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Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-USB2 V's Compro E800 for Foxtel
I recently set up a HTPC using a Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-USB2 to capture Foxtel video (using S-Video In). I was not happy with the quality and the 4:3 - 16:9 size issue when changing from FTA DTV to foxtel, so I thought I might give the Compro E800 a go with component input.
Got the Compro last night and installed it then installed drivers and Compro application software (ComproDTV 3, etc.). Initially this broke my system. I started getting a popup error message from Media Centre (Something about can't start tuner sevices) tried to uninstall Compro application and drivers but my system got broken when ever I reinstalled the E800 driver. Ended up restoring my my system from a disk image I had before installing Compro. Then I tried to only install the E800 driver (without ComproDTV 3 application software). This worked.
So I set up Foxtel through the E800 using S-Video In (Did not get the Component In option in VMC tuner setup???). I was amazed at the improvement in picture quality. The picture quality when using the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-USB2 was similar (or a bit worse) than using a composite (PAL) connection from Foxtel STB direct to TV. The picture quality when using the Compro E800 was similar (or a bit better) than using a component (YUV) connection from Foxtel STB direct to TV.
The Video is still in a 4:3 container so I have to set VMC zoom = 3. I am hoping if I get Component in to work that the video will be in a 16:9 container???? Has anyone been able to setup the E800 in VMC with component input? I will also try and install the Compro application software again in the hope that there will be a setting to instruct the driver to encode the video as a 16:9 stream??
Still much testing to do!!!!
Cheers
Gaz.
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