Add Tuner - which one

[AWS]

I have the chance to add an additional tuner(s) to my system. Was going to get a Haup. 500. Is that still a good choice or is there another PCI card out there that works better?

[omega]

I can't speak for anything else that may be on the market, but FWIW, I love my 500 and definitely recommend one. I have one PVR-500 doing analog cable, and one PVR-250 doing digital cable with a Motorola STB over composite input and a USB-UIRT blaster. Everything works great on Sage 2.2 and 3.0-beta.

EDIT: Before buying a PVR150 or PVR500, though, look at this thread: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13321. If you have one of the chipsets mentioned you might have problems. I have an nForce2 board myself, so no problems.

[AWS]

What's the next successor to the X-Card? Is X-Card still supported in 3.0Beta and beyond? I've been watching them on eBay but haven't gotten one yet because I'm afraid that as soon as I get one, a better solution will be out and then I'd have lost the chance to get the better/newer unit.

[dbfresh23]

The X-Card will almost certainly not be followed up with a new version, at least not by Sigma Designs. There's a HD thread in their forums, basically it says not a chance as Sigma is mostly working on STBs and providing chips to other mfgrs. Going by your plans of an SD tuner, it may still be worth picking one up, or there have been some fire sales on the Media MVPs - which suposedly one day will be natively supported in SageTV3.

I've had some issues with my Xcard and the latest beta - they may be my fault though since I've been doing some messing around.

[mdmint]

I'll second the PVR500 a likely good choice. Earlier this year I replaced 3 of the 4 PVR250s in my Server with 2 PVR500. I actually think the PVR500 recording a bit crisper than the PVR250. I first did 1 PVR500 to check them out and liked it well enough to get a second one.

The only hit might be comskip doesn't work quite as well with PVRs that don't support closed caption.