Opinions of X800 XT AIW agp ?

[korben_dallas]

I see I can get one shipped for $150-$165. I do a bit of gaming, so the speed improvement over my 9800 Pro would be nice.. 256MB of 256bit GDDR3 with 16 pipelines.

I know nothing about the AIW features. Do they work in SageTV 5.x ?

[mayamaniac]

probably not a good idea since AIW tuners use software encoders, meaning it uses CPU power to encode MPEG2. This is unlike hardware encoders such as the hauppauge PVR cards or your Plextor ConvertX which doesn't use the CPU at all when recording. Save your money and get the normal X800 without AIW.

[korben_dallas]

Strangely enough, the non-AIW is significantly more expensive, according to Pricegrabber.

[JDavis]

I have that card and am quite happy with it. I wouldn't recommend using the AIW as your primary tuner because of the software encoder, but it works fine with SageTV. I didn't have any problems adding it as another source. The recording quality is noticeably worse than my two PVR150s, but for those rare times when 3 things need to record it's nice to have.

[mayamaniac]

if you can't get it for cheaper, than it doesn't hurt to get the AIW version.

[korben_dallas]

Originally Posted by mayamaniac

if you can't get it for cheaper, than it doesn't hurt to get the AIW version.

Mainly wanting it for the gaming capability, I'm just a bit more than casual gamer, and there is nothing out there close to its capabilities for that price. The 2nd tuner could serve a purpose, as on a rare occasion I might watch news or something else LiveTV while a recording is going.