[mythtv-users] current recommendations for video capture card

Brian Wood beww at beww.org
Wed May 16 13:10:18 UTC 2007


Tiffany K wrote:
> System specs:
> 
> -ASUS P5N32-SLI Premium/WiFi-AP LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI ATX Intel
> Motherboard(2 PCI slots, 3 PCIe slots)
> -Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
> -C6 or Ubutnu
> -Software: MythTV or LinuxMCE
> 
> I am looking for a capture card that is reliable, known for excellent
> quality,  and easy to install(linux/driver support).
> 
> I may upgrade to HD in the future, so I would prefer an HD card. 
> However I do not want to sacrifice the characteristics in the previous
> paragraph. I would also prefer to be able to record one show while
> watching another. Again, however, I do not want to sacrafice the
> characteristics in the previous paragraph. I would rather have excellent
> quality now and upgrade later to support dual channels and HD.
> 
> I have read tons of docs and forum posts on mythtv and linuxmce sites
> regarding this subject. I want to be sure I am basing my decision on 
> the most up-to-date info.
> 
> I see a ton of info on the Hauppauge brand but not much on pcHDTV. This
> is surprising since pcHDTV seems to be dedicated to Linux and
> open-source. Is  pcHDTV not a good brand? Or am I wrong on my assumptions?

You are comparing apples and oranges. Both Hauppauge and the pcHDTV
cards are good products, but they are different. The PVR cards are for
analog reception with hardware MPEG encoding, the pcHDTV cards are for
ATSC reception, or NTSC as a frame buffer using software encoding.

It all depends on your needs.


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