newbie qestoin re: wintv nova-t

[nickmanc]

Hi

I've been using a Media MVP for the past few months for my music collection, and tried out gb pvr this week, and I'm really impressed. so impressed I'm going to buy a tv card. Am in UK and would like to be able to record freeview so am thinking of wintv nova-t (pci). after browsing the boards this morning I'd just like something clarified -

I understand that freeview(uk digital terrestrial) is broadcast in mpeg so there is no need for hardware mpeg encoding. does this mean there is no advantage to using a hardware encoder e.g. wintv-pvr 150 and a freeview box, rather than just a wintv nova-t card?

also if anyone has any other suggestions of cards/opinions on the nova etc I'd really like to hear them

many thanks

Nick

[stefan]

I understand that freeview(uk digital terrestrial) is broadcast in mpeg so there is no need for hardware mpeg encoding. does this mean there is no advantage to using a hardware encoder e.g. wintv-pvr 150 and a freeview box, rather than just a wintv nova-t card?

I have no experience with digital cards, but one disadvantage from using a freeview box + pvr150 would be that you loose the digital quality. You'd have to connect from the box to the 150 via a scart cable or what have you, and that means that the signal would first be converted into analog, and then the 150 would convert it back into mpeg. This I assume wouldn't be such a *huge* quality loss, unless you're a quality junkie ;-)

Another disadvantage is that you'd need an ir blaster or something like that to let gbpvr change channels for you on the freeview box. If you have a nova-t card gbpvr can change the channels directly for you.