Totaly new and need some card help

[DoughBoy]

I have done a lot of research here and have decided to scrape my AT Wonder card pro and go with either the Blackbird bundle on this site or the pvr 250. I could use some help decideing which on.

My question is, out of the two (or if someone knows of a better card) can I use one of them to record my old home vhs and camcorder videos to dvd using s-video or rca jacks?

The sagaTV at first was not important to me until I started ready this forum, now I NEED IT. Might as well use the card for something eles after I burn the DVD's.

Please all advice would be appriciated.

Thank you.

[stanger89]

Either should be able to record VHS off S-Video just fine.

[DoughBoy]

Thanks Stranger, since either card will work to record my vhs cards, then I guess the real question is which card would be the best for SagaTV?

The
pvr 350 > heard it had a problem because of the FM radio feature.
Pvr 250 > Seems to be a good choice.
Blackbird > Didn't read alot about this one except I think it is the next generation of the pvr 350?????

Since I had to take the ATI Wonder back to the store I dont want to make another mistake with cards.

Can someone give me the pros and cons of the 250 and blackbird?

Thanks

[stanger89]

That will depend on what you want to do. Basically the 250 and the Blackbird/Roslyn are the same thing, different components on the card, but the same functionality. What makes the 350 different is the TV-out. If you plan on watching on a SDTV, then you may want to consider the 350 since it is reported to give a superior picture in that circumstance. The 250 requires a video card for output so if you're going to a monitor or HDTV you're better off with the 250.

Blackbird vs 250, right now I'd go for the Blackbird, mainly due to the price. I haven't heard anything bad about it yet.

[kny3twalker]

only go pvr 350 with sage if you have a mobo with these chipsets ATI, nforce1,2 and select VIA AMD mobos
you will have to check if it is VIA

also if you view on a HDTV or monitor no need for 350
350 hardware encoder/decoder(TV out)
250 remote port no radio
roslyn(blackbird) pvr 250 radio no remote control port and has the ability to work with standard TV recording software that does not work with regular pvr 250s
not referring to sage
Sage is hardware encoder only software
but there is software that cannot use a hardware encoder card but the blackbirds can do it
black bird has little relation to the 350s
the old pvr 250s are the closest thing
save money go blackbird and but the bunde witha remote or you will have to get one later if you want one

by the way you cannot use radio and TV as the same time

other problems with 350
it runs hot
like old model -15 pvr 250s
new models are -16
blackbirds are similiar to -16s but will not have drivers issues with the -15 model pvr250/350 like the new 250s do with the old -15 ones and pvr 350s

also the blackbirds do not work with wintv software

if you want do VHS recording another good piece of software is sagerecorder

you want a two tuner setup you can get sagrecoder for 10 dolars

buy the bundle of sageTV, remote, one blackbird
then buy a separate blackbird and they come with sagrecorder
so 176 for bundle
then one additional blackbird 90
266
if you buy the 2 tuner bundle with remote it is 256
so 10 dollars for sagerecorder
but thats extreme
sageTV will probably be fine for VHS recordings
but remember no remote comes with a blackbird

[DoughBoy]

Thanks to both of you for your help, I have decided on the blackbird bundle : . To my understainding I should be able to use the TV out on my GForce4 video card if I need to. Im also not interested in the radio feature.

I have a few questions on terms though. What is the -15 -16 that kny3twalker mentioned and also MOBO?

Also does this blackbird come with any software to burn to DVD? If not, anyone know of a good program that will? I believe I understaind that the SagaRecorder will work to take my vhs movies and get them to my hard drive is this correct?

[mikejaner]

-15 is the older models of the 250 cards. They have a heatsink on the main chip. The recent versions (in the last six months maybe longer) are -16 and like the blackbird models have no heatsink on the main chip.

The Blackbird comes with nothing but drivers. Get DVD software if you want to burn it.

[kny3twalker]

mobo means motherboard