Okay as a "long term" HVR2200 user the skinny on the card thus far is...
Analog vs Digital
- The analog side does not yet work under MediaPortal - but support is in the development pipeline.
- No analog under GB-PVR
- The analog side works under Windows MCE2005 but no digital
The theoretical limit for concurrent digital channels with ANY twin digital card is 14 in NZ. That's right you should be able to record upto 14 channels at the same time - of course hardware like memory and disk spindles play a pretty big part here.
As mcraenz points out here as the digital channels are multiplexed in groups across only a handful of frequencies with a twin digital card you should be able to record everything on upto two muxed frequencies.
Personally I stop at 4 concurrent digital channels, three recording and 1 watching as that is more than enough for my HTPC.
A bigger problem right now is I defy anyone to fnid more than 4 concurrent diital channels worth watching even in primetime!
Once we have media centre apps that support both the analog and digital sides of the hybrid cards (rock on Fiji) then the combinations available in theory are;
- 2 analog
- 1 analog and 1 mux (say TVNZ with TV1, TV2, 6, 7 & Sports)
- 2 muxes (go wild)
Channel Switching
The HVR2200 is pretty fast switching digital under DVBViewer. Under GBPVR and MediaPortal it is quick when switching between channels muxed together; so TV1 to TV2 or TV3 to C4. But switching muxes (which means switching frequencies) isn't that quick - on my machine about 3-4 seconds and as much as 10 seconds.
Quality
For all those desparate to hang onto the dream of using the analog side of the card, once you are using Freeview Digital aside from having to drop back for Prime (an Juice ? if you're lucky enough to have it) you WILL NOT want to watch anything but Freeview. Aside from the picture quality on SD content the upscaled TV1 & TV2 look that much better and HD on TV3 really is so sweet.
Skipping, Jitter, and all That Nastiness
The first thing to realise with the HVR2200 is that it is only sucking the stream in from the airwaves NOT providing the decoding. This isn't like an decent analog card which does both and makes it all run just fine on oldish hardware. For Freeview you are gonna need a half decent machine (see my signature for my specs - they ain't that high and it works) BUT most importantly you absolutely must have...
- A very decent graphics card which is capable of H.264 decoding. ATI have one (sorry look elsewhere in the forums) or ideally an nVidia 8500 or 8600 based card (which natively have h.264 acceleration). These cards take the load off the CPU and without one you are in for a really dire experience IMHO.
- A software Codec capable of decrypting the h.264 stream AND taking advantage of all that hardware goodness above. There are a couple but honestly the US$99 for Cyberlink's PowerDVD (I think there i sjust a codec pack as well for less) is well worth it.
- MediaPortal, GB-PVR or DVBViewer. The first two are free and I'm a big fan of MediaPortal as it drives the HVR2200 better than the other two. Forget Windows MCE2005 it doesn't do Freeview Terrestrial.
- And last but not least either XP SP2 with .Net3 or ideally Vista as the rendering is significantly better. I will be upgrading once finances allow but for now I live with minor jitter on TV2.
I'm never going back to analog - HD is just too damn pretty for that. And for anyone who hasn't bothered do watch the Freeview Demo channel. I often leave it running as natural history programmes (especially the underwater ones) do look sweet. Just wish they would play a few more.
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