I have been trying to research TV Tuners and PVRs for quite a while, but I am not having any luck finding out what I really need, so I thought I would leave it to the experts.

I have Comcast Digital cable running through a Denon AVR-3808CI over HDMI to my Epson 1080 UB projector. I am running Vista 32 Home Premium, Media Center and MyMovies for DVD catalog and library. I just wanted to set the stage here.

I want to be able to watch TV and record two stations at the same time.

I would also prefer to keep this all internal to the HTPC that I am going to build. I say prefer, but if I can find the right solution, then I may change that opinion.

I am leaning towards the Hauppauge cards (or HD PVR), but I need to understand what the difference is between all of these cards and what the difference is between a TV tuner and a PVR. I know the basics of what the differences are, but not with regards to the cards themselves. If I get a tuner and have the right software does it really matter if the card is a PVR?

With all that said, what is the difference between the WinTV 350, 500, 1600 and 1800 cards?

The MCE 500 card is the only one with a dual tuner (besides the cards that I have seen with analog AND digital tuners, which I have no use for).

Any help would be appreciated. I'm half bald at this point (from pulling my hair out) and would prefer not to go with the Trump look if possible. :)

Thanks,
Steve

The WinTV PVR-350 and PVR-500 are both analog only. The HVR-1600 and HVR-1800 are pretty much the same and both contain one of each tuner (analog and digital). As far as I know, the primary difference between the two is that the HVR-1600 uses a PCI slot and the HVR-1800 uses PCI express.

If you want to be able to watch 1 show and record 2 other shows (meaning three channels at the same time), you would need at least three tuners (doable in VMC with a few registry tweaks).

If all you're concerned about is analog, then I'd go with a PVR-150 + PVR-500 combo. I believe the primary difference between the PVR-150 and PVR-350 is the PVR-350 has a hardware MPEG2 decoder and video out. I doubt you'll make use of these features so the PVR-150 would be a much more economical alternative.

If you just need two tuners working at the same time, then a single PVR-500 would do.

All of the above tuners have hardware MPEG2 encoder.

Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it. Looks like my options for internal are fairly shot so I have been looking at the HD PVR from Hauppauge and the HD Homerun.

Looks like my options for internal are fairly shot so I have been looking at the HD PVR from Hauppauge and the HD Homerun.
I have the Hauppauge HD-PVR.... it's quite buggy (hardware and software) at this time. I'd wait it out till some of the issues are resolved.

So, any other suggestions on a dual tuner. I know the 500 mce is an option, but I would like to stay as high I as I can for output and quality. I only have HDI connections in my theater right now and I know I can upconvert through my receiver, but I don't think that is the optimal solution.

Just to clarify since I may have misunderstood your first post. Where are you trying to record from? Your digital set-top box (via component) or just straight to the wall jack?

If it's from STB and you want to keep the HD resolution, then your only affordable option is the HD PVR.

If you're going straight to the wall jack, then you have slightly more options. Just keep in mind that the only digital/HD channels that your cable company is mandated to send you unencrypted are the locals (ABC, FOX, NBC, etc). If those are all you need, I would recommend that you seriously consider the HDHomeRun.

Otherwise, buy two HVR-1600's or HVR-1800's (whatever free slots you have). Then, you'll have two digital and two analog tuners. Don't use Windows Media Center (not even sure if it'll work with Hauppauge beta QAM drivers). Instead, opt for MediaPortal or GB-PVR. Those give you more flexibility and control with channel tuning. Quite useful if you want to watch/record the locals thru clear QAM only.

I am going to go through my digital cable box and flash the IR port through the PC so I can record, play back and change the channels.

I did find a new tuner that looked really promising. It is a Dvico FusionHDTV7 Dual Express card. It does dual digital and I should be able to record two shows or record and watch at the same time. It seems to fit my requirements (internal, digital, etc) and the price is not bad (about $140).

Thoughts?

I am going to go through my digital cable box and flash the IR port through the PC so I can record, play back and change the channels.

I did find a new tuner that looked really promising. It is a Dvico FusionHDTV7 Dual Express card. It does dual digital and I should be able to record two shows or record and watch at the same time. It seems to fit my requirements (internal, digital, etc) and the price is not bad (about $140).
Not gonna work...
If it's from STB and you want to keep the HD resolution, then your only affordable option is the HD PVR.
STB = set top box = digital cable box

Also take note that if you want to watch one channel and record another (or record 2 different channels) then you will need 2 set top boxes. Each one will only output one channel at a time. The alternative is to do what I do, which is use the HDHomeRun and an internal card. I split the signal prior to it entering the STB (set top box). The HDHomeRun can tune about a dozen stations, so those are the only ones I can use for dual recording sessions.

Are you planning to record and watch HD content from your cablebox?

I have been rethinking some of this since I had not thought through what I originally wanted and how I could get there.

My original thought was to have the Comcast digital box (already have) and hook it to the HTPC via a tuner card and watch or record shows. Since no current option will give me all of my digital and premium channels I thought that I could do a TiVo like hook up and simply have the PC control the cable box through an IR interface (IR emitter attached to the IR receiver on the STB). This option still only allows me to record OR watch one channel at a time. (Thanks ilovejedd for setting me straight here)

Since we can't get cable tuner cards in a DIY setup my thought now is to simply get a dual DVR STB from Comcast and just bypass the PC completely. This does not fit in to my "one for all" HTPC wants/needs, but it would simplify what I want to do if or until we can get the cable cards on our own DIY boxes. Kind of dissapointing, but definitely a liveable option.