Building a HTPC, Wintv HVR 3000 yes or no?

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Building a HTPC, Wintv HVR 3000 yes or no?

silver565

170 posts

Master Geek

#36043 18-Jun-2009 13:40

I'm building a media center. After a bit of research i came across the Hauppauge HVR 3000 However i can't seem to find if the Hauppauge hvr 3000 works with windows media center? (vista home premium)(or let alone if it's a nice solid card or not).
My question being, i hear that the tv tuner cards are quite hit and miss? they either seem to be good, or they're quite rubbish. Is there any card that you would recommend over this card? or would it be suitable?

I have a computer that's being converted into a basic htpc

Intel pentium 4 3.2ghz
2gb Pc3200 ram
ATI HD 3850 Agp
500gb Hdd
Windows XPP (however it does have a vista home premium licence too)

So it should cope with the simple task of watching one channel via satellite(which after reading here i found that freeview dvb-s is NOT HD? so it should be ok for one channel at a time)

Thanks for the help :-)

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324 posts

Ultimate Geek

#226294 18-Jun-2009 15:11

First question ... will you be viewing Freeview via DVB-S or DVB-T?

Because that determines the TV card to get.

If DVB-T, then you will have issues with your 3850 AGP, but lets establish the above first ...

silver565

170 posts

Master Geek

#226298 18-Jun-2009 15:16

Oh the 3850 won't work?

I'd like to use my dish (split the connection before the sky box) so i presume that means dvb-s?

walt12

324 posts

Ultimate Geek

#226299 18-Jun-2009 15:20

Correct, DVB-S.

If you'll never use a UHF antenna on the roof for terrestrial FreeviewHD, then probably not worth buying the HVR3000 as you're paying for functionality you wont use.

Instead look at something like the Hauppauge Nova-S. It doesn't have 2 tuners (meaning you can't watch one channel while recording another), although there are software ways and means around that in some circumstances.

The 3850 AGP will be fine with DVB-S, DVB-T not so.

silver565

170 posts

Master Geek

#226301 18-Jun-2009 15:23

Dvb-s is all I'm after at the moment. However if i were to want dvb-t in the future what sort of card should i be looking for?

I will have a look into the nova-s. I was just originally put of it because of a few reviews i read on the internet :s

Thanks for the help

walt12

324 posts

Ultimate Geek

#226303 18-Jun-2009 15:26

Nothing wrong with Nova-S. Dedicated DVB-S.

HVR3000 has a hybrid tuner for analog, DVB-T, and DVB-S. It keeps your options open for the future.

All of the Hauppauge products are good, TV cards are all pretty robust and trouble free in the whole HTPC experience. Its the software side where things get interesting ...

silver565

170 posts

Master Geek

#226308 18-Jun-2009 15:35

aaah gotcha. Ok so i guess i'll probably get the HVR 3000 just so i can future proof myself a bit.

Well i'm glad to know that the graphics card i have isn't a complete waste.

Thanks for the help. I'll let you know what happens when i get the card later this week

silver565

170 posts

Master Geek

#226318 18-Jun-2009 15:58

Sorry.. one final question.

If i were to get the HVR 3000. Would it crash immediatly on startup (if it tried to used dvb-t) or since i will only have the satellite connected to it the graphics card wouldn't cause a problem at all?

I'm just trying to figure out if the hvr 3000 will cause me any problems at all

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#226331 18-Jun-2009 16:44

Would not crash at all just will not handle playback of DVB-T with your videocard.

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silver565

170 posts

Master Geek

#226334 18-Jun-2009 16:50

Ok thanks guys. you've been awesome

mcraenz

1140 posts

Uber Geek

#226355 18-Jun-2009 17:48

I'd say just get a Nova-S, if you ever want to get DVB-T you will need to upgrade your whole system to a PCI express architecture in which case you can add a PCI express HVR2200 at that point this will give you dual DVB-T. It might cost a little more in the long run but it will be a better solution. How much is the HVR3000?

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silver565

170 posts

Master Geek

#226361 18-Jun-2009 18:04

Thats a good point actually. I'm going to build a new system when win7 hits the market in october (thats if i decide i want HD etc).

The Hvr3000 is $55 more (depending where i get it. Pbtech is more expensive than oczone by about $10-$20).

However i think i'll just stick with the nova as i won't be able to get HD on this system regardless, as it only has AGP.

I was just leaning towards the HVR3000 because i was thinking it'd probably work better as it was newer (yes, no?)

davidcole

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#226463 18-Jun-2009 22:02

the cost of the hvr3000 over the nova s i'd be inclined to get the hvr (I did when i looked into it) and then later on when i had the money to add a decent video card etc, i started playing with hd.

Your call of course. I know gbpvr knows that the dvb-t and dvb-s are on the same card and will consider it a conflict when trying to use both at the same time. I'm sure the other software is also able to do this.

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silver565

170 posts

Master Geek

#226467 18-Jun-2009 22:19

hmm.. Well i can't use HD anyway. As my graphics card doesn't work with it (as i was told above). So i guess it's not worth it. Yet i may change my mind when i get there.

Has anyone used the nova-s plus? is it a nice solid card(software too?)

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Snowflake

#226483 18-Jun-2009 22:52

i have two nova-s cards running in my HTPC and can confirm taht they work fine in XP MCE (with hacks), Vista MCE (with TV PAck) and in Win7 (currently using). They also work fine with mediaportal and others. I'd certainly recommend one for dvbs.

i'm unsure, but if the HVR3000 is PCI express and you only have one of those slots then perhaps the nova-s is a better choice (PCI). that way you could potentially run two nova-s and one hvr2200 and have two DVBT and two DVBS concurrently

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Nety

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#226531 19-Jun-2009 06:23

HVR3000 is PCI not PCIe. It is the HVR2200 that is PCIe

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