PCTV....minefield

caseman

caseman

caseman

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14 Feb 2006
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As per my other post, I am currently spec'ng my new build PC.....one of the many headaches I am facing is choosing a PCTV card...

my requirements

PVR
ability to record a channel whilst watching another (dual card)
compatable with Windows Media Edition
digital and freeview
FM radio
teletext?
DAB radio?

The two with a question mark are not essential......
I have found an hauppauge Win-TV-PVR 500...but two problems:-

cannot find any reviews of this product
read around hauppauge products and seems that the software used is dated....is this correct....has anyone experience of this particular model...
and can anyone recommend an alternative
 
the PVR-500 doesn't so freeview.
you want the NOVA-T, can be picked up for under £40 on the high street.
MCE 2005 will support upto 4 of these cards so 2 won't be a problem.
MCE 2005 now supports DAB and you can use Happauge's own software for FM.
I don't think MCE 2005 supports teletext, maybe Happauges software does.

I used to have a nebula and finally sold it due to lack of MCE drivers. Nebula's software was too unstable, but that was over a year ago so it might have improved by now. People say the nebula card have superior pic quality, I found my NOVA-T had better reception and pic quality was just was good. Pic quality depends more on what MPEG2 decoders you use, WinDVD, PowerDVD etc.
 
Mujja said:
the PVR-500 doesn't so freeview.
you want the NOVA-T, can be picked up for under £40 on the high street.
MCE 2005 will support upto 4 of these cards so 2 won't be a problem.
MCE 2005 now supports DAB and you can use Happauge's own software for FM.
I don't think MCE 2005 supports teletext, maybe Happauges software does.

I used to have a nebula and finally sold it due to lack of MCE drivers. Nebula's software was too unstable, but that was over a year ago so it might have improved by now. People say the nebula card have superior pic quality, I found my NOVA-T had better reception and pic quality was just was good. Pic quality depends more on what MPEG2 decoders you use, WinDVD, PowerDVD etc.
Click to expand...

what did you mean re the PVR-500 and Freeview - your quote doesnt make sense ;)
 
Unfortunatley mce only supports 2 tuners atm. Compro cards are very good, just install the drivers and you can just start recording. Any card that supports dvbt has freeview.
 
Mujja said:
oops, meant it doesn't do freeview, i.e. doesn't have a freeview tuner. you could plug a freeview box into it if you wanted to.
Click to expand...


I am a bit shocked...I thought that I could receive freeview through the PVR 500

as an alternative there is the Leadtek DVT1000T - I assume if I buy and install two of them I can replicate the features of the PVR 500 and also receive freeview?

assume that I will also be able to pick up analogue channels?
 
the key features that I need are

ability to record one channel and view another
freeview channels
analogue channels...

can someone recommend the card that will do this....
 
freeview and analogue channels?
all analogue channels, 1-5, are available on freeview.

just look for any cards with the DVT-T spec and if you want MCE make sure they have 'bda' driver, haven't got a clue what bda stands for so don't ask :)

I can only recommend the Happague NOVA-T as that's what I've used and at £40 retails it's as cheap as any other brand. And Happague have been making tuner cards for years so should be a reliable man. to go with.
 
Mujja said:
freeview and analogue channels?
all analogue channels, 1-5, are available on freeview.

just look for any cards with the DVT-T spec and if you want MCE make sure they have 'bda' driver, haven't got a clue what bda stands for so don't ask :)

I can only recommend the Happague NOVA-T as that's what I've used and at £40 retails it's as cheap as any other brand. And Happague have been making tuner cards for years so should be a reliable man. to go with.
Click to expand...

I am getting a headache from looking at the options....have now found the Terratac 2400 dual tuner....seems good but I am currently wading through another message board for peoples thoughts etc
 
The only twin freeview card is the 2400i and some of the options you want are mutually exclusive.

If you are going for MCE then the supplied software is redundent and with rollup 2 the freeview radio channels now work. Digital teletext is not supported and neither is interactive.

If you get the 2400i make sure you use the beta drives the release (E1) drivers suck.
 
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