[mythtv-users] Right capture card to purchase

[JS Boyd]

Given that I've had few problems with my PVR500. Sure the picture is not 
as good as straight to TV, but neither is Tivo's. And you have a lot of 
control over how much quality you want to trade for disk space via the 
bitrate.

I'd recommend that PVR500 card. Which is 2 PVR150's from MythTV's point 
of view. For unencrypted HDTV get an HDHomerun. It is not a card. It is 
a small box that sits on your (minimum 100Mb preferably switched) 
Ethernet network and provides 2 channels of HDTV via over-the-air or 
Cable QAM.

The PVR500 will record all your analog cable channels and HDHomerun will 
record all the QAM digital channels. The PVR500 can also record s-video 
and analog audio from your set top box.

The big problem most people are having is getting 5C encrypted HDTV 
cable channels or satellite HDTV into their Myth systems. Currently, the 
easiest solution is to just use the Standard Def S-video output on a 
cable or satellite box. It's not Hi Def, but nothing is at the moment. 
Firewire can get some HiDef channels from a cable box, but not the 
encrypted ones.

S.

Jason Rottman wrote:
> Hello!
>
> It has been observations that the pvr-150 does not deliver the same 
> video quality as if the tv was directly connected to the normal cable 
> line.  I was wonding if anyone had any suggestions on other cards to 
> buy that can deliver better quality?  I am currently using Charter 
> digital cable, and they offer a few HD-channels.  If I get an HD 
> capture card, can I use that same card on the channels that are not 
> HD?  Do I need to be concerned about anything because it is digital 
> cable?  We have other tvs that connect directly to the cable line, 
> rather than throught the cable box.  The only different is that these 
> tv's can not access the on-demand stuff.  Thank you for any 
> suggestions you can provide!
>
> -Jason
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-- 
==
Ubuntu Edgy 6.10
MythTV SVN version below
AMD 64 x2 4200+ 65W Energy Efficient Processor
Abit NF-N2 nView Motherboard
NVidia 6150 video VGA/DVI
PVR-500 (Phillips Chipset)
 IVTV 0.7.0-2+2.6.17.1-10.34
HDHomerun 
1GB RAM
500GB Seagate SATA: ST3500641AS
SONY DVD RW AW-G170A
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