Will the HD PVR work with my PC?

[mlee]

I don't know if this is the correct place to ask, but searching google, this seems to be the main source of discussion on the HD PVR. So any help anyone can give me would be appreciated. I'm looking into buying one but I'm unsure if I will be able to use it with my older processor.

My system is:

Running Windows XP Professional
Pentium 4 Processor @ 2.4GHz /w HT
1.5 GBs Ram
and an ATI Radeon HD 2600 AGP 512MB Video card

What concerns me is it lists the minimum CPU requirements as needing a Dual Core processor, but also says the fast CPU is needed for video playback? This is what confuses me, and I've been unable to find the answer.

For starters I can play HD video on my computer with no problem. But will my processor effect how the recordings turn out? For instance will the video stutter / have a low frame rate? I was under the impression that the encoding to h.264 was done in the box before being sent to my computer.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

[Djc208]

Originally Posted by mlee

What concerns me is it lists the minimum CPU requirements as needing a Dual Core processor, but also says the fast CPU is needed for video playback? This is what confuses me, and I've been unable to find the answer.

The HD PVR does the conversion from analog to digital internally in hardware. So minimal computer resources are required for recording the output of the HD PVR. Your system should record the video fine. It's playback that can be tricky.

For starters I can play HD video on my computer with no problem. But will my processor effect how the recordings turn out? For instance will the video stutter / have a low frame rate? I was under the impression that the encoding to h.264 was done in the box before being sent to my computer.

You are correct, the box does all the work. The processor won't affect how they are recorded. However there are different types of HD out there. You'll find a lot is mpeg format, which most computers can play back OK. The h.264 format is very processor intensive, however with the right graphics card and software you can offload most of that work to the dedicated hardware built into most newer graphics cards in which case your CPU may be fine.

I'd try finding some high quality h.264 files to play before you go off and buy one. Some PCs can handle the low resolution or low bitrate stuff OK but the HD PVR output won't be either most likely.

[aaronb]

My server has a P4 3GHz, and it really struggles to play HDPVR files (I don't use it for playback normally, but sometimes when tinkering I need to playback a file). I'm not sure how much the video card makes a difference (I have a GeForce Fx5200), but if I tried to use this as a frontend it would not suffice. Recording does not stress the CPU at all.

[B-Figgy]

Hardware acceleration on your graphics card can make a big difference. I'm running the Radeon HD 3200 off my 780G motherboard and the CPU never goes above 10% when I'm recording and playing back simultaneously. With all the encoding and decoding happening elsewhere it just doesn't have a whole lot to do.