[UnkieB]

Hi,


I'm going to replace my Dish Network PVR box with the standard Dish Network box and use an extra PC I have as the PVR. I'm going to get a new Seagate 80GB 7200 RPM IDE drive, which will be dedicated space for recording from the Dish receiver. I need suggestions for the best CHEAP PCI TV Tuner/PVR card. I'm just looking to replace the Dish PVR box functionality within the PC.


My current PC specs are:


AMD T-Bird 1.1Ghz Processor

Windows XP Home (Still SP1)

1GB PC133 RAM

Maxtor 30GB Hard Drive

Hercules 3D Prophet GTS 64MB Pro

SB Live Gamer sound card

40X CD ROM


Yes, I did do a search and I'm more confused now then I was before the search.


Thanks.

 

[SIMJEDI]

IMO it is best just to use what you got.

For ease of use and reliability, nothing yet IMO can beat it.


If you would like to view satellite thru your computer get a input card like the XCapture using dScaler .



peace

 

[Jeraden]

Why would you only buy an 80gb drive? That thing would fill up in no time at all. Go for a 250gb drive.

 

[epshih]

Quote:

Originally posted by UnkieB I need suggestions for the best CHEAP PCI TV Tuner/PVR card. I'm just looking to replace the Dish PVR box functionality within the PC.

If you're trying to save money, finding an inexpensive TV Tuner/PVR card isn't going to be your problem. Your problem is going to be finding inexpensive PVR SOFTWARE that is dependable, functional, and easy to use and is also compatible with your card. There are free apps out there that are pretty good, but support is usually spotty and these apps are in a constant state of development... so stability and reliability are always issues.


Anyways getting back to your original question, arguably the best h/w encoding PVR card on the market right now is the Hauppauge PVR-250. Overall, it seems to have the most support. Clones of this card exist at various prices, but generally ppl seem to have the fewest problems with the Hauppauge. I just bought the brand new pvr-150mce. Basically has the same specs as the pvr250 but at half the price due to a chip redesign. Don't know if it works outside of MCE 2K5 though.

 

[SIMJEDI]

Quote:

Originally posted by epshih Don't know if it works outside of MCE 2K5 though.

This version here is a non MCE version.


This is good news for people who choose to go this route.


edit: Same thing different page with MCE not mentioned.


peace

 

[epshih]

And you know what's even better? I bought 2 of these suckers... TWO!!! for LESS than the price of 1 retail PVR-250. Now that's progress.

 

[Magius]

Does anyone know where the pvr-500-mce could be bought? Or what approximate MSRP would be? I searched but I can't find any reference to this card except on the Hauppauge site.


I was considering buying 2 150s or 250s for MCE but if I can get 2 tuners and hardware decoders into 1 PCI slot for a similar price that would be amazing. Add an HDTV tuner and you'd STILL have a free PCI slot on an mATX mobo

 

[UnkieB]

Quote:

Originally posted by Jeraden Why would you only buy an 80gb drive? That thing would fill up in no time at all. Go for a 250gb drive.

It might fill up, but the PVR filled up too. I don't usually save TV shows, I delete them after I watch them. As best I can remember, the PVR box's HD is about 35GB. So the 80GBs is more than double the size of the HD in the PVR box.


And with the shows/movies on my computer, I can always save them to a cd or dvd disc and keep them forever if I want to.

Quote:

And you know what's even better? I bought 2 of these suckers... TWO!!! for LESS than the price of 1 retail PVR-250. Now that's progress.

The PVR-150's look good. Where do you find even 1? I can't find them anywhere.

 

[stanger89]

buy.com has the 150s.


The 500s are supposed to be available in November, and rumored MSRP is $199.


As for HDD size, 80GB is definitely not enough. I give Sage about 180GB to play with and it's almost perfect, it's enough that stuff doesn't get deleted too soo. Consider this, most set top box PVRs figure 1GB/hour recording rate, the D* PVRs are probably close to that as well. I, on the other hand, record everything at 3GB/hour, and if I had more space I'd probably do 5.6GB/hour, so that 180GB ends up being about 40-50hours. The only reason D* PVRs can get away with such low recording rates is because they have really expensive encoders and access to better quality source than we do.

 

[SIMJEDI]

UnkieB, check you PM.



peace

 

[UnkieB]

SIMJEDI, thanks for the info. I pm'd you.


stanger89, if I record at 3gb an hour like you do, that gives me 26 hours of recording time with 80gbs.


Right now on the Dish PVR, I've got 19 hours recorded and 6:44 hours left. I've got 2 Harry Potter movies that have been on there since May. I saved them for the kids or else they wouldn't be there and I'd have 11:44 hours available right now.


Like I said, I don't save this stuff. I record it and I almost always delete it immediately after watching it. If it's something I think I'll watch again, I leave it for a while. If I watch it again, I usually delete it then. If I don't watch it at all after a while, I delete it. And by having it in the computer, it's always an option to save it permanently to a cd or dvd.


Besides all that, I'm trying not to spend too much money on this. If I need to, I can get another drive in the future.


Thanks for the info on buy.com.

 

[epshih]

Quote:

Originally posted by Magius I was considering buying 2 150s or 250s for MCE but if I can get 2 tuners and hardware decoders into 1 PCI slot for a similar price that would be amazing.

The PVR-500 DOES NOT have hardware decoding. It only has hardware encoding. I doubt you're gonna find a PVR-500 for less than the cost of two 150's. We're talking MSRP of $200. Street will probably be around $150-170.

 

[javamon]

A few questions on the new PVR-150 (this thread seems as good as any to ask)

• Differences - On the aforementioned Hauppauge site, the 150 and the 150MCE appear to be different boards. The MCE has 2 coax inputs, (for FM as I guess), and RCA inputs. Any technical differences? Same chipset? Same drivers?
• Compatibility - On the same official site, it says that the 150MCE can be used in XP, the remote simply doesn't work. What features, if any, would I be missing by running it under XP?

Finally, as an afterthought; I'm thinking about this card to replace my old 878 based WinTV Theatre that's been giving me problems since I got it (doing basic analog capture, converting old VHS to DVD, xvid, etc). The open-source drivers I found do a decent job, but Nerovision (my software of choice for capturing/burning) doesn't enjoy actually ripping from it (empty files on regular capture), it'll only burn straight to DVD (using the DVD+VR option) (this hangup doesn't bother me so much, but I'd like to edit a bit before burning, and the resulting dvd+vr discs can be a bit flaky).


Since I'm using Nero, I assume an actual hardware-based encoding card isn't necessary (everything is done software, yes?). But the capture cards I'm looking to replace the old theatre are all ~$30-40, so, if I want to use the hardware sometime in the future, it makes sense to get the 150 for just a bit more jack. (that's more of a question).


Thanks!