Buying 2nd HDTV card - Advice Requested

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I wouldn't assume that you don't have enough power with that computer, especially if you went with the MyHD card which doesn't use much of a CPU (like your Access card). But even with a Fusion you should be able to record with a Fusion and watch with your Access card. And I don't quite understand Cliff's comments about file sharing, since I thought the Access card would allow you to record and playback a single show at the same time (time-warping), which to me would mean that you could have the Fusion record something else while you recorded and watched something with the Access card. And the Fusion card has the capability of supporting QAM (although somewhat poorly at this time).


Be that as it may, the MyHD card seemingly has much better software than the Fusion card (based on a one day review of the Fusion card). And the MyHD card only loads one or two (non-certified) drivers, while the Fusion has about 5 (non-certified) drivers, which just seems like it's asking for problems (especially since all the devices seemingly share the same interrupt). So assuming the Access card and MyHD card will co-exist in the same system (I thought they didn't, but you might be using two computers) then I'd go with the MyHD card.

I thought the separate computer was what you were planning, but I wasn't sure. I have a 1000 Athlon I just installed a Fusion in, along with a pre-existing MyHD. Playback is a bit jerky when the MyHD is recording, but I wasn't planning on using the Fusion for playback at all (and that's before I knew how flaky the Fusion software was).


I'll try to check what the CPU usage is while the Fusion is recording to give you some idea.


BTW, I'm not that experienced with the Fusion yet (having only used it for a day), but as far as I know there's no way to have it record shows to directories that are named after the show (as the MyHD will do), or even options as to how the files are named. Also, I think the Fusion software may keep your screensaver from working (not positive on that yet). And I'm having trouble getting it to do scheduled recordings, and I've seen others with the identical problem. The MyHD software just seems a lot more flexible/better in little ways like that. It just seems more professional.

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Sorry about calling you Jim! Had the volume turned up loud on "Dark Side of The Moon" SACD. Just checking out my new speakers while multitasking (well maybe not).


Yes because of file sharing you can start recording to a single file on one HDTV card and playback with the other one during the recording. Fusion locks the file being recorded and you must wait until the end to play it back.

The 20% figure I gave was recording with both MyHD and Fusion at the same time. Fusion alone is about 10%.


I recorded to the same drive at the same time without incident.


I'm still working through the issues on the Fusion card. I've been given a solution to one problem that I haven't tried, but there still seems to be the problem of the screensaver not working with the Fusion app. That's not really important to me, for I seldom keep the TV on, but it might be important to you.


I guess you'd need to balance having everything all in one PC (Fusion) against being able to file share something while recording it (MyHD). I thought the Access card could "time warp" while recording, and if so, that would reduce the file sharing benefits of the MyHD card.


Do keep in mind that my experience with the Fusion card is only 2 days. That's hardly enough time to recommend it. I can recommend the MyHD card, but that's mainly because I know the software is fairly solid and there are benefits to being hardware based (which is redundant in your case unless the second computer will also be hooked up to a set).

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And on that issue, I've posted in another thread. Installing off the CD (which is the same version as the web, but the web has a hotfix I added) fixed that problem. The problem I'm still having is with editing the schedules, but I've been given a solution to try there (increasing resolution--apparently the dialog box is off screen). So far all I've been able to do is add and delete scheduled records. I'll report how the increased resolution works to edit programs. BTW, this is mainly important for padding sporting events and to set something up as a repeating record event.


Also, one thing I have discovered is that I can use IE to schedule off TitanTV for MyHD and Firefox to schedule off TitanTV for Fusion. If Access works off TitanTV too, I'd imagine you could do the same.


Also, one other thing. On the file naming, if it's a scheduled record the file is named after the show. I haven't figured out what happens if you record a second show with the same name prior to deleting the first.