analog and svideo to same capture card?

[Nate]

My cable TV analog cable comes from the wall and splits. One cable goes to the analog connection cable to my Hauppauge WINPVR250 capture card. The other cable goes to my digital cable box. I use svideo to connect the cable box to the capture card.

I want to record/watch on both the analog cable and the cable box at the same time. I though I read this is possible? The problem I'm having is this... I add a new source in Sage, say I choose the capture card and svideo. The source is added and works great. Now if I add a new source and choose the capture card and analog tuner, it removes the svideo source and replaces it with the analog tuner source! Is it possible to have both at the same time?

Edit: nevermind! The first thing I did after posting this was go back and try it again and it worked. I guess maybe I was picking the same EPG for both sources and that was messing it up? Weird. I'm happy now!

[Nate]

Ok, both sources show up, but Sage doesn't appear to be able to use them both at the same time. For example, if I tell sage to record channel 57 and then I try to watch channel 58, Sage should record 57 with the cable box and show channel 58 with the analog cable. Instead, Sage asks me if I want to stop recording 57 so it can turn to 58. Why can't Sage use the tv tuner and the svideo at the same time? Is this a limitation of the Hauppauge card?

[kricker]

Originally Posted by Nate

Ok, both sources show up, but Sage doesn't appear to be able to use them both at the same time. For example, if I tell sage to record channel 57 and then I try to watch channel 58, Sage should record 57 with the cable box and show channel 58 with the analog cable. Instead, Sage asks me if I want to stop recording 57 so it can turn to 58. Why can't Sage use the tv tuner and the svideo at the same time? Is this a limitation of the Hauppauge card?

In short.....yes it is. It can only compress one stream at a time into mpeg-2.

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by Nate

. Why can't Sage use the tv tuner and the svideo at the same time? Is this a limitation of the Hauppauge card?

The PVR250 card only has 1 encoder, so it can only use one input at a time to create the mpeg-2 file. You would need a dual-tuner card, such as the PVR-500 or the nvidia dualTV card to record 2 sources at the same time.

They give you multiple inputs, so that you can hook stuff up different ways, not to be able to record from all of them at the same time.

[Nate]

Ok, gotcha. So, can you clarify... what sources can the Hauppauge 500 encode simultaneously? For inputs it has: analog tv, composite, svideo, and L&R audio. Since it has only one set of audio inputs, I assume it can encode using the analog input, plus any one of the other inputs. Is this correct?

I see in the specs it says "2 on-board A/V headers to connect to 2 more A/V sources", but it doesn't say what kind of inputs these are.

[ke6guj]

the Hauppauge 500 has 2 tuners, so it can record two sources. The coax input has an internal splitter so it can record analog cable/antenna to both tuners simultaneously. You can have both tuners record analog or just 1 analog and another s-vid or composite. Or both tuners record s-video/composite signals. You;d need the A/v cable for that that plugs into the the A/V heard.

Each A/V header adds an additional s-video and composite connector with an audio connector.

Since the s-video and composite video share an audio connector, you'd have to plan your hook ups accordingly.



Unfortunately, there is an issue with the newer pvr-500's analog tuner. The picture quality has gone way downhill. Hauppauge has been working with customers on fixing it. The s-vid and composite connectors are not affected by this.