WinTV-HVR 1600 for ~ $63

[Jason]

Dell has the WinTV-HVR 1600 for $84 + a $20 rebate...

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/p...9&sku=A0942752

and

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/r...A0942752_1.pdf

-Jason

[hemicuda]

2.2 P4 or equivalent, hmmm.... wonder if my amd 3200+ (runs at 2.2) can handle it.

[lobosrul]

Originally Posted by hemicuda

2.2 P4 or equivalent, hmmm.... wonder if my amd 3200+ (runs at 2.2) can handle it.

If you use a hardware assisted decode (ie NV Purevideo) that number is way inflated. That card will not need any more horespower than any other digital tuner. I have about a 7% load while watching HD on a 4400+.

[mikessawyer]

IMHO, this card is not ready to be purchased. I was sent one in place of a PVR-150, and I have experienced numerous problems. Both video and audio quality through SageTV are unacceptably poor with the HVR-1600.

[hemicuda]

if only it supported QAM I'd consider it.

[lobosrul]

Well, I ordered one yesterday. The newest Sage beta version supposedly supports it. I'll give a report on how well it works this weekend.

[lobosrul]

After two weeks I'm happy with this card. Its ATSC reception is slightly better than my ATI HDTV Wonder. I've had no problems whatsoever.

I have no way of testing the analog tuner at the moment. I just wanted a hardware encoded analog tuner for flexibility down the road.

[farfromuman]

Circuit City has these for $60 after rebate, I just got one to replace my PVR-250 or ATI HDTV Wonder - cant decide which one (I only have 2 PCI slots).

[paintedbird]

I just picked one up... any tips on setup? Does Sage automatically pick the HD tuner if the same show is available on both tuners?

Will SageTVTranscoder transcode the HD files to SD and send them to my Media Extender properly? I know a HD Media Extender is coming out this summer, and I purchased this card in preparation for that, but I've heard HD still looks better on a SD set.

What antenna is best? I got the cheapest "rabbit ears" antenna I could find, but I saw they had another style of directional antenna and also a powered, amplified one (for $50).

[lobosrul]

Originally Posted by paintedbird

I just picked one up... any tips on setup? Does Sage automatically pick the HD tuner if the same show is available on both tuners?

I know there is a setting in the config file somewhere to record HD if available... I dont know if its on by default or not. I read it in one of the beta updates, I dont remember which one.

Originally Posted by paintedbird

Will SageTVTranscoder transcode the HD files to SD and send them to my Media Extender properly? I know a HD Media Extender is coming out this summer, and I purchased this card in preparation for that, but I've heard HD still looks better on a SD set.

It will transcode, but you'll probably need a dual core to be able to do this, or you'll be pegging the CPU on your server. I transcoded for a placeshifter from HD and it worked fine on an AMD X2 4400.

Originally Posted by paintedbird

What antenna is best? I got the cheapest "rabbit ears" antenna I could find, but I saw they had another style of directional antenna and also a powered, amplified one (for $50).

I was using the cheap antenna that came with my ATI HDTV Wonder, but I had the occasional dropout. I now have a Samsung amped antenna, it was about $40. However, Im only about 5 miles from all the towers, and theyre way up on a mountain. You may need an outdoor antenna. Also be sure and get an antenna thats optimized(?) for UHF/ATSC signals.