Getting started in HTPC part #2

Rupp

Rupp

Senior Member
The PVR-500 ($210 bundle) is a dual-tuner, SDTV only (NTSC is SDTV). That means you can record two concurrent shows, or watch 1 live while 1 is recording, but neither are HD signals.

The HVR-1600 ($150 bundle) which i've never heard of but that doesn't mean much as i haven't looked lately, can do 1 NTSC and 1 ATSC signal. That means 1 OTA HD signal, and 1 cable/DirecTV-SD signal. It is odd that it is cheaper, but it is definitely a newer card, so perhaps something is optimized/etc.

You said you wanted to start by recording that OTA of yours; If I had to pick from between those two, I'd get the HVR-1600, so you get 1 HD signal and 1 SD signal.

But, if SDTV recording isn't a priority for you, i'd get the external HDHomerun box for two concurrent HD OTA tuners, and save my PCI slots for any SDTV I'd ever want to do. Yes, it is $100 more ($170 for HDHR + $80 for SageTV), but now you get two HD signals (ie, 1 watch live, 1 record), and you don't use up those increasingly precious and rare PCI slots.
 
I will let the Sage guys handle the details, but I just wanted to put a plug in for www.pcalchemy.com I have bought most of my DVR, MCE keyboards, etc there and had 1 RMA which went well. I like their focus on Media Centers, as I have learned my lesson and in this field don't mess with Woot or Geeks any more... (This is also one of the few places you can buy an OEM version of Windows XP MCE without a system bundle although they sell bundles too)

Vaughn
 
IVB,
Is the HDHomerun just an external tuner? Does it connect to the PC via the network cable?
 
Rupp said:
IVB,
Is the HDHomerun just an external tuner? Does it connect to the PC via the network cable?
Click to expand...
yes its an external tuner, but you connect it to your network switch, not the pc. theres a utility you run to allow sage to detect it, after which it both controls it and gets both inboung tuner streams over your network. its a cool design.
 
Rupp, what are your sources? Thats what this all comes down to.

If SD you'll want a PVR500 since most of your lineup is SD I suggest you get one.

If you have CableTV you might also want QAM so HVR1800 for a PCIe x1 interface or HVR1600 for a PCI interface.

If you have sat you'll either need an R5000HD mod performed on your box or you'll need to wait for component capture. Or you could go the Canadian way with Mytheater and an HVR4000. :lol:


ver0776 said:
I will let the Sage guys handle the details, but I just wanted to put a plug in for www.pcalchemy.com I have bought most of my DVR, MCE keyboards, etc there and had 1 RMA which went well. I like their focus on Media Centers, as I have learned my lesson and in this field don't mess with Woot or Geeks any more... (This is also one of the few places you can buy an OEM version of Windows XP MCE without a system bundle although they sell bundles too)

Vaughn
Click to expand...

x2 however PCAlchemy recently rejected my order because my Visa started with certain digits. I dunno whats up with that so I have gone to Newegg.

Also your past troubles were caused by a software encoder, buy Hauppauge hardware encoders and you'll have no problems in SageTV, BeyondTV or MCE.

Get a SageTV interface going already! That would be super cool, let me know if I can help you.
 
CollinR said:
Also your past troubles were caused by a software encoder, buy Hauppauge hardware encoders and you'll have no problems in SageTV, BeyondTV or MCE.

Get a SageTV interface going already! That would be super cool, let me know if I can help you.
Click to expand...

I have replaced the 1 cheap tuner and loaded Sage on that same box last night and there are no CPU issues. Sage is working on that box.

Once I do a little more reading on Sage, I will get it loaded on the other boxes. I am looking forward to seeing all these things that blow MCE away =) I sure hope there are some easy interfacing options too... I got on the Sage forums and asked for some advice on this, so we will see.

I have a variety of DVR cards now, PVR-250, PVR-500, PVR-1800, AverMedia 780 series... all seem to be working well. Just that Pinnacle from Woot that sucks, figures it would be the one I tried to get Sage to work on =)

Looking forward to being part of the Sage community...

Vaughn
 
FWIW, don't underestimate Collin's point about software encoders. By in large, they suck. I went that way cuz it was upgradeable (just get new drivers), but it's a PITA to get them working right with XP, esp if you have automatic updates turned on. The fusion is a sw card, i think the A180 is a hw card, obviously the HDHR is a hw solution.
 
Good point I should have mentioned that better.

If you get an analog software compression card you will have problems, it take quite a few CPU cycles to convert NTSC video with sound to MPEG2 in realtime. Some systems claim they will work with them but I can assure you troubles. Modern CPUs have really helped here but still there is no point in wasting the CPU on video encoding when for $50 more you could have a hardware encoder do it on the card.

Digital streams in ATSC, QAM, h.264 and many others are not effected by this. They are digital when they come to you and simply get written to disk.

This is a huge factor in the software compression component video capture that has been available in the past, even modern CPUs will play hell compressing raw component video into a reasonable size on the fly. As these become available hardware encoding is of upmost importance to stability.
 
Just when I thought I had it all figured out.... :)
My inputs are HDTV OTA and standard analog cable. Now is the HVR-1600 a hardware encoder card? The PC I want to use is a P4 3.4 GHZ, 1gig of RAM but not PCIe slots only PCI. Recommendations are welcomed.
 
CollinR said:
It'll probably work just fine, do you have a video card? My only concern would be decoding the HD video.
Click to expand...
Not a good video card (built on the motherboard) but if I go with a hi-def extender then this will not be an issue right?
 
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