Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150MCE Personal Video Recorder (1042) by HAUPPAUGE
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List Price: Our Price: $51.67 You Save: $47.33 (48%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
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Digital camera reviews of Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150MCE Personal Video Recorder (1042)
Digital camera Review: Great Card
Summary: 5 Stars
PROS:
Installed under Windows XP MCE in less than 10 minutes.
Picture quality is pretty good (using S-Video feed from my satellite set-top box).
Drivers installed with no problem at all and I was able to pause live tv as well as record TV programs.
CONS:
As an audio fanatic, I hold great value to good quality of sound and unfortunately, this is where this card failed my criteria.
As a satellite subscriber, all my audio is wired with optical cables and coax cables. This guarantee the delivery of digital audio accross the entire system as satellite is 100% digital.
for some reason this card (and actually all TV cards) offers 2 RCA inputs for audio. This means that whatever you record is converted to 2 analog channels - NO DOLBY DIGITAL
I wonder why they are not using the audio card on the pc as a resource for the audio. most pc's today comes with digital audio input.
CONCLUSION:
While I would love to see TV cards with digital audio input I think for this price this card is an excellent value.
There's another detailed review by "Harvey Ramos" named: "Great Low Cost Option, November 1, 2005" that you may want to read as well.
P.S: This is the Windows XP Media Center Edition version of the card. You must have all your hardware (video card, CPU, Remote control etc..) supported by Windows XP MCE, otherwise this card will not work correctly.
Also this version comes with no remote control (the assumption is that you already have one) and a fairly simple installation guide.
Digital camera Review: Great Card for a Great Price
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this card to use as a second tuner in a home-built PVR running MythTV in Linux. It used the same drivers as the Hauppauge PVR-350 that was already installed. I had no problems getting it installed and working. This card worked fine right out of the box.Digital camera Review: Great Low Cost Option
Summary: 5 Stars
This is among the least expensive hardware capture cards on the market (if not THE least expensive). The video quality, performance, and usuability are great with or without Windows MCE. I happen to use this card on my XP Home system and did not have any problems during installation or otherwise.
This is a "Hardware-based" capture card. Which means that the card comes with hardware onboard that handles all of the processing to convert your TV signal to a file on your computer. Software-based cards use your CPU for this. The advantage is that with a hardware based card you can actually use your computer while recording as the CPU usage is minimal (I actually don't see any CPU usage on my machine), compared to a software card which uses almost all of your CPU. This also means that you can use an older or slower computer to watch/record TV without suffering any performance issues. In the past, software cards were much cheaper than hardware, but Hauppauge's line has brought the cost down so that now there really isnt a reason to choose anything but a hardware card.
The MCE version of Hauppauge's PVR-150 differs from the "regular" non-MCE version because it does NOT come with *ANY* software other than drivers and it adds an FM radio tuner. The regular version comes with a remote and software to control the PVR-150, but no FM radio. There is only one TV tuner so you can only watch or record one channel at a time.
Since the 150MCE doesn't come with any software, you will have to control it with another program. Windows MCE can do this, but if you have XP Home or Pro you will need to use 3rd party software like BeyondTV and SageTV, or free ones like the open source MediaPortal. Since the card outputs MPEG2, you need to have installed a DVD player like Intervideo WinDVD or Cyberlink PowerDVD in order to watch TV (decode MPEG2). If you have an Nvidia card, you can use Nvidia's PureVideo Decoder which gives probably the nicest picture. Note that decoding (watching TV or your recorded movies) does take up some CPU, about 10% on my computer. If your computer came with a DVD player or burner you likely already have this software. And if not, most DVD burners come with it, so if you don't already have one you can get a DVD burner for around $50 and get the software thrown in.
For those with quality issues, check with the software you are using and try to increase the bitrate. This will lead to less "artifacts" (looks like a bad JPG), and smoother video. Obviously the filesize will increase per recording, but hard drives are so cheap now that you can afford to get a bigger drive to accomodate. You will have to adjust the settings to find what is an acceptable compromise between filesize and quality. Just for reference, I usually record with a variable bitrate with an average of 5000 and a max of 6000 which lets me fit about 2hrs on a DVD. In your decoding software adjusting the interlace method also gives good results (choose from bob, weave, or both). I rank the decoding software as Nvidia PureVideo, WinDVD, PowerDVD from best to worst as far as quality goes, but it is really a matter of personal taste.
Other options to consider are obviously the regular PVR-150 which adds software and a remote (but you lose the FM radio), and the PVR-500 which comes in both regular and MCE versions as well. The PVR-500 has two tuners so you can watch one program and record another or record two shows at the same time which is very nice. Just like the PVR-150MCE, the PVR-500MCE comes without software or remote control, but adds an FM radio. FYI, the PVR-500 is essentially two PVR-150 tuners on the same board, so quality is the same. There is also a low-profile version of this card.
Digital camera Review: Great Product
Summary: 5 Stars
For me, the package came with only the quick install guide, which tells how to install the card and drivers using the included CD-ROM. That didn't turn out very well. The CD-ROM contains antiquated driver and no TV tuning application! Using the capture program in the CD, I could only see video and no audio. I didn't know what to do.
Then after searching the web I found the Hauppage support page with all the latest drivers and the WinTV 2000 application, followed their instructions and now it works great. Great quality hardware, and software.
The only thing is they should (if not MUST) include more installation information in the package, or at least tell users where to go to get the latest updates and support.
Digital camera Review: Great Product - perfect for my needs
Summary: 5 Stars
I got this product as a replacement for my previous HDTV card that would not work as well with standard cable. I must say that the picture is at least twice as good as the other card. I really love the compatibility with all the good programs BeyondTV SageTV and eespecially the free GBPVR. I do not use MCE and this card is great for exactly what I need.
I can copy a season of whatever I want and even skip comercials.
Love it