Advice for a cheap, new guy?

[BlueHorseShoe]

I have an older machine sitting around, and am contemplating turning it into a PVR based on GBPVR.

The specs are as follows:
P4 2.4GHZ
MSI 865PE Mobo
1 gig ram
ATI All in Wonder 9800 Pro
Hard Drives to be purchased
Tuner Card to be purchased

1. I know that GBPVR doesn't support All in Wonder cards as tuners, but would there be any problem using this card like a typical 9800Pro, that is to say, using it for hardware acceleration and video output via Component Video?
2. Any glaring issue with HVR-1600?
3. I have a Harmony that I would love to use for this system, but I don't think the IR Receiver from the All-in-Wonder works with GBPVR. Can someone confirm that? If that can't work, what are my other options?
4. And lastly, what is the maximum resolution I am realistically looking at with this system?

Thanks for your help.

[sub]

1. I know that GBPVR doesn't support All in Wonder cards as tuners, but would there be any problem using this card like a typical 9800Pro, that is to say, using it for hardware acceleration and video output via Component Video?

Yep, it'd be fine as a video card.

2. Any glaring issue with HVR-1600?

The HVR1600 is a good card.

3. I have a Harmony that I would love to use for this system, but I don't think the IR Receiver from the All-in-Wonder works with GBPVR. Can someone confirm that? If that can't work, what are my other options?

I'm not sure on this one. If it doesnt work, some of the HVR1600's come with an IR receiver.

4. And lastly, what is the maximum resolution I am realistically looking at with this system?

You should probably match the resolution your TV runs. I think the 9800 is pretty capable, so should be able to do highdef 1080i stuff if need be.

[pcostanza]

Can't add much to sub's comments but as a relatively new HVR1600 user, I am very pleased with the quality. It's as good as my PVR500. If you plan on getting OTA channels, you will need to invest in a good antennae to receive them depending on where you are in relation to the transmitters.

[aa4hg]

I'm using an HVR-1600 in the Atlanta area, and get good recordings using the outside bowtie antenna. I also use the composite video inputs very successfully for recording other sources, too. It's a good card.

[BlueHorseShoe]

A quick question about the HVR 1600-
I don't think that where I will be will have OTA HD so don't consider that.

This past year, I had my TV hooked up to a cable jack (no box). It got the "regular cable" channels, and then it received some HD ones for free. (I am assuming this is use of QAM, correct?)
Will the HVR 1600 allow me to do the same thing? If so, through which jack on the card itself?

Thanks for your help.

[dgeezer]

Yes, The hvr-1600 will tune all the QAM channels that your TV tuner pulls in. It will take a little time to set up and get the channels scanned but then it works great.

There are 2 different models of the HVR-1600. Make sure that you get the one that is QAM capable. Only Model 74021 and 74041 have QAM support!

[BlueHorseShoe]

One last question...
Could you possibly do the following:
Split the cable and have 2 feeds: One into the HVR (to pick up the "regular" cable and QAM-ed HD channels) and one into a set top box (to pick up On-Demand channels and premium HD), and then feed from the set top box back into the HVR? Or would this be trying to use the same jack on the HVR twice?

[AndyPro]

One last question...
Could you possibly do the following:
Split the cable and have 2 feeds: One into the HVR (to pick up the "regular" cable and QAM-ed HD channels) and one into a set top box (to pick up On-Demand channels and premium HD), and then feed from the set top box back into the HVR? Or would this be trying to use the same jack on the HVR twice?

That would work just fine. You would need to split the cable a minimum of 3 times, however. The analog and digital tuners on the HVR1600 are not one in the same. Analog goes to one port, digital (be it QAM or OTA) goes to another port. You can then run your cable box into the S-video input as well, and all should work through GBPVR. The HVR1600 also has blaster capabilities to control your set top box.

--Andy

Oh, Edit: You wont get any HD channels from your cable box through the HVR1600. Hauppauge does have another device which I cant name right now that will allow you to use your component outputs.

[clayton.erickson]

That would work just fine. You would need to split the cable a minimum of 3 times, however. The analog and digital tuners on the HVR1600 are not one in the same. Analog goes to one port, digital (be it QAM or OTA) goes to another port. You can then run your cable box into the S-video input as well, and all should work through GBPVR. The HVR1600 also has blaster capabilities to control your set top box.

--Andy

Oh, Edit: You wont get any HD channels from your cable box through the HVR1600. Hauppauge does have another device which I cant name right now that will allow you to use your component outputs.

Can someone explain why HD cannot come from the cable box into the HVR-1600? How would you configure GBPVR to use the S-Video and how good would the quality be?

[sub]

Can someone explain why HD cannot come from the cable box into the HVR-1600?

There are only three ways you can physically connect a cable box to your HVR-1600 - all of which only supply a standard definition signal to the HVR1600. The first two are Composite & Svideo, which only carries a regular NTSC tv signal. The third is via the coax, to the HVR1600 tuner, but this also only carries a modulated standard definition picture of a channel that has been received by the set top box and downscaled to a regular old NTSC signal.