Replace PVR-150 or get a HVR1800 or another?

[mcaron1234]

Hi all,

Looking for a little wisdom of the crowds here. One of my (I have two) PVR-150s has a RF connector that is no longer working. Its been loose for a while and didn't survive my server upgrade and rebuild last night. I'm going to need to replace it, looks like. So, what I want to know is which card is should I replace it with?

Points to consider:

1) I record QAM with a HDHR already
2) I record "other" HD content that is not clear QAM of 5c'd via firewire from my moto cablebox
3) Although I wish I relied less on analog SD content the sad truth is the majority of my recordings are in SD and are captured with the PVR-150s
4) My new mobo has one available pci slot and 3 available PCIe x1 slots.
5) I want a analog card with a hardware encoder.

So, what do you guys think? I'm tempted to just replace it straight out with another PVR-150 BUT my inner geek says I should at least consider one of the new hybrid PCIe cards. What I like about the 150s is that they work OTB so well with sage. I like the idea of the HVR cards also doing QAM, but I don't want to sacrifice stability in the analog SD recordings for the possibility of additional QAM channels. Also, can anyone recommend one of the saberview cards?

Thanks,

Matt

[troycheek]

The PVR-500 is pretty much just two PVR-150s smooshed together on one PCI card and should work just as well with SageTV as your PVR-150 did.

[DOS64K]

I had to replace a bad PVR-150 recently and decided to try one of the PCIEx1 cards. I chose the Avermedia Combo card (Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16815100015) based on reviews. I'm using the analog tuner with cable and I think the PQ is at least as good as the PVR-150.

[mcaron1234]

Originally Posted by DOS64K

I had to replace a bad PVR-150 recently and decided to try one of the PCIEx1 cards. I chose the Avermedia Combo card (Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16815100015) based on reviews. I'm using the analog tuner with cable and I think the PQ is at least as good as the PVR-150.

Interesting, I had not considered those. Couple of questions, do they have hardware mpeg-2 encoders for analog and is QAM working in Sage?

Matt

[DOS64K]

Originally Posted by mcaron1234

Interesting, I had not considered those. Couple of questions, do they have hardware mpeg-2 encoders for analog and is QAM working in Sage?

Matt

I can't speak to QAM working in Sage as I'm only using it for analog at the moment, but I recall that QAM worked in MCE/VMC according to the reviews (Sage just doesn't get much love from the media pukes). And yes, they hardware encode just like the PVR-150s and the vast majority of other PVR cards out there.

[mcaron1234]

Originally Posted by DOS64K

I can't speak to QAM working in Sage as I'm only using it for analog at the moment, but I recall that QAM worked in MCE/VMC according to the reviews (Sage just doesn't get much love from the media pukes). And yes, they hardware encode just like the PVR-150s and the vast majority of other PVR cards out there.

Excellent, thanks for the info. This looks like a good way to save 30 bucks!.

I just noticed your in Oly, I lived there for ~6 years but recently had to move for work, I miss it.

Thanks,

Matt

[DOS64K]

OK, North Bend. I hadn't noticed that before. Yeah, I've been here for about 10 years now. Retired Air Force, but still work out at the base as a civilian doing IT work. Love the area. When I'm not messing with my home theater stuff, I'm usually out walking the Olympics.