Hauppage PVR 500 vs. DVICO Plus?

[schmeg]

Hauppage PVR 500

DVICO Plus

Which one is better (ie. 2 x DVICO Plus or 1 x Hauppage PVR 500 dual tuner)?

From what I can see the Hauppage uses hardware MPEG encoders, whereas the DVICO uses software - does this mean that:
a) CPU usage is lower, and
b) quality of TV is better/more consistent as its not relying on software setup/other hardware??

Really curious to know - might consider replacing my DVICO's in favour of the Hauppage

[Sambooka]

Hi schmeg,

You're getting a bit confused here.

The PVR-500 is a dual analogue card with hardware support (the only way MCE will support an analogue card) and the DVICO is a DVB (Digital) card.

Apples and Oranges.

Cheers

Sambooka

[schmeg]

Ahh my bad, I feel so silly now

[Sambooka]

Originally Posted by schmeg

Ahh my bad, I feel so silly now

No need...you're not the first and definately wont be the last to make that mistake.

[schmeg]

Hehe, fair enuf

Just out of interest then - is there such a thing as a hardware DVB-T card? (I notice the DVICO's say "Full SW solution with minimum HW support")

[Matt]

schmeg - There would be no need for a hardware DVB-T card as the MPEG stream is broadcast from the TV networks.

The reason the analogue cards need a MPEG decoder/encoder onboard is they take an analogue signal and convert it to MPEG so the computer can deal with it. This function can be done in software however MCE requires MPEG onboard the tuner card so it doesn't tax the CPU.

Cheers

Matt.

[Sambooka]

Just make sure that if you're going the digital route you have a video card which supports DirectX 9 (most newer cards do). Then with a decent codec you will be able to use DxVA which is all the hardware support you will need for smooth TV even with lower end CPU's.

Cheers

Sambooka