[mythtv-users] hvr-1600 vs pvr-500 for capturing

[Brian Wood]

On Wednesday, December 01, 2010 11:10:09 am Bob wrote:
> On Wed, 2010-12-01 at 09:26 -0600, mike at grounded.net wrote:
> > I thought I would ask this question in this list before deciding on
> > my next box. I have an hvr-1600 which I use for ATSC and I bought
> > a couple of pvr-500 which I was going to use specifically for
> > capturing.
> > 
> > I built a system and was testing analog input into the hvr-1600.
> > The colors are dim, and there is a sort of pattern on top of the
> > video image. I haven't spent a lot of time on that yet thinking I
> > might be getting a new box today.
> > 
> > So what I was wondering, in order to know how many slots I'll need,
> > is if there is a quality difference on the analog capture side
> > between the Hauppauge hvr-1600 and the pvr-500? In other words, is
> > one card better over the other?
> 
> I haven't used the PVR-500, but I have used the 150 and 350.
> I also have a HVR-1600

The 500 is essentially a pair of 150s.

> 
> Over all the quality is about the same once everything is set up
> correctly, however I did find that the 1600 is more sensitive to
> input signal level. My level was actually too high and I needed
> to add an attenuator to get a reasonable picture.

The PVR series had several different tuners. I have a total of 5 PVR-150s 
and 4 different types of tuners. They seemed to use whatever was 
available that week. This might also be the case with the 1600.

As you point out, some tuners have a wider dynamic range of RF input 
levels they can handle than others, the only way to find out is to 
experiment, or get information from others using the same tuner.

Check your boot logs (dmesg) to see what it says about the type of tuner 
detected, usually an integer value, when comparing with other users.