[mythtv-users] Capture Card Advice

[Joel Larsson]

One thing that is plus with software encoder is the use of MPEG4 which 
creates alot smaller files for the same quality. My XP1700 works great 
with live tv.

Cheers,
Joel

Jeff Williams wrote:

>Hardware-based encoders probably won't give you a noticeable difference in quality (though they might) but they will allow you to get away with a much slower CPU.  TiVo, ReplayTV and other pre-built DVR's use hardware encoders along with ridiculously slow CPU's that do nothing but basically power the menu interface and process remote control inputs.
>
>It's just a tradeoff.  With a hardware encoder you put the processing power on the card vs. on your CPU.  Without a hardware encoder, you need a very fast CPU to capture at the highest resolutions with de-interlacing on, while also watching a previously recorded show at the same time.  Software encoders just capture the raw signal and pass it on to the CPU for encoding.
>
>I don't know that one is really better than the other; I think it depends on the rest of the PC you either already have or are planning to build.  If you've got a 3mhz CPU already, you may as well not waste the money on a hardware encoder card, as that's plenty of power for doing pretty much anything you'd want with Myth, even with more than one tuner.  But if you're building from scratch, you may be able to save some money overall and still get excellent quality by going with something like the PVR-250.
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Tony Mahar [mailto:amahar at snet.net]
>Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2003 11:01 AM
>To: mythtv-users at snowman.net
>Subject: [mythtv-users] Capture Card Advice
>
>
>Hello all,
>
>I am new to PVR on PC, but am very excited.  I am switching from my satellite TV based PVR (dish 501 pvr) to regular analog cable.
>
>What setup provides the best capture quality at 29.7x fps NTSC? 
>
>Would it be boards like Hauppauge PVR 350 with mpeg encoders?  Or are the encoders on the hardware chips poor, and then would a software encoder with a fast machine be capable of cleaner encoding?
>
>Thanks,
>Tony
>
>
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