[mythtv-users] Capture card with best tuner - BT8x8, SA713x or PVR-250?

[Joe V]

In my continuing saga to get MythTV working with my
crappy cable signal, I'm trying to determine what
capture card best handles noise so that I don't drop
frames and get rebuffering due to said noise.

The management of my apartment complex has indicated
that they will look into the situation, but of course,
there's no guarantee that the issue will be resolved. 
It does appear that it is an issue with the signal
coming into my apartment (according to the Comcast
tech who came to my apartment yesterday).

What I have found is that if I connect put my VCR
inbetween my capture card and the splitter for my TV,
the frame drop problem goes away.  Additionally, I
swapped out the Leadtek Winfast 2000 XP Deluxe card
for a used Pinnacle PCTV Rave (I think, it was just
the card in a bag that I bought for $40) and even
without the VCR connected, the rebuffering has gone
down quite a bit.  It's possible that if I drop the
resolution down to 352x480 that the problem might go
away (I'm at 480x480 now), but with my hardware, I'm
certain that I should be able to easily do 480x480.

I'm guessing that this is occuring because the capture
code can't get the frame and compress it quickly
enough for it to be displayed (keeping everything in
sync) due to the extra noise in the picture.

So, that said, is there anybody else with marginal
cable signals coming in who have capture card
recommendations?  I'd rather not have to add the VCR
into the mix on a permanent basis.

I'm using analog cable by the way (I can't justify
digital cable), although I'm certain that would fix
the problem (but at the same time, cost me an extra
$40 per month, plus the hassle of setting up a
configuration for MythTV).

Any thoughts are appreciated.

-- Joe

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