Hauppauge PVR-150 how good?

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Nety

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#37090 7-Jul-2009 11:53

I am running Windows 7 with Telstra digital connected via s-video to a HVR-2200. (also using Freeview DVB-T and DVB-S) Although steets ahead of the encoding that the HVR-3000's were capable of via software it still looks somewhat soft when played though the TV.

Ultimately what I want to do is watch all TV though the media centre so that we get a "mysky" type experience being able to pause rewind etc + watching the Freeview HD versions of 1,2 and 3. However as it stands the quality of telstra via the media centre is just not good enough. It looks quite a bit worse then the feed going to the TV direct even though the media centre is getting s-video and the TV is only getting composite

So my question is. If anyone is using the PVR-150 card just how good is the capture? Am I expecting too much from analogue capture devices? I know that the 2200 has some technical issues with capture but I don't want to buy a 150 and then find it is not significantly better then the 2200.

Or is there a different card that is more suited?

Media centre PC - Case Silverstone LC16M with 2 X 80mm AcoustiFan DustPROOF, MOBO Gigabyte MA785GT-UD3H, CPU AMD X2 240 under volted, RAM 4 Gig DDR3 1033, HDD 120Gig System/512Gig data, Tuners 2 X Hauppauge HVR-3000, 1 X HVR-2200, Video Palit GT 220, Sound Realtek 886A HD (onboard), Optical LiteOn DH-401S Blue-ray using TotalMedia Theatre Power Corsair VX Series, 450W ATX PSU OS Windows 7 x64

traderstu

325 posts

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#231982 7-Jul-2009 12:49

I run a PVR150 connected to a freeview satellite set top box. XPMCE. I have fiddled with quite a few things but have always ended up a bit disappointed with the output. The picture is not quite as sharp as it could be and the colours look slightly washed out. I'm no expert so i would be interested to hear if this is normal or not. I'm thinking of upgrading to Windows 7 so would be interested in comments re the best combo of video card & tuner card when it comes to acheiving the best output with the least tweaking.

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walt12

324 posts

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#231991 7-Jul-2009 12:54

Using PVR-150 to capture SKY via composite scart. I wouldn't rate it as a desirable first option for those channels you can get via DVB-T or DVB-S. However if there are channels that you must have in a HTPC (and sport is it for me), then it's your only real option because the PVR-150 will integrate nicely with whatever PVR software you care to choose, including channel changing of the stb.

Wilstar

71 posts

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#234506 12-Jul-2009 23:19

I had the same problem as you, with a 2200 so ended up dumping telstra until they sort out their HD solution, maybe 2014?
I wouldn't spend the money on the 150, I believe there'll be very little difference if any

richms

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#234913 13-Jul-2009 20:32

With careful setting of the brightness/contrast and colour controls you can get it looking a lot better, but still will be very soft particually the colours compared with a proper capture.

Richard rich.ms