Help with TV Tuner card/TiVo type stuff

Post by **Transient** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 1:18 am

My birthday's coming up and one of the few things I want is something to replace my shitty VCR. All I'm looking for is something that will record scheduled shows onto a hard drive so I can watch them at my leisure. The first thing that came to mind was TiVo, but I know there have got to be other companies with similar products. I'm a newbie at this subject, so I had to resort to Googling.

So off I go to do some research, and come to find out that these units are called Digital Video Recorders (correct me if I'm wrong). Apparently they start at $300 and they've got monthly fees? Nobody's going to spent that much money on my sorry ass. :/

So then I look for other stuff that will do something similar, and stumble across TV Tuner cards (thank you wikipedia). So these things will record what's on TV onto my hard drive, yes? I also found this site - http://www.gbpvr.com/ - that doubles as a TiVo interface so long as I've got a TV Tuner card it supports. I'm assuming it will allow me to record various shows on different channels from one of my 400 stations of cable TV without me having to switch channels?

I did a little bit of homework, but if someone can set me straight about this, or give me links or something, it would help. TIA. :icon14:

Post by **Denz** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 1:20 am

Giraffe Hunter can help you out if you can find him. He's the expert.

Post by **Transient** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 1:24 am

Something I just thought of. I was looking at this card - http://www.hwhell.com/articles/plextor_ ... _convertx/ - and it would allow me to stream TV onto my monitor. Say I had digital cable from my provider, but an analog TV set. Would streaming it onto my PC allow me to watch it in its digital format? Or is it a moot point? I'm still trying to figure out how this stuff works.

edit: it just dawned on me that this probably plugs into the cable line itself, not the TV's audio/video input... maybe? LOL. :/

Post by **Sevensins** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 2:06 am

http://www.hauppauge.com/Pages/prods_pvrs.html

The plextor isn't really geared for recording TV, but seems to be more for converting VHS and such. As far as I can tell it doesn't have a cable connection.

This place has some nice PVR bundles as well. They include commerical PVR software BeyondTV or SageTV. I've never heard of GB-PVR. There is also MythTV (free) and ChrisTV (free lite version).

http://www.pcalchemy.com/

Post by **Transient** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 2:44 am

I did see an ATI Radeon 9800 128MB All-In-Wonder card, but it was like $300. It would be a step up from the card I've got (nVidia GeForce 4 ti4400 64 MB), but I don't know if it warrants the price. The bundle does seem mouth-watering from a gaming standpoint, and I would like a new video card, but I dunno... :/

Post by **Giraffe }{unter** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 3:11 am

If you want to go simple grab yourself a Hauppauge PVR-250 or PVR250MCE Card. (the MCE card has an FM tuner)

hauppauge pvr-250's can be found new in box on eBay for about $60 OR with IR sensor and remote for about $120 - $140

They have onboard mpeg decoders so there is little to no hit on your processor, and while they do not do High Def, they still do damn sweet quality recordings. count on 1 gig of MPEG per 30 minutes of recording at best quality

I'm currently using Windows XP MCE 2005 on a dedicated PC with 2 PVR cards, It has worked flawlessly since february, untill.... I installed powerstrip to get a proper resolution for my plasma

since then I'v had an ocasional crash a few times a week.

XP MCE 2005 prolly isn't a good idea for you if it's going to be your every day PC MCE is very picky and deosn't play nice with alot of stuff. You can use the PVR software that comes with the hauppauge cards and the remote as well. If you want to go the Windows XP MCE route in the near future you will have the proper PVR card to get you started.

Post by **Transient** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 3:24 am

How is the software that comes with the Hauppauge PVR-250? I read a review that says it leaves something to be desired, but that link I gave to the GB-PVR could possibly replace it, I suppose.

So am I looking at the Hauppauge PVR-250 at the bare bones end of the spectrum and that ATI Radeon 9800 128MB All-In-Wonder as the complete opposite?

Thanks guys, I appreciate the help. :icon14:

Post by **Sevensins** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 3:32 am

Transient wrote:How is the software that comes with the Hauppauge PVR-250? I read a review that says it leaves something to be desired, but that link I gave to the GB-PVR could possibly replace it, I suppose.

So am I looking at the Hauppauge PVR-250 at the bare bones end of the spectrum and that ATI Radeon 9800 128MB All-In-Wonder as the complete opposite?

Thanks guys, I appreciate the help. :icon14:

If I understand your question, No. The hauppauge is what you want if you really want to do PVR. It is hardware based, while I don't believe the AIW's have hardware based recording.

I think the Hauppauge comes with some ULead PVR software and I have also heard that it isn't that great. You can use other software, but I'd make sure that the software has support for it. Since hauppauge is pretty popular for PVR, that shouldn't be a problem.

[edit]btw, http://www.videohelp.com/capturecards.php

Post by **Giraffe }{unter** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 3:48 am

Transient wrote:How is the software that comes with the Hauppauge PVR-250? I read a review that says it leaves something to be desired, but that link I gave to the GB-PVR could possibly replace it, I suppose.

So am I looking at the Hauppauge PVR-250 at the bare bones end of the spectrum and that ATI Radeon 9800 128MB All-In-Wonder as the complete opposite?

Thanks guys, I appreciate the help. :icon14:

No the hauppauge card is very near the top end of the spectrum, you are getting a top notch card with onboard mpeg encoding, everything is done on the card, that means your PC does nothing more than write the file to the drive. The software may leave a little to be desired, but if that's not what you want there are many many many other programs capable of working with the hauppauge.

The ATI uses your computer to do all the work that means you are gonna be running slow as hell while recording something, The screenshot below is of me remote desktoping to my media center and recording 2 shows (1 on each PVR 250 card) simultaniously. The first peak on the left of the CPU raph is me starting the recording, it runs steadiy between 3%CPU and 29% while recording. I'm sure some of that is due to remote desktop

[lvlshot]http://pages.prodigy.net/dpfalandys/llama/screenshot/mceresources.jpg[/lvlshot]

Post by **Transient** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 4:20 am

Awesome, thanks guys. I'll probably push for the Hauppauge card then. Sounds like it's just what I'm looking for. GH, what's that program showing the TV guide? Windows Media Center?

Thanks again guys, I'm starting to feel moderately competent.

Post by **obsidian** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 5:20 am

I'm pretty sure that's Windows MCE in GH's screenshot.

Make sure that the card has support for all your 400 channels. It looks like most only have support for 125. Actually, I don't think I've seen a product that does 400 channels.

Post by **Transient** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 12:08 pm

Damn, I didn't think of that. Well I'm happy with it getting from 2-125, but I also watch a few things up as far as 303, plus movies in the 400-650 range. So I take it you can't pick and choose the 125 stations it gets, it just takes the first 125 stations? Because of all those channels, I watch under 100.

At any rate, it's no big loss because anything on one of the stations it doesn't get I can always just watch on my regular TV set.

Post by **Giraffe }{unter** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 1:09 pm

Transient wrote:Damn, I didn't think of that. Well I'm happy with it getting from 2-125, but I also watch a few things up as far as 303, plus movies in the 400-650 range. So I take it you can't pick and choose the 125 stations it gets, it just takes the first 125 stations? Because of all those channels, I watch under 100.

At any rate, it's no big loss because anything on one of the stations it doesn't get I can always just watch on my regular TV set.

Are you using a cable box? If so you will then be plugging into the composite video input and will need a program like windows XP MCE and the remote to control your set top box. This will give you every channel on your cable box.

Post by **Transient** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 1:21 pm

Yea, I have a cable box. Right now I have an A/B switch hooked up so I can watch basic cable while I record something else. Lots of wires in behind my entertainment center.

Are there freeware apps that will do what XP MCE will do? I'm wondering if GB-PVR that I linked in my first post will do it. If so, it's compatible with the Hauppauge PVR-150, which is probably the card I'll end up getting.

Post by **Giraffe }{unter** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 2:47 pm

Check AmIdY's thread he's testing some of them right now

http://quake3world.com/forum/viewtopic. ... cd93d74fdd

Post by **Transient** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 3:55 pm

Cheers. :icon14:

Post by **Transient** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 7:57 pm

I just got back from visiting the local mom and pop store and have a few questions. The guy there at first offered me some card he already had (I remember the name had something to do with 'ATI' and 'Pro' but wasn't the AIW card I mentioned last week [edit: just found out it was the ATI Theatre 550 Pro]). He then offered me an AGP card, which I promptly declined. He also had a card that took up 2 PCI slots, which I'd rather not have, because that would fill up my computer.

Then he showed me an external tuner that he said would only cost something like $35 and was a USB tuner. The one he used as an example was the one he used for a security system. Something like 6 different displays. He said it could be as fast as a PCI card. He was really selling it to me as being the better choice, which is odd, because he'd make less money than if he ordered the Hauppauge I wanted online. He also didn't recognize that company's name, and they seem like they're the frontrunners in the PC TV tuner market, so I'm teetering on whether or not he knows his shit about TV tuners and if I should listen to his advice.

So I settled on him getting back to me on the price he could get on a WinTV-PVR-150, and I told him I'd get some more info on USB tuners (from j00 guys

) in case I changed my mind. So what's the verdict? Stick with my original choice, or look into USB tuners?

BTW, what will the WinTV-PVR-150 run me? My guess is $60.

TIA.

(someone make

the fucking smiley, already. I can't remember it's icon14...)

Post by **Giraffe }{unter** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 8:08 pm

They were prolly trying to get you to buy something they could not get rid of. I have had great success with the Hauppauge series PVR-250.

The PVR-150 is on newegg.com for $73.00

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... x=0&Go.y=0

USB with onboard encoder would work fine as long as you have USB 2.0 otherwise it's senseless. I don't think USB 1.0 will keep up with the buffer. If you have the PCI slot go for the PCI version.

Post by **Transient** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 8:14 pm

Thanks GH. I'll be going with the PCI card in that case. Any idea why the 250 is twice as expensive as the 150, or if it matters for my needs?