will this card work with mce?

[ciamcool]

Hi, was just after a bit of advice, i have been to the windows website and had a look at what hardware you need for mce but i currently have a analogue card this one in fact http://www.techstore.co.uk/detail_39672.html and was just curious if it will work? as what i intend to do is just have a system at the side of me tv, that will play dvd's off the hdd and connect the analogue card to a sky digibox and record the odd programme which aint that often!
these are my spare bits that i'm thinking of using :
asus mobo
xp 2800 barton
2x256 mem
9800 pro
audigy 2
seagate 200gb hdd
Hauppauge WinTV PCI FM Analogue Terrestrial TV Tuner C-Video And S-Video Capture Nicam Stereo
mce remote(awaiting order if tv card is ok)


and it's getting hooked up to a 32" widescreen
sky digibox
digital 5.1 amp


will it all work as this is the first thought of putting it all together

TIA ciamcool

[deksawyer]

I'm not sure if this is supported, but I'd be tempted to spend a wee bit more and get the PVR150.

There are MCE drivers for that and it'll do everything you want.

www.scan.co.uk have the OEM version for £44.

D.

[nigelbb]

No, that card will not work. For MCE you require a card that does MPEG2 encoding hardware. So a Hauppauge PVR 150 MCE is a very suitable card.

[ciamcool]

Cheer's for the info but just one more quick question what is the difference between the 150/250/350 ?? and which is the best for the job

[deksawyer]

Well the 150 is cheaper and has a newer chipset...........I have one which I used for around a month before getting a Nova-T freeview card and it performed OK, but the picture quality is far superior from the Nova-T (as you'd expect).

If you're planning on using it with a set top box, then the 150 is more than up to the job.

D.

[ciamcool]

you are using the nova t? is this the one http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...eful&offset=50
also you say you get a better picture quality through the nova t than the pvr150 why? as i would have thought the signal from the sky digibox would have been better than the signal you get from a roof arial ?? if you were me and buying the bits which one would you suggest ? and can the sky digibox be hooked up to the nova t if i cant get a good signal from the roof arial?? i dont want to say money is no object but i want to get the "best" card for picture quality and one thats not gunna slow me system down but i dont want to buy a £100/£150 card when a £50 card will do the trick
cheer's

[deksawyer]

My apologies for the confusion.

The Nova-T is a freeview card and records the mpeg2 stream direct via the aerial to the hard drive, with no encoding. It can't encode the output from a set top box.

Analogue cards like the ones you've mentioned can accept an s-video/composite or RF signal from source, and then encode this to your hard drive, so they're the ones you're looking for.

As I've said, you won't go far wrong with a PVR150.

www.scan.co.uk and www.ebuyer.co.uk have fairly good prices as well. (no affiliation!).

D.

[evolution400]

Originally Posted by ciamcool

Cheer's for the info but just one more quick question what is the difference between the 150/250/350 ?? and which is the best for the job

The PVR-350 and PVR-250MCE both have the same chipset and will give the best picture the PVR-150 is a cheaper card the picture quality is not as good as the PVR 350/250 on SVIDEO. the NVTV card is also worth considering if your going to use SVIDEO but remember you will need to buy a RGB > SVIDEO converter from maplins as your SKY box unless its an old grundig will not output SVIDEO.
Best card for RF or Composite is the ATI 550.

[ciamcool]

would one of these be any good? WinTV HVR 1100 Digital & Analogue TV Tuner PCI http://www.savastore.com/productinfo...4&pid=45&tid=2 for £74 as the pvr350 is £100 which one is better? would of thought the hvr-1100 is the best of both world's ??
p.s thank's for the info lad's

[evolution400]

Do you intend on using SVIDEO ?
If so get this card its on par with the PVR-350
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=156959
If not then get this one:-
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=207848

[ciamcool]

[quote=evolution400]Do you intend on using SVIDEO ?
well lookin @ the back of my digibox there is only rf out x 2 and x2 scarts, so i assume the rf out of the digibox will go into the rf in of the tv card. and the connect the 9800/9600 pro "aint decided yet!" to the tv, now the 9800 pro has an output very much like s video but i dont think it is ?? so what is the best route for connecting the grfx card to the tv. the tv has x2 scart,s-vhs and composit is it ?? (yellow,white un red) connection
cheers
ps i have been on nights last night so bare with us as i'm goosed @ the mo (only 4 hrs kip)
pss think i might go with either the pvr 350 or ive been lookin @ the pvr 500
what ya think?

[evolution400]

To get the best picture quality you will need to buy a RGB> SVIDEO converter from www.maplins.co.uk because your digibox wont output in SVIDEO then from your gcard to your TV again you will have to go with SVIDEO you will not need a converter for your gcard as long as your TV accpets SVIDEO you can plug your gcard stright into your TV.
Up to you how many tuners you want PVR-500 is 2 tuners PVR-350 is single haveing a dual tuner single card uses less power from your CPU and obvioulsy takes up 1 slot only.
Both good cards.

[JonMace]

Originally Posted by ciamcool

would one of these be any good? WinTV HVR 1100 Digital & Analogue TV Tuner PCI http://www.savastore.com/productinfo...4&pid=45&tid=2 for £74 as the pvr350 is £100 which one is better? would of thought the hvr-1100 is the best of both world's ??
p.s thank's for the info lad's

MCE will not support EPG for Sky and Digital Terrestial at the same time so I would doubt that that card is supported.