Newbie with a tuner and video card selection question

[gemmagirl]

I hope to put together a PVR with the following:

P4 IBM ThinkCentre (Model: 8141-WT1) Single Core, 3 GHz, 1 gig RAM, 80 gig SATA HD, DVD+/-RW

I need help selecting a tuner and video card. I plan to use this setup for OTA ATSC. I am lucky and get very good reception. I have a magnavox circa 1995 32" CRT TV with a coxal and rca connections, and I am happy with SD picture. HDTV is not necessary.

I have read here that the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 1600 is a good card for gbpvr, would it work for me?

I am on a tight budget, I hope to spend 20$ or less for the video card, and around 50$ for a tuner with a remote. Yes, I know I'll be shopping ebay

HELP!

[cat]

I'm working through some similar questions here: http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?p=330721

I'm just a newbie but here are a few things if found out. The WINTV-HVR-1600 that comes with a remote, the remote may not work with XP only vista (this is from customer reviews of the card) this being said, the machine your speaking of may be a little light on power for running vista and GB-PVR depending on how you plan to use your PVR (but again I'm new so an expert may say different).

How do you plan to feed the output to your TV? And does your TV have an available s-video port?

-Cat

[imagn]

I hope to put together a PVR with the following:

P4 IBM ThinkCentre (Model: 8141-WT1) Single Core, 3 GHz, 1 gig RAM, 80 gig SATA HD, DVD+/-RW

I need help selecting a tuner and video card. I plan to use this setup for OTA ATSC. I am lucky and get very good reception. I have a magnavox circa 1995 32" CRT TV with a coxal and rca connections, and I am happy with SD picture. HDTV is not necessary.

I have read here that the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 1600 is a good card for gbpvr, would it work for me?

I am on a tight budget, I hope to spend 20$ or less for the video card, and around 50$ for a tuner with a remote. Yes, I know I'll be shopping ebay

HELP!

I not sure about a getting a cheap video card, but as for the Tuner side of things, if you have no need for analog (NTSC) then there is no reason to go with the 1600. If you have an available pci-e slot you should get the 1250 its just the digital side of the card. Also there are usb devices if that doesnt work for you, especially if you are not iterested in QAM, you could use the hvr 950 or 850, but you would not be able to use them for analog or QAM, there is the 950Q but that more expensive and not needed if you just want OTA ATSC

[gemmagirl]

I'm working through some similar questions here: http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?p=330721

I'm just a newbie but here are a few things if found out. The WINTV-HVR-1600 that comes with a remote, the remote may not work with XP only vista (this is from customer reviews of the card) this being said, the machine your speaking of may be a little light on power for running vista and GB-PVR depending on how you plan to use your PVR (but again I'm new so an expert may say different).

How do you plan to feed the output to your TV? And does your TV have an available s-video port?

-Cat

Remote: That's what I'd like to know, will it work with XP? I won't be running vista, I have xp pro.

S-video: No, it doesn't. Only coaxial, and a yellow and white RCA connection. I have a converter box I can use. I am not after a uber-crisp picture.

[gemmagirl]

I not sure about a getting a cheap video card, but as for the Tuner side of things, if you have no need for analog (NTSC) then there is no reason to go with the 1600. If you have an available pci-e slot you should get the 1250 its just the digital side of the card. Also there are usb devices if that doesnt work for you, especially if you are not iterested in QAM, you could use the hvr 950 or 850, but you would not be able to use them for analog or QAM, there is the 950Q but that more expensive and not needed if you just want OTA ATSC

analog (NTSC): Since I understand that XP can't run a dual ATSC tuner, but can run a dual ATSC/NTSC tuner that I could use the second NTSC tuner and hook up my TR-40 Dishnetwork converter box and grab the few extra shows that I would miss since they conflict with something else. Would this be possible?

I had hoped to avoid a external USB tuner. I also have no need for QAM.

[LewE]

analog (NTSC): Since I understand that XP can't run a dual ATSC tuner

Can you give a link to where you saw this?

[gemmagirl]

Can you give a link to where you saw this?

Oh boy... honestly can't recall exactly - I've only read 5 zillion pages in the last few weeks - I think it was on the media portal forum. Hey, did I misunderstand, and is it possible to run two ATSC tuners under xp??

[johnsonx42]

Hey, did I misunderstand, and is it possible to run two ATSC tuners under xp??

Whatever you read, it certainly doesn't apply to GB-PVR (if mediaportal has this limitation, I guess that's just one more reason not to bother with it). I have one PCIe tuner, and one USB tuner, both ATSC. I have another USB tuner I keep meaning to add. There's people around here with 4 or more tuners... I doubt many people get by with just one tuner.

[johnsonx42]

80 gig SATA HD

on most atsc channels, that 80 gig HD will be good for about 10 hours of recording, if that. Whether you want HD or not is irrelevant, most of the channels broadcast in HD only so that's what you'll record. The sub-channels (when present) are usually in SD, but those channels usually have different programming, they're not simply SD versions of the main channel.

[LewE]

Oh boy... honestly can't recall exactly - I've only read 5 zillion pages in the last few weeks - I think it was on the media portal forum. Hey, did I misunderstand, and is it possible to run two ATSC tuners under xp??

As you can see from the other responses, whatyou may have read about another PVR may not apply to GBPVR. I hadn't heard of such a limitation in GBPVR. That's why I asked for a link.