[mythtv-users] Good tuner card?

[Michael T. Dean]

CHRIS KOTTING wrote:

>On Thu, 3 Nov 2005 13:26:27 -0700, C. R. Oldham wrote
>  
>
>>I've been lurking for a while and getting ready to build my first mythtv
>>system.  It seems like the PVR-500 is a good choice for 
>>tuner/decoder cards because of the dual tuners, enabling 
>>simultaneous recording and watching of live tv.  However, it doesn't 
>>seem that a lot of people are using it--preferring instead the PVR-
>>150 or -250.  Is there something about the -500 that I'm not aware of?
>>
>I'm a Myth newbie, but I've been camping out comparison-shopping the 
>hardware available.  What card you want depends on what you are doing.  
>
>The 150 is the price leader, and gives hardware MPEG-2 encoding.  You will 
>be using Myth software for decoding (or your video card, if it has a 
>hardware decoder).
>
>The 250 is similar in functionality from the 150, but seems to be better 
>supported (being the earlier model introduced).  I think it has a differnt 
>software bundle, but that doesn't really matter, since it is Windoze 
>software.
>
>The 350 has both hardware encoding and decoding, which makes it the choice 
>for those with fewer slots, or less robust hardware.
> 
>The 500 is (in effect) 2 150's, giving you the ability to record 2 channels 
>at once, while only taking up 1 slot.
>
>Note, if you're after the card doing both encoding (recording) and decoding 
>(playback) it's the 350 you want.
>  
>
And note that MythTV can /always/ play back a recording as it's being 
recorded /regardless/ of capture card.  You don't need a PVR-350 or a 
PVR-500 or anything to get that ability.  The PVR-350 just decodes the 
MPEG instead of your CPU and the PVR-500 just allows you to record two 
channels at once (and, with Myth you could watch either while it's being 
recorded).

And, IMHO, if it's the 350 you want, you don't really want the 350, but 
you just don't know it yet.  (I have a 350 that I'm using as if it were 
a 250 or a 150.)

Mike