WinTV-PVR-150: Did I buy the wrong card??

[eleland]

Damn I thought I got it all right... I want to:

(1) Record tv programs
(2) view the tv, not necessarily at the same time as #1
(3) not switch cables around to do 1 & 2

Did I mess up? I have the PVR-150 card through the sage media center bundle, and a P4 80gig computer waiting. I dont see any video/audio outs, and the instructions say to connect the cable directly to the card. Could I just cable the tv, then go out from the tv and into the card? Wondering if I should have purchased the 350?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Opus4]

The cable TV coax goes into the tuner card so that it can receive & encode the TV signal. All the tuner card does is encode the video.

For playback, you would use the output of your video card. The 350 has a hardware decoder for playback, but I wouldn't recommend it. If you want a hardware decoder, the MVP does a very good job as a SageTV Media Extender.

- Andy

[eleland]

Thanks, but I think I am still missing something. If I plug the cable into the card, my remaining ports are a S-video input, a composite video input, a line in (audio input) and an ir port. So, everything goes in, and nothing goes out. Does that mean I cant view the TV signal on my television with this setup?

[Opus4]

You aren' tusing the 150 for output; it is input only -- all it does is encode the video via its hardware, which is what you want.

Like I said, the video card does the output. Now, getting the best output quality from it that you can is something I'll leave to others.

Edit: Oh - did you want a coax cable coming back out to feed to the TV for separate live viewing? If so, split the cable before it gets to the 150 so you have 1 cable to feed to the TV and 1 to the tuner card.

- Andy

[eleland]

I see, so my video card has the port for the regular computer monitor, as well as an s video port. I should get the s-video - to - composite cable so it outputs to my tv (which only has composite inputs). Does that seem right?

[Opus4]

(I added an edit to my above post, probably while you were typing a reply.)

Originally Posted by eleland

I should get the s-video - to - composite cable so it outputs to my tv (which only has composite inputs). Does that seem right?

If that's the only input the TV has, that would be one thing to do.

- Andy

[eleland]

Thanks. So if I can find the magic cable that converts s-video out from my video card (assuming this is an out, not an in) to composite into the tv, and I plug the cable from the wall to the tv tuner card, I should be able to:

(1) view live tv
(2) record live tv
(3) see the sage.tv application interface on the tv and control it with the ir or keyboard/mouse input devices

If i do the split cable trick, I cant actually control the sage software, because the computer never outputs video to the tv. Right?

I didnt realize that this was quite so complex...

[blade]

It's not complex. You have to get the signal into the computer through the PVR150. So you run coax to it. Then you have to get the signal from the computer to the tv just like you would for a dvd, vcr, etc.... It's nothing more than a very smart digital vcr with loads of other capabilties.

There is no cable splitting trick, it's simply placing a splitter on the cable line like you do when adding a tv or possibly a vcr. Most any home that has more than 1 tv set is going to have a splitter.

The splitter has nothing to do with displaying Sage on the tv. It will just allow you to watch regular tv like always. Then you'll switch to the composite input to use Sage just as you would when using a dvd player.

[amac]

I don't believe you can use a s-video-to-composite out cable. Typically there are some electronics required to convert the signal. While that cable is available for purchase, I believe it would only work with a device that has the necessary electronics.

If your video card doesn't have a composite out, then you may need a new video card or other device to convert the signal.

[blade]

There are loads of cables available to convert s-video to composite, but I've never tried one. As a matter of fact I have one lying around somewhere. I think Radioshack has them for like $5. Some state that they contain circuitry while others don't mention it. I also think I've read about others here on the forums using s-video to composite converters as well.

[JUC]

I used to convert S-video to comosite all the time. No problems. You don't even need a 'special cable'. Just a 'special coupler'. Its a coupler that you connect the s-video into one end and the composite cable into the other. Simple as that.

like this: http://www.svideo.com/rcatosvideo.html

or the cable http://www.svideo.com/svideorca.html

ratshaks got em

[eleland]

Thanks for all the help! I will try the s-video to rca adaptor route. What happens if you do both the s-video out from the video card to the rca in on the tv, as well as splitting the cable so the coax goes directly to the tv tuner card on the computer and to the tv? Perhaps the tv would allow me to switch the video input from the computer to the cable using the tv remote, and I am not messing with cables in the back once this is all set up. Sorry for the luddite questions, this has been very helpful for me!

[blade]

Originally Posted by eleland

What happens if you do both the s-video out from the video card to the rca in on the tv, as well as splitting the cable so the coax goes directly to the tv tuner card on the computer and to the tv? Perhaps the tv would allow me to switch the video input from the computer to the cable using the tv remote, and I am not messing with cables in the back once this is all set up.

Yes, which is what I said above.

The splitter has nothing to do with displaying Sage on the tv. It will just allow you to watch regular tv like always. Then you'll switch to the composite input to use Sage just as you would when using a dvd player.

[cslatt]

You also need to get the sound from the SagePC into the TV so you'll want to make sure you have something like a stereo minijack >> 2 rca cable around as well for that purpose.