[mythtv-users] WinTV 250 pvr

[Wayne Hogue]

>    Im getting really close to going out the door and grabbing myself one
>of the WinTV 250 pvr cards - but I want to know if it will be worth it.
>Here is my current setup... I have p4 2.4 ghz, running MythTV 0.13 out
>through an ATI 8500 to my 57" wide screen hdtv through DVI - since the
>screen is so big I need to pump up the settings to high quality
>(MPeg4/8000bps), which border lines staggering video. Will getting the
>250, clean up the staggering video and over all video quality that much?
>Im also hooked up through the cable box so the reception isnt an
>issue...

Get the 250.  The quality is outstanding.  And since it is hardware based 
encoding, it uses almost no CPU.  In fact if you have an otherwise obsolete 
computer laying around, you can use it with the 250 and have the backend run 
on its own computer doing the recording in the basement.

My backend consists of a pvr250 in a old pentium II 400, with 256m ram and a 
120g HD.  Even though hauppauge recommends minimum 500mhz for Windows, this 
setup under linux records flawlessly without any problem at all.  The 250pvr 
has brought new life to an otherwise useless computer.

Now understand, I dont transcode on this beast.  If I did I would prolly get 
around 4 frames/sec if I was lucky.  I transcode on my AMD 1900+ (1.6GHz) 
machine where I get ~25 frames/sec (2 hour movie takes about 2.5 hours).

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