Couple of Questions?

[b0nehead]

Using beyondtv are you able to record a show and watch another show at the same time?

What is better the PVR-150 or the PVR-250? What's the difference between them?

[nanook105]

Originally Posted by b0nehead

Using beyondtv are you able to record a show and watch another show at the same time?

Yes - as long as you have two tuners

What is better the PVR-150 or the PVR-250? What's the difference between them?

I believe that the 250 is eventually going away. The 150 is supposed to have the same quality, and is cheaper

[b0nehead]

If I wanted to watch and record at the same time, would the PVR-500MCE be the best card to buy? Or would buying to seperate PVR-150s be better? Is the PVR-500MCE supported?

[nanook105]

I don't own either one. Both of them are new cards, so there will be growing pains with drivers. I believe that I have seen posts of success with both cards, and I can proabably make arguments for both. The 500 saves on a PCI slot, but the 150s protect you more from failure (since the 500 is a single point of failure). The 500 is Hauppauge's first dual tuner card. For me, I have plenty of open PCI slots, so I would just go with the 150s

[flavius]

Or other cards with hardware encoding. BTV does support other products just fine..

[b0nehead]

Know of any good PVR cards with dual tuners? I only have one more PCI slot in my eMachine.

[Treetop]

the PVR-500 is the only one Im aware of.

What is better the PVR-150 or the PVR-250? What's the difference between them?

http://htpcnews.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1931

[Cal]

Originally Posted by b0nehead

Using beyondtv are you able to record a show and watch another show at the same time?

To clarify some of the above posts on this.
Watching a previously recored show does not use any tuners. Recording a new show uses a tuner and watching live tv uses a tuner. Playback of existing shows or shows in progress do not use a tuner.

So...
With 1 tuner you can record a show while watching a previously recorded show.
With 2 tuners you can record two shows while watching a prviously recorded third show.

Watching a show that is currently being recorded does not use up a tuner other then the one being used to record it in the first place.

You can do alot with just 1 tuner. However. 2 is so much nicer.

[Poorman]

Keep in mind that the PVR-500 won't work with Windows XP. I called them about this and they told me that only the MCE 2005 would work with the dual card.

[nanook105]

Originally Posted by Poorman

Keep in mind that the PVR-500 won't work with Windows XP. I called them about this and they told me that only the MCE 2005 would work with the dual card.

I think that it will based on this post:

http://www.shspvr.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6429