Best or Easiest Working HD Capture Card/Encoder?

[alijiwani]

Hi,

I have to build a machine for my father using an older PC - whats the best or easiest to use OTA HD card out there? According to the list on Sage's site, it lists chipsets only and I noticed that the Fusion cards I have been reading about dont use the ones listed there. Any good suggestions on this? It would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

[naln]

I have had pretty good results with the Aver180...decent for the price. I do not have any other HD card to compare with....

[paulbeers]

Like Nalnl, I can only advise what I have but I really like the Fusion5 Lite. Fusion has been making HDTV cards for a long time and one nice thing is they come with a couple good utilities. Once is the Fusion DVR software which is a good test bed software and also is nice if all you want to do is just watch HDTV on your computer, but the application I like best is the Signal Checker, which is great for the first time setup or any time you move your DVR. You just flip the program on and it will show you how strong the signal is as you adjust the antennae. It has solved a lot of my problems before they were ever problems. Just my two cents worth. I also needed a low profile card so it limited my options to the fusion cards, otherwise I was going to get an A180. From all the headaches I have read, do NOT get the ATI HDTV Blunder. I think two of the most purchased and most used right now are the A180 and Fusion5. The A180 is a little cheaper I believe. Just my two cents worth.

[mlbdude]

Based on user experiences I was choosing between the Fusion5 Lite and the A180 Ended up going with two A180's and they have worked great. I think either would have worked fine. I also agree to stay away from the ATI.

[alijiwani]

so I took your suggestions and investigated the A180 and the Fusion 5 - I like the specs of the A180 - few questions for anyone who can answer them - the website left me a little confused:

1) I dont and will not be running MCE05 - I only have licences for XP Pro, the card will run ok without me having to do any of the "special requirements" correct?

2) It does not appear to come with a remote according to the company website - what are most of yall using then?

3) The video out requirements were a bit ? as well. The computer my dad is using is an old Dell 4100 and only supports AGP 2.0 - 2X/4X. The "best" card I could locate on newegg.com that supports 2x/4x seemed to be this:
JetWay R9MX-AD-064C Radeon 9000 64MB DDR AGP 2X/4X Video Card - Retail supporting DX8.

With the ATI DVI to Composite adapater, think this will be adequate? The box is a PIII-600 with 512 MB RAM and loads of HD Space, all it really needs to do is record and play back TV shows and my dad may decide to use it for DVD Playback as well.

Thanks for your help!

[mlbdude]

HDTV playback is pretty intense. Expect to need ~2.5 Ghz or higher CPU. You might be able to go a little lower if you use Overlay. Also, unless you use Overlay I would suggest something like an nVidia 6600 (or similar ATI) or higher.

[jptaz]

I have been doing some Testing with a HD File I downloaded from the internet...from the DVICO website actually. It is only 1 minute long, but it has been helpfull.

on MY PIII 733 Mhz Box with 256 MB RAM, 4X AGP Nvidia FX 5200 with 128MB streaming the file from my SageTV Server or playing it from the local hard drive playback is jumpy and CPU is 86% to 95% using Latest version Nvidia Decoders or NVDVD 2.0. According to NVDVD it can only use DXVA Mode B. The Resolution of the Display is 1280 x720

On My 2.0 Ghz Celeron with 256 MB RAM, 8X AGP Radeon 9200 SE with 128MB using NVDVD 2.0 on this box it uses about 75% CPU and I get smooth playback. According to NVDVD it can use DXVA Mode D.
The Resolution of the Display is 1024 x 768

On my 3200+ AMD Server 1 GB, ATI 7500 AIW 64 MB I am able to play back the file smoothly and only uses about 30% CPU.
According to NVDVD it can use DXVA Mode D.
The Resolution is 1152 x 864.

Playing with the Decoders it looks like my acient NVDVD 2.0 Does the best job playing back the file smoothly and uses the lowest CPU.

I am almost wondering if I got a better video card if the 733Mhz box might not be able to handle smooth playback of HD files. It is pretty close as it is now. I am especially curious since the other 2 boxes seem to do well and they are reporting that they support DXVA Mode D as opposed to B on the NVidia FX 5200 Card.

Any Thoughts? Should I should break down and spend the money to get my AMD 200+ System going again? -- Basically need memory and a Case...I don't think the HP case will hold the motherboard.

EDIT: Note I am using overlay in all these tests.

John

[mlbdude]

Make sure when you are testing you are using a 1080i file. Those are more CPU intensive than a 720p one.

[jptaz]

Hmmm....I will have to look and see what the file is...I hope it is 1080i

[jptaz]

I checked the file and it is a 1080i stream at 18.03 Mb/s. I think that is pretty close to a worst case file. I think the standard only supports up 18.8 Mb/s anyway.

I am looking at actually using the Server for playback of HD anyway since I don't really use it for much else...basically web surfing and some basic office programs. The Pentium 3 should work for that stuff for now and as for a SageTVClient for the office. I am just waiting to see what I need to do in order to use 2 USB Uirts in one PC so I can control the cable boxes and all my AV equipment.

John