250 05 350

[marcw]

How does one decide? From what I am reading here you have to get a 15 or 16 board and if you add a second they both have to be the same.

is that correct.

Should I just get two 350"s and take the output of the 350 into the input of the graphics card.

How will I get two 350's into one graphics card

is the hardware decoding a real plus?

I am starting my project next week.

Thx,
Marc

[carlgar]

You decide by knowing if you want encoding only or encoding/decoding.
The 250 is encoding only.
The 350 is encoding/decoding.
The 350 is NOT intended to go into your graphics card, it is intended to output directly to your TV.

If your graphics card currently goes to your TV then you probably want the 250's.

[marcw]

Since I have purchased either I have time. Will two 350's or two 250 only require on video out connection?

Can you mix and match as follows:
250 for recording tuner
350 for recording tuner and playback

marc

[marcw]

Which is better for this?

[carlgar]

Originally posted by marcw
Since I have purchased either I have time. Will two 350's or two 250 only require on video out connection?

The above statements do not make sense to me. I think you are saying that you have not yet purchased either one yet.

The 350's only come as type 15, the 250's come as either type 15 or type 16. If you buy new 250's you will probably get type 16, I think they quit making type 15 250's about 6 months ago.

I don't think you understand how the cards work. They really have nothing to do with the actual time shifting. Both of the cards do encoding, which just records (caputures) the program in MPEG2. The actual timeshifting is done by the software by reading the captured file and displaying or sending the file data to the 350 for decoding.

The only reason to consider the 350 in my opinon is if you are using a slow CPU. The software decoding of MPEG2 can be very CPU intensive. But with a fast CPU I think a 350 causes more trouble than it is worth. If I had it to do over again I would not have bought mine.

It is not clear to me how you plan to view the program on your TV. If your graphics card has a TV out then you could use that. If you do not have TV out then you have another reason to consider the 350. The 350 can output directly to your TV using composite or component output.

[Opus4]

Originally posted by carlgar
The 350 can output directly to your TV using composite or component output.

That's svideo or composite, according to the Hauppauge site.

If the output is to go to a HD TV, you don't want a 350, do you?

- Andy

[marcw]

Which is better for this?

[Crowdx42]

I agree you will VERY likely get a type 16 card, both CompUSA and Circuit City has the new box which both contained type 16 cards. The question is will the 350 continue being manufactured and if so will they update it's encoder chip also?
Patrick

[Opus4]

They both record equally well, so it makes no difference in that regard. Same with the Hauppauge pvr-usb2. The only difference is that the 350 has TV out w/hardware decoding. The 350 connects directly to your TV, not your video card. I think you mentioned that you have a fairly powerful cpu & will view shows on an HD TV. If that is the case, you may be better off skipping the 350 & using a video card -> TV connection. I don't have HD TV, so I am not experienced there. While you wait for someone familiar with that, I suggest searching the forums for info on the type of output you plan to do.

BTW -- there is nearly no use for 2 350s in one machine -- you get 2 encoders and 2 decoders (if 2 350s will work together)... but what real use is having 2 decoders connected to 1 TV??

- Andy

[stanger89]

Originally posted by Crowdx42
I agree you will VERY likely get a type 16 card, both CompUSA and Circuit City has the new box which both contained type 16 cards. The question is will the 350 continue being manufactured and if so will they update it's encoder chip also?
Patrick

The -16 isn't really a new chip, it's more of a simplified/streamlined version without the decoder portion so it's cheaper and runs cooler.

[Crowdx42]

So the older type 16 cards had the decoder chip but with no outputs?
Patrick

[stanger89]

The older 250's with the heatsink (like mine) have a decoder on board that's disabled. The new ones have the CX23416 encoder only chip. It is more recent than the CX23415 (I think) but it's not improved AFAIK. Sorry for the confusion.

[Crowdx42]

Well I have 2 16s now in the box, seems to work fine so far, only running for a few hours. Tried a 15 and 16 and the machine locked up solid, first time since I built it.
Patrick

[phenixdragon]

I would say go with the 250s. With the next video cards coming out they will support hardware decoding. The big push right now is media centers and companies like nVidia have stated they will be including hardware decoding of MPEG 1, 2 and 4. I would believe they will have a nice card for around $100 or so with their new chipset. I also expect ATI to follow.

Just going with the 250 now will save you headaches if you decide on adding more tuners.

[mlbdude]

Any word yet if the new video cards are going to support proper 480i out for those of use still using SD TV's? Right now I have to use a 350 or a Matrox to get this, I don't don't really want to use either .

[phenixdragon]

I haven’t seen anything on 480i but I know ATI now supports 1080 (not sure if it is i or p). I believe nVidia stated they will support 480p, 720p and 1080p but I would imagine they (along with ATI) will also support more then just that such as 480i.

[stanger89]

I've done 480i on my 9500 via VGA, and I believe the component dongle may support 480i also. I'm not sure that really helps though since you still need to covert to Composite/S-Video unless you have one of those rare TVs with 480i Component.

[Crowdx42]

Would an Ati 8500 card give better tv output compared to the older VIvo 64 card I am currently using or does the card have to be DX9 to show any real performance/picture improvement?
I am currently struggling with the tearing issues reported here. Would changing video card help that? I know my Xcard works with no tearing but everyone hates having to swap inputs to view through the Xcard and it is one extra step the family hate.
I am thinking maybe using girder to send a live tv and an input switch message simultaneously and so make it a one button process, but have not had time to work with girder yet.
Patrick

[mlbdude]

What I need (I think) is something that will take the output/video format and scale it or whatever the 350 does so that I can output it via Svideo without deinterlacing. The Matrox does this as a secondary display but there are too many driver issues with them. It would be nice if ATI or nVidia did something similar. However, the days of SD TV are numbered so I don't know if they will invest any resources in it.

Tearing issues not related to VMR9 are probably deinterlacing issues. With my 9600 I get the VMR9 tearing so I can't use that either.

[stanger89]

If you're using VMR9 I'm not surprised that you get tearing on a Vivo 64, I have problems with tearing on my Radeon 9500. I'd also guess that the 8500 would give better PQ than the Vivo, but I wouldn't buy an 8500. Right now I wouldn't buy any pre DX9 card right now. That means at least a Radeon 9500 or GeforceFX 5200.