PC TV

  • Thread starter Thread starter Diane
  • Start date Start date
As I understand it, the difference between the Hauppage 150 and 250 is
that the 250 includes an onboard chip to do the encoding rather than
depending on the PC's CPU, thus the higher price -- there has to be
some reason for the price difference. This is important if you want to
be able to do anything else while capturing. If you intend to dedicate
the PC as a PVR, then the 150 should be suffucient.

I have the 250 and there is almost no CPU load when capturing.
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It's also worth noting that most people will not want to use
the hardware encoding unless they'll soon be deleting it, as
the quality per GB (pick one or the other) is worse for
MPEG2 and any other codec the card will naturally have to do
in software host processed like any non-hardware encoder
card.
 
Yeah I want to clear that up so as not to confuse the OP --- they both
have hardware encoding. Im not sure why they have the 250 around in
their line up but its been pointed out they are functionally virtually
the same. The 150 uses a new chip that incorporates all the features
except one really minor one I think , at a much lower cost which
results in a lower price. So why do they still have the 250? I dont
know. Its an older product they still have around and some even posted
the 150 looks slightly better picture wise than the 250 but thats
according to some posters. There was a huge decline in hardware
encoding card prices around the time the 150 came out . I dont know if
they all use this new chip but Nvidia has a card , Avermedia and ATI
even used a non ATI chip on version of a TV card - and all were
selling around the 50-60 range. I would stick with the 150 since it
seems to be selling the most and probably has the most information ,
support for it.
Click to expand...

I'll be sticking with the 150. I may just start with one and forego the
watching one show and copying another thing initially. If I need to
have that ability down the road, I'll pick up another 150. Seems that
should work.

Thanks for all your advice. You guys are GREAT!!@!@
 
As the OP only has Windows XP (and never mentioned anything about the
MCE version), I would assume software support is critical. Just
because MCE supports 2 x Win TV cards or 2 x TV Wonder Elites, doesn't
mean the software designed for non-MCE XP will. As the ATI supplied
software for the Elite has received very poor reviews with just one
card, the OP would be well advised to first liase with ATI if
considering going down that route.

Paul
Click to expand...

That's correct. I have Windows XP. I should also mention that I have two
hard drives. Primary is 80 GB and slave is 40GB.
 
I'll be sticking with the 150. I may just start with one and forego the
watching one show and copying another thing initially. If I need to
have that ability down the road, I'll pick up another 150. Seems that
should work.

Thanks for all your advice. You guys are GREAT!!@!@
Click to expand...

Thats a good plan. I just brought up the ATI cause its the big rival
mentioned at many sites. In fact a month or so ago someone was hyping
it at one deal site again citing an Anandtech review on it. I didnt
want you run across it later and ask "Why didnt they mention that one
too?" Some people think its a better deal and prefer it over the 150
but I have the 150 as I mentioned and am biased towards the 150 ,
since it seems about the same while cheaper in price if you dont need
all that stuff like a remote and software.

The only really attractive thing in my case is the blurring of motion
issue. I did another search and I dont see it brought up a lot
nowadays and I even seen some posts that claim they solved it with
some newer drivers or some changings in the settings for the card.

Also WIN MCE is very popular with home theater enthusiasts so I
thought Id mention that just in case you dont know about it. Obviously
youd have to buy it but you can use it instead of a separate program.

Anyway GB PVR free program + 150 whitebox is the cheapest combo youll
probably find. Thats what Im using.
 
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