Hardware vs. Software

[hoodoo]

Sorry for being so uneducated, but besides processing time, is there any difference in hardware and software encoding? I want to simply be able to schedule/record shows, watch them on my PC and occasionally burn them to disc for archiving. I am not sure which card I should purchase. Thanks.

[TomZ]

You will get the best picture with a PVR-250. Pretty strong statement, yes. But spend some time browsing these forums and you will see that I am not along in this thought.

But until ver 3.5 you will not be able to stream live TV across a network. (But can stream previously recorded shows after converting them via showsqueeze).

With S/W encoding (such as an ATI AIW) you can stream live TV with the current BTV.

[Brett]

Although you probably know this: ATI is software, and PVR250 is hardware. With that said take a look at this thread.

-Brett

[Chunk_Drywall]

Originally posted by TomZ
You will get the best picture with a PVR-250.

For me personally, after evaluating the PVR-250, the WinTV PVR USB2, and the Adaptec Videoh! DVD Media Center, I've decided to stick with the Adaptec. All of the pieces were nice, but I got the best picture with the Adaptec unit. This is just my personal observation, though. The Hauppauge units do have better software than the Adaptec by a pretty good margin, though BTV works with all the units I tested, and I'll probably be buying BeyondTV in the next day or so.

[TomZ]

Yes, here I am caught with an unresearched bias. What I really know is that...

1) I started out with an AIW 9000 and had mediocre results.
2) read these forums and spotted a trend.
3) bought a PVR-250 and lived happily ever after.

[V_D_O]

Speaking of the WinTV PVR USB2, does it work with BTV? Exactly which external HW encoders do?

I know that as a longtime beta tester, I should be more in touch with these things, but there seem to be conflicting reports, and I am quite confused.

BTV's system requirements state that the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR USB2 is supported, but the KB article 1049 claims that "We do not yet support the Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB 2.0, so it appears on this list. Full support for this device is coming soon!". I was under the impression that support for this device was introduced in 3.3 or 3.4, and this seems to be reinforced by a couple of posts on the board. However, the KB article 1090 does not mention it as supported.

Are the KB articles incorrect, or am I missing something?

[Cayars]

The PVR-USB2 works well with the latest beta drivers. No problems at all with it.

Carlo

[Brett]

It works but only with the latest drivers

And btw just to give some idea of how well it works, I can not tell the difference from when I am recording with the USBPVR2 or the PVR250.

-Brett

[V_D_O]

Ah, thanks. Shouldn't SS update the KB?

With the dual-tuner support and MPEG2 streaming coming in 3.5, I thought I'd buy myself another tuner, and it has to be USB because all 6 of my PCI slots are used.

Shipping time to here is ridiculous, though - with luck, I might get it by the time 3.5 goes gold

[Brett]

The fact is each point release "adds/changes" so much that several KB articles need to be updated. I guess if you notice one that is in error I would suggest pming tuck to notify him. This ofcourse helps the community, which ofcourse benefits Snapstream, and in the longrun the enduser.

-Brett

[Chunk_Drywall]

Originally posted by Chunk_Drywall


For me personally, after evaluating the PVR-250, the WinTV PVR USB2, and the Adaptec Videoh! DVD Media Center, I've decided to stick with the Adaptec. All of the pieces were nice, but I got the best picture with the Adaptec unit. This is just my personal observation, though. The Hauppauge units do have better software than the Adaptec by a pretty good margin, though BTV works with all the units I tested, and I'll probably be buying BeyondTV in the next day or so.

To be specific about the picture quality (and I know the PVR-250 is a great card), I get vertical ghosting lines with the Hauppauge (I got the same thing with Hauppauge's USB2 model as well), but very little of that with the Adaptec. Is there a way to improve the image quality with the PVR-250 that I may have missed during evaluation? I still have time to fool with it before I have to return it...

[TomZ]

Have you created a custom quality for the PVR-250?

Try this...

frames per sec 29.970
size 720x480
bit rate 9,000,000
bidirectional frames 2
predictive frames 4
noise filter off
motion precision 25%
variable bitrate off