To preface I use two HD-PVR's with dvblink and win7 mc, have been using them for ~6 months.
There is no official driver. There is unofficial support for W7MC through dvblink, which is an added $30, though i think you can get a 30% discount if you post a review of your experience with the trial version on a forum. My experience with the software has been pretty good however the hd-pvr is inherently a bit buggy and the added layer of software doesnt help things. Even with a "stable" system you are likely to have the hd-pvr error and have to be power cycled occasionally, this behavior seems to vary greatly. There is a hook for the dvblink software that allows power cycling to be automated with an IP power strip, which a lot of people have been happy with. In my experience a beefy computer is important for stability; yours should be pretty good. The HD-PVR seems to be very sensitive to latencies, spikes in processor usage etc.
Probably will have problems. Again, anecdotal evidence points to the HD-PVR being very sensitive to the USB cable used, many have found greatest stability with the supplied 6 foot cable. You will likely find that your stability is greatly reduced with a long cable.
Yes you have to connect your computer as well. That would probably be fine however you are going to need some way to control the computer as well i.e. a remote, keyboard whatever.
This may make the HD-PVR sound crappy, and in some ways it is, though there are some good things about it. The main benefit of the HD-PVR, as compared to the upcoming cable card products, is the use of the analog hole for recording. Due to this there is no copy once or other crappy DRM to deal with and you can play your recorded files on any of your other htpcs. In upgrading my HTPC to a quad core i was able to greatly increase stability, though power cycles still occur occasionally, not enough for me to give it up, but the hd-pvr's are in my room so power cycling is easy. I will likely buy a cablecard tuner when they are released, however, i would still keep one HD-PVR no matter what to take advantage of the analog hole and the ability to really archive recordings (if your cablecard pc dies or is upgraded sufficiently any copy once content will be unplayable).
There is no official driver. There is unofficial support for W7MC through dvblink, which is an added $30, though i think you can get a 30% discount if you post a review of your experience with the trial version on a forum. My experience with the software has been pretty good however the hd-pvr is inherently a bit buggy and the added layer of software doesnt help things. Even with a "stable" system you are likely to have the hd-pvr error and have to be power cycled occasionally, this behavior seems to vary greatly. There is a hook for the dvblink software that allows power cycling to be automated with an IP power strip, which a lot of people have been happy with. In my experience a beefy computer is important for stability; yours should be pretty good. The HD-PVR seems to be very sensitive to latencies, spikes in processor usage etc.
Probably will have problems. Again, anecdotal evidence points to the HD-PVR being very sensitive to the USB cable used, many have found greatest stability with the supplied 6 foot cable. You will likely find that your stability is greatly reduced with a long cable.
Yes you have to connect your computer as well. That would probably be fine however you are going to need some way to control the computer as well i.e. a remote, keyboard whatever.
This may make the HD-PVR sound crappy, and in some ways it is, though there are some good things about it. The main benefit of the HD-PVR, as compared to the upcoming cable card products, is the use of the analog hole for recording. Due to this there is no copy once or other crappy DRM to deal with and you can play your recorded files on any of your other htpcs. In upgrading my HTPC to a quad core i was able to greatly increase stability, though power cycles still occur occasionally, not enough for me to give it up, but the hd-pvr's are in my room so power cycling is easy. I will likely buy a cablecard tuner when they are released, however, i would still keep one HD-PVR no matter what to take advantage of the analog hole and the ability to really archive recordings (if your cablecard pc dies or is upgraded sufficiently any copy once content will be unplayable).