HVR-1600 Supported?

[mrogovin]

I am planning to build a PVR and use gbpvr with a Hauppauge MVP. I am looking at either the PVR-150 or HVR-1600. I know the 150 is supported, but the 1600 is not listed, although there are a few posts that mention it. I am told that even in analog, the 1600 is better than the 150. They are both priced the same. Can anyone tell me if the 1600 is, in fact, supported and/or if there are particular configuration issues or instructions I will need to know to use it. Is there any reason to go with the 150 vs the 1600?

Anything special I should know. I am fairly technically competant and computer literate, but have never build a PVR. My plan is to use a Dell running a Pentium 4 2GHz with 512M RAM and 80GB HD, a wired MVP and, of course, gbpvr. I will use cable (no box) and/or HD antenna. If I have trouble with the setup, I may switch to alternative free or commercial PVR software and do the scheduling from the PC and viewing from the TV, but I prefer the Tivo-like experience of programming at the set if possible.

Finally, I would like to be able to find, select and play flash videos from websites, eg. nbc.com. Will I be able to do this from the set box without downloading them to the PC?

Thank you.

[alphabetbackward]

Well, I can tell you that the digital side of the HVR-1600 records just fine in GB-PVR but for some odd reason, I can't watch HDTV in GB-PVR, recorded or not, without it getting blocky and often crashing it.

I managed to setup the analog in the 1600 as well but I must tell you that I'm getting OTA analog so it looks pretty crappy but it works.

Hoping others will chime in with their experience.

[zaphod7501]

Viewing 720p and especially 1080i content requires the right combination of CPU, GPU, drivers, codecs, and filters and is difficult. Some applications are more configurable (Media Player Classic) than others. The "Mux" used while recording (GB-PVR config) can have a great effect on the stability of the recorded file also.

Almost any system can handle analog, 480i and 480p. Going higher requires significant trial and error with hardware and software changes. For me it took a NVidia 7600 series GPU with 90 series drivers and forcing the MainConcept Elecard filters (hcwSMD07) that Hauppauge installs with the card on all player applications that I intend to use. Since GB-PVR doesn't seem to want to use this filter (which is needed to access the PureVideo HD hardware accelleration on the video card), I don't view in GB-PVR, just record.

OTA analog reception will be as good as your antenna and reception allow. The card is not the limiting factor.

[WerewolfTA]

I received a 1600 in a 150 box that I purchased a couple of months ago with an insert saying that hauppauge was short on 150s and had substituted the 1600 in its place. I'm using just the analog side of it to record from Comcast cable. I can't tell the difference between the 1600 & 150 recordings.

[235301]

I didn't have any problems running an HVR-1600 using the latest gbpvr release. No tweaking was required.

[mrogovin]

Thanks!