Corey

iTrader: (1)

Good gosh man
That must be pre '89?

I had a Panasonic from '89 that had all the modern inputs as my fairly new Toshiba one does now.

You might contact that company on my PVR page that sells the cables I use.

I am all pumped about adding in this new card tomorrow, as long as we do not lose power.
The big storm is coming tomorrow.

Cebby

Actually, the TV is probably circa 1996 or 97. It has an integral VHS VCR in it. There is a pair of RCA's in the front - one for vid, one for audio and then one single RG59 for cable on the back. I guess they thought that was adequate at the time...

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Comparison between my new Hauppauge WinTV PVR 350 tuner card, and my older Winfast TV2000 XP Deluxe.

The Hauppauge PVR 350
http://hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_pvr350.html

Pros:
Hardware decoder and encoder, takes the work off of the CPU.

Cons:
1. Card is 3 times the money of my Leadtek card.
2. You must run several apps at once if you want to watch live TV ands then schedule a show manually for a recording later.
3. No way to have the PC shut down for the night after the last show has recorded.
4. When using the Titan TV website to schedule your shows, there is also no option to have the PC shut down for the night.
5. When you want to watch a file you recorded earlier, you must hit the record button to bring up another drop down console from the TV watching application.
It does a short recording until you hit stop, then you have to go and delete that file since you do not need it.
Then you click on file in the drop down app to find your recording to play back.
6. The remote wire is smaller than a standard 1/8" mini stereo jack/cable.
I thought I could use the Y connector by my PC and run the new remote wire from them, but it fits to loose.
Not sure if I can find a 50' or so extension cable either so I can also run another remote wire in the living room for the TV set.
Currently I have 2 remote sensors for my Leadtek card.
One by the PC, the other one stuck to the TV set.

The Leadtek Winfast TV2000 XP Deluxe (being phased out)

Pros:
1. Card can be programmed by both the scheduler and via Titan TVs webpage to shut down the PC after the last recording of the evening.
2. Uses standard 1/8" stereo plugs for the remote control, so I can use a Y splitter cable to run 2 remote sensors.
One by the PC, and another by the TV.
3. All applications are within on app.
No needing to fire up a separate app do to setup a manual recording if you prefer it over Titan TVs web site interface.

Cons:
1. Not hardware supported for the encoders.
Big deal, never missed them.

And the winner is...
The older and cheaper Winfast TV2000 XP Deluxe.
The equivalent to this card they may no longer make is the WinFast TV2000 XP Expert.

I will keep both cards in for now, and perhaps put the Hauppauge card into a Media Center only computer to go out by the TV in the distant future.

PS, one advantage to two cards, both apps can run, so I can record 2 shows at once if need be.
http://www.pnw4runners.com/temp/2_pvr.jpg

Cebby

OK, so what are the other options that have hardware decoder/encoder on them since the haup seems to be a bust...

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Do you need hardware encode?
So far I have not, and I can also hook up an old hi 8 mm camcorder just fine to my Leadtek.

I think the hardware thing is overated.

Cebby

I guess not, I thought that was a desirable feature though (takes the work off of the CPU)

Corey

iTrader: (1)

I have no snafus at all when I am recording when I want to surf, works on jpgs, email, ect, with the Leadtek.

I would go for the Leadtek Expert 2000.
It pretty much replaces mine.

In fact it may very well be the new Hauppauge card I installed this morning that fubared my rig, seeming how I have to format again tomorrow, my PC is all messed up.

I will reinstall the new card tomorrow after the format and see if takes my soundcard down again.
If it does, the tuner card is getting pitched.

I hate formatting, especialy after having just done it last Sunday.

Cebby

What about this:

http://www.buy.com/prod/VisionTek_XT.../10409575.html

and this

http://www.buy.com/prod/VisionTek_Xt.../10388578.html

When it says "TV-Out", does that mean regular coax?

Corey

iTrader: (1)

On the vid card, I am not sure.
Some have the yellow RCA out for the TV out that goes to the RCA input on your TV, some like mine have the S vid out.

Now on that tuner card, I personaly would not buy any card unless it works with the Titan TV network, so this way it is sooooooooooooooo easy to setup recordings.

See the list here of supported cards.
http://ww1.titantv.com/ttv/grid/aboutpvrwatchfull.aspx

Cebby

Thanks Corey! I read some more and it seems their "TV out" just might be coax. When it is RCA or S-Video, they seemed to list them.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

The new Hauppauge card my CPU usage is between 25 and 30%
http://www.pnw4runners.com/pc/cpu_wintv.jpg

With the older Leadtek card, CPU usage is around 5%
http://www.pnw4runners.com/pc/cpu_winfast.jpg

Also when running both cards at the same time, the Hauppapge lags behind the Leadtek by about 2 to 3 seconds when on the same channel.

Still gonna run it though.
Tonight my Leadtek is recording
Surface
24
CSI Miami

The Hauppauge card will record Las Vegas which on at the same time as 24.
Kind of neat having 2 cards so I can record more.

mach4

I have the HDTV wonder card installed on my pc and the thing rocks.
It has inputs for both hd and sd. A vcr can also be connected to turn those old videos into digital format.

I use a program called watchhdtv and the picture looks better than my lcd screen in the living room.

It did take tinkering to get the card and drivers to work but the setup is solid.

Now I want to build an htpc and try the setup on the lcd.

Cebby

I pulled the trigger on this one. It comes with Snap-Stream PVR Multimedia Software and there are many TV Listing services available now, so the lack of a listing on Titan TV dooesn't concern me too much.

I also discovered that I already have a TV-Out card in the PC ths will be going into. It has a Nvidia GeForce4 MX 420 in it. Says it will do 1024 x 768 res on the TV. I have no idea how that ranks...

So, I need to come up with an S-Video to RCA's or S-Video to Coax adapter cable and I should be good to go.

250Gb drive should be here Monday...

Cebby

One other thought...

My new card is compatible with Win Xp or MS Media Center. Does the Media Center version have a listing service also?

EDIT: OK, it has a listing service. BUT, it looks like you can't use the PC as a PC anymore with this OS. ???

Should I be looking forward to Vista - Home Premium?

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Mike, that card may be TV out only though, and not have recording capabilities.

For the cable, look on my PVR page at the end of my PC page, that is where I got my nice cabel from that has sound & video out.

Still diggin' the PVR too.
I use both of my cards if two shows are on at the same time I need to record.

Ooops, reading to fast, looks like you got a card too.

BT17R

I just got one of these for net $129 on the ATI Trade-Up program. I think it has most features, but haven't hooked up anything yet. I think they're at Newegg for $159, too.

jrallan26

I have a question for the people that have PVR's. I currently have a DVR (100 hour Dish Network).

My question is: If you have cable internet does that mean you can get cable TV through the same line?

I thought about getting a TV card / PVR to get some channels that I dont get on my DISH.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Why yes it does.
See my picture.



The splitter on the wall is from Comcast.
The top coax is the feed from the wall outlet.
One of the bottom coax cables goes to the cable modem for Internet access, and the other coax goes to my TV tuner card, well it did...

The 2nd coax for the TV tuner card goes to another splitter you can not see that is down below by the PC.
From it are two more coax cable each going to a TV tuner card since I now run two TV tuner cards in my PC.

Very slick setup, this way I can record two shows at the same time with separate cards.