Definitive answer for STV4 and PVR-350 TV out?

[pksyn]

I'm at a crossroads. After BTV 3.7.4 rendered my recording system useless I am looking at SageTV. I currently have a PVR150 but I want a "broadcast" quality connection to my TV. I can either purchase a scan converter or a PVR-350 (giving me dual tuner, a win win situation). Since BTV 4 still doesn't support PVR-350's Tv Out function, I am considering SageTV. Can anyone, running Sage and a PVR-350, comment on the ability and quality of the TV Out?

[cummings66]

I have a PVR-350 and it's video out is very nice and uses almost no cpu time at all.

For what it's worth, do you know where I keep my card? It's in a box on my table right now. There are too many problems with that card, the audio is out of sync most of the time, it gets worse the further into a movie you get. It runs hot and makes it even worse, so you have to have a fan to blow on it.

Hauppaugue support told me last week they've not had one complaint on it being out of sync, that's a bold lie because I've had my card swapped out twice for that problem, never helped though. I know others have had theirs swapped out as well for the same issues.

Next, you will experience the EOF bug, then you'll find, well, lets just put it this way. I hate my card and regret spending the money to buy it. I should have got a 250 instead.

Conclusion, buy a 250 and use DVI out to a TV or Video. You can equal the quality of the video out on the 350 but you will use more CPU to do it.

[VAeric]

Originally Posted by cummings66

I have a PVR-350 and it's video out is very nice and uses almost no cpu time at all.

Funny, as I am finding just the opposite w/ it's video out. Sound is fine, but video tends to be jumpy/pixalated - and this occurs w/ both Sage and the WinTV app provide w/ the 350. Wondered if maybe switching from the composite (rca) connector to s-video would help. Then again, my current build is P3/933MHz, 192MB and built-in RAGE128.

If s-video helps, i'll be sure to post but not anticipating it will. Otherwise plan is to build new pvr w/ AMD 3700+, 1GB, and move 350 to this new box.

BTW, wondering if you (cummings66) see a spike in CPU when using the Hauppuange apps vs Sage? Like you've said, Sage utilizes little CPU (< 10%) but Hauppaunge jumps to 40%+....

(PS- Tapping standard analog cable - no HD programming)

[alijiwani]

I'm using a PVR-350 TV Out in an old 7 year old Dell P3-600. With the exception of the EOF bug that occured once I upgraded to SageTV4 - just know to hit end/stop before the file runs out, its flawless.

If you're computer is old, then its a beautiful solution. My Dell is old enough it doesnt support current AGP cards!

[Humanzee]

Originally Posted by pksyn

Can anyone, running Sage and a PVR-350, comment on the ability and quality of the TV Out?

The picture is superb. But that is not the point. The point is as cummings66 said, the design is flawed. I think 90% of the problems with that card have to do with enabling the on screen display (OSD) via overlay. It works, but with very mixed results for different people with different hardware configurations.

I used the 350 for a long time as my output device. I figured out all sorts of tricks to work around the end of file bug (EOF) but they were ultimately in vein. Even if you get it to work, it is of limited usefulness. I was not able to display DVD videos over the 350, or any video format other than Mpeg2, or audio formats either. The card just doesn't do what it is supposed to do. I use it now only as an encoder, which works just fine.

I now use a nVidia 6600 GT over the S-VHS connector for output. The nVidia cards support motion adaptive de-interlacing (through the pure video codec), which is sort of mute when the final display is interlaced, but it does seem to make things look comparable to the pvr 350. (at least on my set) Plus going this route for video output also future proofs me for when I move to a progressive digital TV.

Originally Posted by VAeric

Funny, as I am finding just the opposite w/ it's video out. Sound is fine, but video tends to be jumpy/pixalated - and this occurs w/ both Sage and the WinTV app provide w/ the 350. Wondered if maybe switching from the composite (rca) connector to s-video would help. Then again, my current build is P3/933MHz, 192MB and built-in RAGE128.

You need a new HTPC, my first attempt was with an athlon 900Mhz and the PVR-350, it just didn't work.

The connector cable s-video vs. composite should have no effect on jumpy or pixilated video. The s-video cable may make your pixilated video more sharp and brilliant however.

Keep in mind that if you are displaying video on your computer monitor, you are not actually using the 350's decoding capabilities for this display. In Sage you can disable software decoding which will reduce your cpu usage and possibly help your jitters. You won't get any video on the computer monitor, but assumably you are watching it on the TV anyway. I used to get jumpy video with the 350 too, but it went away when I switched to video output on the graphics card.

If it is evident on only certain recordings, I have a theory that it could be related to wether or not you were watching a recorded video while you were recording a live program. I never made any conclusions about this though.

Originally Posted by alijiwani

If you're computer is old, then its a beautiful solution. My Dell is old enough it doesn’t support current AGP cards!

This is true if you don't mind your computer hard rebooting at the end of every recording. Currently PVR-350 + SageTV =

[alijiwani]

guess I have been one of the lucky ones. I never had software decode on - its been full hardware the last year. Never had the EOF bug till SageTV 4 - but once I turned off the menu to ask if it wants to delete the recording, now I only have problems sometimes. And of those sometimes, 50% of the time Sage will go back to normal after a couple mins. (and yes sometimes it requires a reboot or autoreboots itself).

I'd say in the last 3 months since I went Sage4, its rebooted about 6 times. I can handle that.

[Humanzee]

I could live with it, and did, until I got married. It would always seem to fail when I wanted to show her how cool sage was. She wasn't impressed.

I have always viewed HTPC as a hobby, but uptime has become far more important than I had ever anticipated. She has warmed up to this technology since I installed the new hardware, and added "Gilmore Girls" to the favorites list. She even has supported the idea of getting an HDTV.

[Sheldon]

I consider the PVR-350 to be about the worst consumer purchase I've ever made. In 1.5 years of owning it, there has been absolutely no movement whatsoever in fixing the myriad problems I've had (EOF bug, FF/REW hangs, inability to use OSD, blue-screen crashes, etc.).

A coworker of mine recently purchased an ATI HDTV Wonder card, which came with TV program scheduling software. He indicates that it works flawlessly. He also paid about half of what I paid for a Sage/PVR-350 combo. And he can do OSD ... imagine my envy upon hearing that. (BTW, I am not affiliated with ATI in any way.)

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by Sheldon

I consider the PVR-350 to be about the worst consumer purchase I've ever made. In 1.5 years of owning it, there has been absolutely no movement whatsoever in fixing the myriad problems I've had (EOF bug, FF/REW hangs, inability to use OSD, blue-screen crashes, etc.).

A coworker of mine recently purchased an ATI HDTV Wonder card, which came with TV program scheduling software. He indicates that it works flawlessly. He also paid about half of what I paid for a Sage/PVR-350 combo. And he can do OSD ... imagine my envy upon hearing that. (BTW, I am not affiliated with ATI in any way.)

By the same token any PVR 150-250-500 would of served you much better and cost less also.

Gerry

[dblaine2]

I've used my sage2 + 350 for quite some time with only the occassional EOF bug but then I installed one Nielm's mods and that pretty much went away. I never had any of the other issues that people have. I think the mileage here is the type and quality of hardware is being used. Not to mention there may be some 350 production issues...

The drag is not being able to play DVD's etc. So I bought an old X-card with the VIP connector and now I am in heaven but of course the 350 is not used to its fullest.

[neals]

For "PAL" instead of "NTSC" users:

I life in Germany. I had massive problems with showing the User Interface over the TV-Out of the PVR 350. Then I got two tipps:

1.

In the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Frey Technologies/Common
Set "NTSC", Typ REG_DWORD, "0".

2.

Change in sage.properties the line:

pvr350_osd_locked_height=480

in

pvr350_osd_locked_height=576


The first tipp worked pretty good for me. I could not use the second tipp because in my SageTV properties (Version 4.1) i could not find this.

[SFX Group]

I am in the UK and have a PAL-I (UK) PVR 350, i tried SAGE over a year ago, didnt work at all (screen was all over the place).

I still have the PVR350 and alittle worried a year later it woudl seem this hasnt been corrected. I need hardware encode and decode. I am using GBPVR at the moment which works well as it has OSD which works everytime.

I would have moved to SAGE as would think they would have resolved the problems by now but would be right in thinking they havnt? (from what i read)

Many Thanks
Ashley