Are Hauppage PVRs really that good?

[Gman]

I've seen those with hardware encoders raving (for want of a better term!) on the forums for some time about how great things are for them. I have a Pinnacle PCI (non-Pro) which is doing okay for me at "best" quality.

Since getting a PVR card would be quite an expensive option for me, since I'd have to import one I have a couple of questions.

1) Does the PVR card create a better picture? With the Pinnacle card I get little (barely noticeable) artifacts from time to time. This is most noticeable around writing.

2) Is the PVR still NTSC-only?

TIA

[Julia]

Originally posted by Gman
1) Does the PVR card create a better picture? With the Pinnacle card I get little (barely noticeable) artifacts from time to time. This is most noticeable around writing.

There is no doubt that the PVR card does a much higher quality picture. It can produce DVD ready quality captures. And at a very low cpu usage.

2) Is the PVR still NTSC-only?

It has both a PAL and a NTSC version.

Julia

[RobertH]

that an they let you capture at high resolutions of 720x480 (and its corrisponding PAL resolution) with little more than 3% cpu usage

you have to watch the drivers though there are 2 different sets running around there are the standard hauppauge drivers (recommend using the ones from shspvr.com) and the media center edition ones, the MCE drivers are only for NTSC as they were designed to only be used with MC wich is technically only available in the states.

[emg178]

I think the picture from the pvr-250 is better than my all in wonder 8500 dv, but not remarkably better. The biggest advantage is that the CPU usage is so much lower. I can now watch a whatever I want while recording and not worry about overloading the machine. For $100 (w/ rebate) it is well worth it.

[Julia]

The PVR can record at DVD resolution and quality, in real time, you can't get that with software recording, unless it is a beast of a machine, and dedicated to the task...

The PVR will handle bitrates up to 12Mb/s (try that in software!)

Julia