Can Sage handle 3 ATI E-HOME WONDER cards?

[mlbdude]

Originally posted by Crowdx42
Windows Media Center only supports single tuner cards? I know it can only be initially bought as a new computer, but wondering can it handle 2 tuners?
Patrick

Nope.

[Crowdx42]

Seems a waste of good money if it only supports single cards. For me PVR is all about being about to watch AND record shows, even multiple recording at the same times. That to me is what I find cool about PC PVR.
Does Tivo enable one to watch and record at the same time or would you need to switch to the main tv while tv records a show?
Patrick

[Opus4]

Originally posted by Crowdx42
Seems a waste of good money if it only supports single cards.

Why do you think I chose SageTV over any other solution last year?

Does Tivo enable one to watch and record at the same time or would you need to switch to the main tv while tv records a show?

Any type of PVR is going to need 2 tuners to be able to watch & record 2 separate channels at the same time. I'll leave it to others to say what Tivo is now capable of... I don't know if they have a dual tuner version, or if you would need 2 Tivo units.

- Andy

[Crowdx42]

Well over the last few weeks I have learned a lot thanks to you guys, still a lot more to learn though. I am now looking at USB-UIRT to control my cable box and maybe a couple of E-Home cards, that would give me a total of 3 tuners, 1 of which could record direct from the cable box and so get the higher frequency channels.
It will be expensive but the beauty of it will be that I can still upgrade software and if another software solution comes along I can still use it with existing hardware UNLIKE Tivo solutions.
Patrick

[medialivingroom]

New low price $64.00

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...116-309&depa=0

ATI PCI TV Tuner Box, Model "E-HOME WONDER" -OEM
N82E16815116309
$64.00

[mlbdude]

Originally posted by medialivingroom
New low price $64.00

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...116-309&depa=0

ATI PCI TV Tuner Box, Model "E-HOME WONDER" -OEM
N82E16815116309
$64.00

That model "looks" pretty basic. Anyone know if it can take in an SVideo signal from a cable box?

[gplasky]

Off their website:

Stereo TV tuner with 125 channels for worldwide standards
S-Video and composite analog video and stereo audio input and capture
Pal / Secam and NTSC support
TV resolution up to 720 X 576 (PAL / SECAM) and 720 X 480 (NTSC)
PCI Interface
Fully compatible with Microsoft® Windows® XP Media Center Edition.
THEATER™ 200 allows for stereo and video decoding and processing
FM radio tuner (optional)
Video capture at up to 720 X 576 (PAL / SECAM) and 720 X 480 (NTSC) with MPEG-2 compression

Gerry

[Opus4]

But the picture of the one at newegg only shows 1 input. It says it is an OEM version, so maybe it is limited to cable iput only?

- Andy

[mlbdude]

Gerry,

Those specs are for the $73 one. That is why I asked about the $64 one. I think that one is just a tuner.

[gplasky]

Oh-sorry. You are correct. I thought the $64 one was just minus the FM tuner. My bad. No inputs in other than RF TV.

Gerry

[Opus4]

Still not a bad price if all you need is a tuner. (Especially if you already have a 250 or something w/the other inputs.)

- Andy

[Crowdx42]

Think it is a great price if all you want is an additional card for local tv stations or analogue cable.
For hardware encoding it is a great price.
Patrick

[Crowdx42]

Well I just ordered the cheaper of the two E-Home cards, my PVR will do fine for the cable box, if this works good I may get another IF their stocks last.
A little concerned about the different descriptions given for both cards, i.e. the cheap one is the conexent chip and the other card advertises the Theater 200 chip, wondering if the second one still uses the same hardware encoder chip.
Will see in a few days anyhow.
Also ordered USB-UIRT from his home page, no idea how long that will take to get here, will be cool to get access to the higher channels on my cable box. Wondering how good Sage determines where the channels are between the two cards, i.e. would it ever think that the card with the RF in had channels in the higher frequencies and so screw up a recording.
Patrick

[gplasky]

It shouldn't because the channels are configured on a source by source basis.

Gerry

[rotaryracer]

Anybody have the final word on these cards? I'm getting ready to install dual PVR250s in my box this week, but my brother is itching to start building his own HTPC (woe be his wife!). He's a fairly smart guy but somewhat 'PC challenged', so I usually just tell him what to buy and he assembles it. Typically, I tell him to build a clone of whatever I just built - saves me hassle in troubleshooting different hardware configs.

I'd like to be able to tell him he could do dual E-Home tuners for the price of one PVR, but would hate to send him down the river (and stick me with HOURS of tweaking and fixing to get it right). Are these things really comparable to a PVR at half the price and do they work flawlessly with Sage 1.4?

By the way, the key here is 'dual tuner capable' - he'd rather run one PVR now with the option of installing a second down the road rather than buy one E-Home card and be limited to a single tuner only (or selling to buy PVRs).

I've had good luck with ATI vid cards, but haven't heard a whole lot of press about this one.

Thanks!

Jason

[Crowdx42]

Well I have ordered one of the E-Home cards and will report back here what it is like, I already have a PVR-250 and so I can compare and tell you if they work fine in the same machine or what quality is like.
Patrick

[mikbro]

I tried one of the 'basic' cards (the $60 card with just the RF input). I was able to get the system to find the card, but it regularly loses it on reboot. When the system and Sage did find the card, there were no quality settings available (as has been reported). The 'defualt' quality was something akin to 2-3 gigs/hour and looked as good as the PVR-250 cards at that setting. I have ordered one of the better cards ($73) that has s-video/analog stereo input in addition to the RF and hopefully it will work better.

Side note, the ONLY drivers I could find for these cards are the onces that ship with them. There are no drivers available on ATI's site for the EHOME card. It seems these drivers are only supplied to OEMS building Windows MCE systems. The problem I had above could be addressed in newer drivers but I am not sure. Also it only comes with the drivers, there are no MPEG decoders or any apps such as WinTV that come with the Hauppauge cards.

[Crowdx42]

But without a reboot of the machine, the card remained solid? And recorded with no problem? I still have time to cancel my order for the cheaper card BUT my thought was that the extra expense was just for the tuner. Are there any other differences in the cards?
Patrick

[mikbro]

No, the card was not solid when running, Sage would invariably error out.

Both cards have a cable ready tuner (that is what the f-connector is for). The more expensive version has another f-connector for an FM antenna and of course the connector for the breakout box that provides s-video, composite and analog stereo input. My hope is that because the more expensive card has these additional inputs the drivers are either newer versions or simply work better. The cards are cheap enough it is worth the effort for me.

[rotaryracer]

Originally posted by mikbro
No, the card was not solid when running, Sage would invariably error out.

Originally posted by mikbro
I was able to get the system to find the card, but it regularly loses it on reboot.

Yeah, these are the kinds of problems that would make me (and my brother) go postal. I already invested a LOT of time to get my HTPC working to what I consider a '90%' level - obviously I still have more hours to go. I'd hate to add on additional hours just because I tried to save $50 on a card - my time has gotta be worth something! The fact that updated drivers don't exist concerns me as well.

Mikbro, the errors you were having with the E-Home - were these in a single tuner config, dual E-Home config, or dual mixed config (E-Home and PVR)?

Thanks!

Jason