Choppy recording, show squeeze quality and new tuner card

[number17]

Hi all,

I have a PVR150MCE with BTV 3.5.3, and have been pretty happy with it. I notice occassionally (not all the times ... say ~ once every 2 weeks) I get a recorded program that's very choppy to a point it's not viewable. I tried to trouble shoot but the log records no error, and when I try to record again everything works fine. Is there any reason for this? Has anybody else experienced this?

I also show squeeze all my shows to save space, but I find that after show squeeze the picture quality is noticeably worse than the original (i.e. it's far from a 'lossless' compression). I also notice whether I go with a 1.8G, 2.5G or 3G / hr recording quality, after show squeeze they all look the same. Is that normal? Is there anyway you can adjust the compression ratio / picture quality of show squeeze so that you still save some space but not sacrifice the picture quality as much?

Speaking of show squeeze, I find that only show-squeezed programs (.wmv) files can be stretched to fit my 16:9 screen during playback. Uncompressed MPEG2 files cannot be stretched and will always be in its native resolution (4:3). Is that normal?

Finally, I am thinking of adding a 2nd tuner card. I have a PVR150MCE card that has no IR port and it's fine when I record an analog signal on RF, but for my 2nd tuner card I do want it to be able to control my digital box so I can also record digital channels. What is the right card for me? Should I get the PVR150 (non MCE) which also comes with an IR blaster? I have a SA3250HD cable box.

I looked into the ATI Theatre Pro550 card which supposingly has better quality but it's too expensive ... not to mention, I heard it's not compatible with the PVR cards.

Sorry for so many questions ...