win tv pvr 250

[rob2421]

I have noticed alot of these cards for sale on ebay but they only come with the card no cd or cables or manuals. how much trouble would it be to get the card up and running? is it worth buying without the cd and manual? im new to this and it seems like this card seems to be the most popular on this board

[RobertH]

Well most of the ones on ebay are probably OEM editions or they are the MediaCenterEditions for windows MCE and they wouldnt have a cd, the only thing of any real use on the retail cd is the mpeg editor, snapstream cant use the drivers on the cd they are too old. I threw the manual out with the box if you know how to put in a card you dont need one. The only cable most would come with is the remote control receiver or an svideo -> composite adapter. but if you dont get one with a remote the remote cable is useless (they only work with their remotes) and you can pick up an svideo -> composite cable about anywhere.

Both the oem and mce editions will work just go to hauppauge and get the latest pvr250 drivers.

[rob2421]

The ones i have looked at are new OEM versions for media center Pc's, I just wanted to make sure it was compatible in my pc. thanks

[MannyTC]

Originally posted by merrypig
personally, I'd buy from compusa. 99 bucks and a 'warranty' for something that is to become the core component of my tv system far outweighs the risk of buying some potentially broken crap from ebay.

What CompUSA do you shop at that you got a PVR-250 for $99? I bought mine there 2 months ago and it was $149 and still is. I own a computer company and the cheapest I could get it for from a wholesale distributor is $120. I didn't go that route cause I got the itch to get SS PVS working one weekend and just ran out to buy one. Every place else in town also sells it for $149. Cheapest I see from reputable online vendors is $129.

[RobertH]

compusa and circuit city have them onsale just about every other month

[PeteS]

Originally posted by rob2421
The ones i have looked at are new OEM versions for media center Pc's, I just wanted to make sure it was compatible in my pc. thanks

I have bought an OEM PVR 250 from ebay (techsys is the seller I bought from) $97 including shipping. I have been using it without a problem. Only negative is that it has no remote, if that is an issue for you.

I didnt need the remote and didn't want to be bothered with waiting for a sale or the hassel of sending in the rebates.

[bradpvr]

Yup, I bought one from the same guy (no remote). No biggy, I'm using the ATI Remote Wonder anyways.

Works great, quality is amazing

[vogelap]

Originally posted by bradpvr
Yup, I bought one from the same guy (no remote). No biggy, I'm using the ATI Remote Wonder anyways.

Works great, quality is amazing

Can you compare the quality of a PVR250 versus an ATI All In Wonder? I've got an ATI AIW 7500.

[haynes52]

no contest

pvr all the way!!


i had an ATI, took it back!

the hardware encoding is fab!!
grap the hauppauge and use it for capture, use the ATI for output

[bradpvr]

I also had an ATI card (can't remember which) but the quality was brutal. Pixalation everywhere, dropped frames, the whole bit.

I added a PVR-250, adjusted the quality configs accordingly (basically maxed them out) and voila...one could say it's better then regular TV.

[haynes52]

acho again, actually, get the pvr, and ebay your ati card and buy a better vid card

[vogelap]

Originally posted by haynes52
acho again, actually, get the pvr, and ebay your ati card and buy a better vid card

I may have to retain the ATI AIW 7500 as a display card (at least until I can afford another), but am curious as to what you'd recommend as a "better vid card"?

My PVR is dedicated; it's not a gaming machine or anything... Just the PVR.

[haynes52]

well, many around here are fine witht the ATI product, and a as a candian, i wanted to like it too, but in my case, i had too may video problems

you might love the card you have...

i am fond of the Nvidia product, stabl, cool, quiet, and i like working with the drivers better.

i just bought a Geforce fx5200 with DVI out and it is very nice and about $100 usd

what are you unsing as video out? (s-vid coax dvi)

if you have lld $ buy the pvr card and wait for the vid card, a shitty recording will only ever play shitty on any vid card

[vogelap]

Thanks for taking the time to reply to my questions!

Originally posted by haynes52
i just bought a Geforce fx5200 with DVI out and it is very nice and about $100 usd

That's the video card I use on my other machine, and I like it very well. I'd consider getting another Geforce fx5200 for the PVR, but would have to wait a month or so till I can afford it -- slow & steady, that's how I have to do upgrades!

what are you unsing as video out? (s-vid coax dvi)

S-Video.

if you have lld $ buy the pvr card and wait for the vid card, a shitty recording will only ever play shitty on any vid card

That's the situation I'm in... I've got enough money to get the PVR250 right now. I can use the ATI AIW 7500 as video card -- at least until I can replace it.

The concern I've got is that the PVR250 records only to MPEG (not WMV, which is the format I'm currently using). I'm worried that my little 80gig drive will fill up quickly unless I spend a fair amount of time transcoding from MPEG to WMV.

What are the risks of this scenario:
* Using PVR250, record a show in MPEG format.
* Transcode the show to WMV format (for size considerations).
* Delete the MPEG show (SS can be configured to do that automatically, right?)
* Watch the WMV show.

Would that scenario work? Is it asking too much of my 1.7 Celeron to do that? Does transcoding a show in the background impact the recording of another show? What else do I need to know about all this?

[vogelap]

Originally posted by merrypig
I record at 6Mbps CBR 720x480 (pvr250 card). I then transcode overnight to a customised 2.5 or 3.5 Mbps wmv file. I delete the mpeg file automatically for all non movie shows. For movies, I leave the mpeg around in case I want to check out the wmv file for quality first, or do some editing on it. So far though I've just manually deleted the mpeg the next day anyway the wmv transcode have worked fine.

Thanks for the reply. I noticed in your sig that you're using a PVR250 with an ATI AIW 7500. The ATI AIW 7500 is currently what's in my machine.

Can you tell me about the quality you get from your PVR250 & ATI AIW 7500 combination? Any complaints? Any pitfalls I should be aware of?

I got a SoundBlaster Live 5.1 sound card yesterday to replace my old SB16.

Sounds like some upgrades in my near future... New sound card, probably adding the PVR250...