[mythtv-users] Capture cards

[Rich West]

Joel Means wrote:
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> Rich West wrote:
>   
>> I was asked by a neighbor to help finalize a setup for his son's 
>> computer before he went back to college.  When I got over there, one of 
>> the things on his list of "I can't get this to work" was the video 
>> capture card.  Apparently, he wanted to set up the machine as a dual 
>> purpose school computer/television and the card he bought wasn't 
>> functioning.
>>
>> Being Windows (ugh), I checked and quickly got the card functioning 
>> properly, but, as I was doing that, I looked at the card 
>> specifications.  Apparently, the card records in either MPEG-2 or 
>> MPEG-4, all via hardware.
>>
>> I thought the reception was horrible, but apparently my neighbor is 
>> having problems with their cable, so all of their TV's have horrible 
>> analog cable reception.  Anyhow, this card was a "Powercolor Real Angel 
>> 330" that his son picked up for ~$40.
>>
>> It *seems* like it would be a great alternative to the Hauppauge card 
>> which, as we all know, does hardware MPEG-2 encoding.  Does anyone have 
>> any experience with this card?  If so, any news as to the quality of the 
>> card and the compatibility of it with MythTV?
>>
>> -Rich
>>
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>>
>>     
> The powercolor website
> (http://www.powercolor.com/product_realangel330_pci.html) is confusing.
>  On the flyer touting its virtues, it claims you can "Record your TV
> shows to disk by using built-in MPEG-1/2/4 encoder".  But in the specs
> it says "Core: Software MPEG2 Encoding".  So, is the "built-in" encoder
> built-into the software, I guess?  I would also be interested in hearing
> if anyone has experience with one.

Yes, I too found it confusing.  That's why I thought I would ask as it 
seemed too good to be true.

-Rich