PVR-250 playback on old system

[JohnMuir]

Looks like the PRV-250 is the board for me ( $100 @ Circut City w/ rebates)
But before I go there:

This is my system:

AMD Durom 950mhz, 512MB RAM, 120GB HDD, Geforce2MX


But have a some nagging questions.

1. When flipping though channels is there a delay before you see each channel? (really makes channel surfing a pain.)

2. How well will this system playback video?

3. Is this going to be so simple my not-so-technically-inclined wife can use it?

4. Any suggestions for a cheap but good TV-out card? (or should i just get the 350?)

[mlbdude]

1. Yes (some decoders are slower than others also)

2. Just fine. I use a PIII 1Ghz myself.

3. If you set it up to use the remote propertly (I use my universal remote) you should be able to teach her. Mine gets by

4. Opinions do vary on this one. I have tried ATI 7500, 9000, and nVidia TNT, TNT2, MX2, FX5200. All newer cards looked good - I like the 9000 picture best but that is MY opinion However, 9000 is around $60 no rebates so it was an easy sell. I would stay away from the 350 for now. You will not get the windows desktop or any of the UI to your TV using that. Just video and that makes navigating dificult

[JohnMuir]

Good to hear my system will be up to the task.

How long of a delay are we talking about? Yeah i understand the reasons for the delay; buffering and what not, but with the PRV250 being hardware I assume it's a very short pause.

[fidget]

I have a TiVo and don't really notice a difference between its channel change time and SageTV. Believe it or not, you do get use to it. One thing that makes the change time more tolerable is having a semi-transparent OSD showing what's on, which SageTV doesn't currently have.

- Jonathan

[mlbdude]

I get between a 2-3 second pause. Definately around 3 with hardware assist turned on in the Intervideo decoder.

[rrussell]

It's however long it takes the tuner card to generate enough data for the decoder (software or hardware) to decode a decent picture.

On mine (PVR250 on an Epia M9000) it's only a second or so. You really do get used to it.

Actually I tend to use the TV guide to "surf" anymore, anyway. That way I can skip over all the icky 24-hour news channels and get right to the good stuff - Cartoon Network, SciFi, etc ;-)