WinTV 350 vs. Plextor TV-402u

[autumnmist]

Looking to turn an old desktop at home into a basic TV recording device for my parents.

Desktop specs:
1.2Ghz PIII
512MB PC133 SDRAM
64MB Geforce4 gfx card

Clearly I'm going for a hardware encoding-capable card/device, and I think I've got it down to the WinTV 350 versus the Plextor ConvertX TV-402U.

Any advice?

[sub]

I'd pick a PVR350 over a TV402U.

I'd pick a PVR150 or PVR250 over a PVR350. There is no point in buying the PVR350 unless you explicitly intend to use hardware decoder, which isnt recommended.

[autumnmist]

Oh, I probably should've mentioned that the current graphics card doesn't have TV out. Haha, that probably would have been useful to mention.

[sub]

The PVR350 cant act as a standard TV out. It cant be used for showing the desktop, or viewing DVDs etc. It can only be used for playing MPEG video.

[autumnmist]

But since the PVR350 records to MPG, it's good enough for watching TV shows that have been recorded, right? I heard that it's possibly to get some menus to overlay and be displayed via the 350's TV out. Is that true for GBPVR?

[sub]

Yes, there are only two apps that allow you to see the menus etc on the PVR350, these being GB-PVR and SageTV. With both apps, a large percentage of people try to use the PVR350 tv out have show-stopper type problems (regular machine lockups etc). These lockups are outside of my controls (within drivers etc), so if you have these problems there is not much chance of a fix. These problems are such drag, that I'm not longer offically supporting the TV out on the PVR350, or developing new features for it. Its just too much of a pain in the arse.

[PMF]

I agree. Have bought PVR350. As I use it now I should have bought a PVR150 and saved money. Two PVR150's is for me better than one PVR350.

[SuperGnome]

I use the PVR350 because I currently only have one PC and use it for both PC and TV/PVR duties. I haven't had any problems to speak of, and like the quality of the tv out on that card over straight cable to my tv. It does do the overlays from gbpvr flawlessly, so I can play mp3's, videos, picture slideshows, etc... on my TV and still use my PC for other stuff.

Since you're building a dedicated box, you might as well go with the pvr150 and a vid card with appropriate tv-out (DVI, s-video, whatever). Same card without the hardware decoder, still has remote, etc... If it's a VGA only card you can still get adapters.

That way you can get a wireless kb and mouse and browse and junk too. Also, if they go HD at some point you don't just waste the extra $70 or whatever you spent on the decoder.

Just my newb 2 cents...

Gnome