cpu usage 50-60%
- smooth play back at all time
- whole system always snappy
- MCE interface looks nice
- I like CLEV-2 especially when using the projector

My choice: PDVD
 
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