Question about PVR-150

[GremlinX]

I am planning on buying a PVR-150 instead of a 250 because of price, but one thing I am unsure about is how the video gets back to the TV. From the picture of the card it looks like it has 1 coax, 1 S-video and 1 composite connector. If I run my satellite to the PC through S-video, how does it go back to the tv? (sorry for the newb question). Also, how does the sound handling work, through the sound card or does the PVR card provide that functionality as well?

Thanks!

[congenictv]

I don't own a pvr150, but i believe those connectors you mention are for input only. Only the pvr350 has tv-in and out capabilities.

Your graphics card will need to have tv-out capabilties for you to watch it on your t.v.

[Hades]

I have a PVR150 MCE edition (works fine on XP Pro),and cheaper than the retail version

Inputs: 2x RCA audio(L/R)
1x Composite
1x S-Video
1x FM Aerial
1x Coaxial


I use the card via my satelite reciever,tried using a scart to S-Video/RCA Audio,and all i get is Black & White,its a known issue with the output of many receivers,so i suggest you use the composite socket,with a graphics card with a Video Out ability,Most new cards today seem to have this ability

And no worries on the newb factor question,these darn PVR setup`s can be a tad confusing for people not accustomed to em,and that includes me still :confused:

[GremlinX]

Thanks for the help guys. I do have a video card with s-video out, I just wasn't sure if the PVR card would handle all that. Do you guys ever have issues with A/V sync, with 1 card handling video and a different card handling audio?

[Hades]

Sorry what i meant to say ,the capture card captures both Audio/Video (ie input),output is a combination of your graphic card VO,and the soundcard

And i have had Zero problems so far with my Sync with video capture,only probs i have is with Xvid stuff from the net
And playing with AC3filter you are able to adjust the sync it back

[GremlinX]

That's good to hear. One last question: How well have you found the IR Blaster's to work? How does the DVR know what station it is currently tuned to, and how does it know that is has successfully changed to the desired channel? It seems to me (but I haven't used one yet) that it would be very prone to error.
Any thoughts would be great.
Thanks

[sub]

How well have you found the IR Blaster's to work?

It works really well for me on my main machine using a Actisys IR200L blaster and Jerrold cable box. I dont think its every missed a channel change. That said, I know some people have the occasional problem, so it probably depends how picky your set top box is.

How does the DVR know what station it is currently tuned to

It doesnt. It always send the complete channel number when you start watching/recording a channel. It never sends channel up/down commands.

and how does it know that is has successfully changed to the desired channel

It doesnt.

[cheval]

Using a RCA receiver box the ir blaster is working fairly good. Seems to need to be positioned correctly in order for it to be relieable.

I'm also currently using a serial connection from the PC to control the other 2 RCA receivers and that seems to be a lot more reliable. In fact the script I'm using to change the channels does what you want and more. It checks to see if the receiver is ON (if not it turns is ON), changes the channel (and then confirms the channel change, and then clears the RCA OSD display. So far its working fairly good and I will post the script and information to the wiki page shortly. Right now it is in my opinion a hack since the control program I'm using does not allow switch COM ports from the command line so I have to mess with some registry values and restart it everytime. I'm working rewriting the program to do this but that takes time.

Currently, I'm thinking about getting rid of the ir blaster I'm using on the third receiver and getting a USB serial adapter to use to control that last receiver.