[mythtv-users] S-Video capture card choices?

[Michael T. Dean]

Blake wrote:

> On Tue, 30 Aug 2005 16:24:06 -0700, Michael T. Dean  
> <mtdean at thirdcontact.com> wrote:
>
>> If you can't afford the extra $3, you shouldn't be wasting money on a
>> Myth box.  ;)  So, basically, it's nothing to worry about.  I have a
>> PVR-350, a PVR-250, and two PVR-150's and do not have any RF
>> feeds--everything is fed over S-Video--and the quality of the Hauppauge
>> PVR-x50's is good enough that I was happy to spend an extra $3 on
>> something I'll never use to get the rest of the card.
>
> OK. I was looking at $50 for just a grabber versus $100 for the 
> Hauppauge.  I'll see if I can secure one for $75.

The difference there is probably that the $50 "grabber" is exactly 
that--a frame grabber.  It dumps raw frames to the CPU and the CPU uses 
software to encode them (for Myth, into a NuppelVideo container in 
RTJPEG (for lowest-processor usage) or MPEG-4 (for smallest files) format).

The Hauppauge PVR-x50's have a hardware encoder.  The card actually 
encodes the video into MPEG-2 data, so the CPU basically has no work to 
do.  That means your CPU can do important things while recording--things 
like flagging commercials, playing back a DVD, drawing Goom output while 
you listen to music, etc.

As far as the rebates go, watch CompUSA, Circuit City, etc.  They 
typically have a good rebate every couple of weeks (none this week, 
though).  I'm guessing (assuming you're in the US) Labor Day weekend 
will be the time to buy.

Mike