Any reason to buy the P250 now?

[edgley]

Hi,

After all this time, I am finally ready to set up my two tuner system.

And then I find out there's another card!

I have looked through the forum, but can not see, so I will ask:

Do I need to buy the P250, or go for the new two card bundle?

I am also presuming that they will work in the UK with a s-video connection to my sat box.

Thanks!

Simon.

[edgley]

Or should I go for the P350?
I am only looking to stream the video to clients, and stability is my main goal.

s.

[carlgar]

You should probably review the SageTV Shuts Down on its own thread.

I think if stability is your main goal then the proven 250 are best.

[Grey_Goose]

I tried the Blackbird bundle... 30+ hours later, I went to Circuit City & bought two retail PVR-250's.

[kny3twalker]

I posted a coupon for software only from sage so that will help cut the cost
http://forums.freytechnologies.com/f...&threadid=5967

[mdmint]

Originally posted by edgley
Hi,

After all this time, I am finally ready to set up my two tuner system.

And then I find out there's another card!

I have looked through the forum, but can not see, so I will ask:

Do I need to buy the P250, or go for the new two card bundle?

I am also presuming that they will work in the UK with a s-video connection to my sat box.

Thanks!

Simon.

You may want to follow this Roslyn poll thread for awhile before making a decision.
http://forums.freytechnologies.com/f...&threadid=5946

[kny3twalker]

I think the drivers are better solution though than to dewll on the problem at hand

[mdmint]

Originally posted by kny3twalker
I think the drivers are better solution though than to dewll on the problem at hand

The original question of this thread was whether to go multiple 250s or the now offered multiple Roslyns. IF the problem at hand IS that multiple Roslyns don't play well together THEN me thinks it is highly relevant. If indeed the driver turns out to be the issue, and the driver issue hasn't been resolved yet, and drivers that don't work for the multi-tuner bundle are being shipped with the bundle, it is highly relevant. At least, if I was considering buying the multi-tuner Roslyn bundle I'd want to know.

[kny3twalker]

well if frey is shipping old drivers that could be causing the problem and there is support for multiple roslyns with the current drivers then Frey should update the drivers they send out
but I would not tell people not to buy from them for that
afterall this issue is too new if it is just that issue of old drivers then it is not a problem
I will update the FAQs if anyone ever tries the drivers from SHS

if it is something else thats different but wait before going off on them

I really do not believe the roslyn is another pvr 350
the 350 will get worked out I hope though

[edgley]

So P250 it is.

Thanks!

[justme]

I think PCalchemy had the best price on PVR250's the last time I checked. However they are often out of stock due to their popularity.

And yes for now I'd personally reccomned the PVR250, for stabilty. This will likely change with time.

[pcalchemy]

We are out of stock on the standard PVR-250 and probably will not have any for 3 more weeks, Hauppauge is having a difficult time building enough cards.

We do have the retail version of the PVR-250MCE card in stock and hope to maintain a consistient stock of them. We sell it for the same price as the retail PVR-250. We are also now offering the PVR-250MCE (OEM) cards bundled with SageTV.

You'll find the PVR-250MCE at:
WinTV-PVR-250MCE Model 975

And the SageTV 2.0 / PVR-250MCE bundle at:
SageTV 2.0 / PVR-250MCE Bundle

[kny3twalker]

neither of them are roslyn just so everyone knows

[ToonGal]

Originally posted by justme
I think PCalchemy had the best price on PVR250's the last time I checked. However they are often out of stock due to their popularity.

The best price I found is here:
http://www.compuplus.com/insidepage.php3?id=1001130

PCAlchemy is usually $116 and CompU is $111. Depends on your area for shipping / taxes, but should be competitive.

[pcalchemy]

Originally posted by ToonGal
The best price I found is here:
http://www.compuplus.com/insidepage.php3?id=1001130

PCAlchemy is usually $116 and CompU is $111. Depends on your area for shipping / taxes, but should be competitive.

At one point http://www.pcalchemy.com was $109 but Hauppauge asked us to raise our price, we have a good relationship with Hauppauge and wish to keep it, so we obliged. We didn't however run out of stock because the PVR-250s are so popular, Hauppauge is having a production issue, so our order of 250s (and additional 350s) are on back order.

Make sure to check out shipping wherever you purchase, sometimes retailers make up for cheap prices by charging a lot for shipping. At http://www.pcalchemy.com we stock everything we sell, ship same day the order is placed and simply pass the UPS shipping charges along to the consumer, so you can decide which UPS option you want based on cost.

We currently have the following in stock:

WinTV-PVR-250MCE Model 975
WinTV-PVR-350 Model 990

We also have great prices on SageTV 2.0 bundled with either the PVR-250MCE, PVR-Roslyn, or the PVR-350, check out:

SageTV 2.0 Bundles

[kny3twalker]

yeah compuplus is outrageous for shipping cost

pcalchemy was like 6 dollars
and compuplus like to charge a minimum of like 16 dollars for shipping
I even called them about this and told them
there are others I can buy the product from for cheaper just because of the shipping cost and they told me to buy from someone else then and they would match anyone

16 dollars for the cheapest option to ship
LOL

most big places give free shipping like newegg and zipzoomfly

smaller places like pcalchemy at least are not taking advantage of the customer and just charge normally shipping

compuplus is one of those places

Make sure to check out shipping wherever you purchase, sometimes retailers make up for cheap prices by charging a lot for shipping

[ToonGal]

Originally posted by kny3twalker
yeah compuplus is outrageous for shipping cost

...

most big places give free shipping like newegg and zipzoomfly

smaller places like pcalchemy at least are not taking advantage of the customer and just charge normally shipping

compuplus is one of those places

Understand that I am only playing devil's advocate with this post; I bought my new computer from Essential computer almost entirely, with a video card from NewEgg, a wireless keyboard/mouse from J&R, and the PVR-250 from CompUSA ($99, after the $30 rebate; why didn't I buy the 3 I wanted...???).

CompUPlus -is- outrageous for shipping cost, but this is their business model. They have VERY low prices compared to everyone, and make some of it back by 'handling' added to the shipping.

Big places that give 'free' / cheap shipping basically just bundle the price of shipping in the selling price. I'd add buy.com and J&R to NewEgg and ZipZoomFly to this category.

The best deals really are from the smaller vendors who provide a more personal service, like Essential Computers (and I assume PCAlchemy). They don't have the volume of their competitors, so they compete on price and service, looking for repeat business and referals. This is the group I usually buy my online purchases through.

To take the PVR-250 (retail) as an example, factoring in my case CA tax.

CompUPlus = $125.95 = $111.00 + $14.95 (ship) + $0 (CA tax)
J&R = $134.83 = $129.88 + $4.95 (ship) + $0 (CA tax)
Buy.com = $137.39 = $127.51 + $0 (ship) + $9.88 (CA tax)
NewEgg = $139.64 = $129.00 + $0 (ship) + $10.64 (CA tax)
Circuit City = $162.36 = $149.99 + $0 (ship) + $12.37 (CA tax)
ZipZoomFly = N/A - don't seem to carry any Hauppauge

I only point out the math, in that even without CA tax, ALL of the other vendors are clocking in higher than CompUPlus, even after the $15 outrageous shipping tag.

To further prove I have no loyalty / affinity to CompUPlus, I've sat on this purchase waiting for Hauppauge's backlog to clear, so I have a shot at buying something like this from PCAlchemy. I'm betting PCA sells an OEM whitebox version, but don't think I'd care myself, as long as they pass on a decent savings.

Just wanted to say that it's better to compare the bottom line price (price+ship+tax) than just take umbrage with the shipping cost. Personally, I'm more outraged by Circuit City having the high price, 15% restocking fee, and horrific service.

PS. PCAlchemy, I'm very interested in knowing your PVR-250 (OEM vs. retail) price(s), bottom line with shipping to the Bay Area. Make Hauppauge let you sell them for $111 or so
That being said

[pcalchemy]

Originally posted by ToonGal
The best deals really are from the smaller vendors who provide a more personal service, like Essential Computers (and I assume PCAlchemy). They don't have the volume of their competitors, so they compete on price and service, looking for repeat business and referals. This is the group I usually buy my online purchases through.

To take the PVR-250 (retail) as an example, factoring in my case CA tax.

CompUPlus = $125.95 = $111.00 + $14.95 (ship) + $0 (CA tax)
J&R = $134.83 = $129.88 + $4.95 (ship) + $0 (CA tax)
Buy.com = $137.39 = $127.51 + $0 (ship) + $9.88 (CA tax)
NewEgg = $139.64 = $129.00 + $0 (ship) + $10.64 (CA tax)
Circuit City = $162.36 = $149.99 + $0 (ship) + $12.37 (CA tax)
ZipZoomFly = N/A - don't seem to carry any Hauppauge

I only point out the math, in that even without CA tax, ALL of the other vendors are clocking in higher than CompUPlus, even after the $15 outrageous shipping tag.

To further prove I have no loyalty / affinity to CompUPlus, I've sat on this purchase waiting for Hauppauge's backlog to clear, so I have a shot at buying something like this from PCAlchemy. I'm betting PCA sells an OEM whitebox version, but don't think I'd care myself, as long as they pass on a decent savings.

Just wanted to say that it's better to compare the bottom line price (price+ship+tax) than just take umbrage with the shipping cost. Personally, I'm more outraged by Circuit City having the high price, 15% restocking fee, and horrific service.

PS. PCAlchemy, I'm very interested in knowing your PVR-250 (OEM vs. retail) price(s), bottom line with shipping to the Bay Area. Make Hauppauge let you sell them for $111 or so
That being said [/B]

pcalchemy.com = $133.54 = $116.96 + $7.53(ship) + $9.06 (CA tax) (puts us #2)

One advantage for you being in CA is UPS Ground is 2 days to the bay area, pcalchemy.com ships same day, so you'd have the card in 2 days, even though compuplus.com says 2 day air, they also say 1-2 days to ship.

compuplus.com may not be selling for $111 much longer because Hauppauge has asked them to increase the price. We honored Hauppauge's request to raise our prices (we were $109), as we wish to keep a good relationship with them. pcalchemy.com buys as many or more Hauppauge products for resale as any other retailer and our good relationship with Hauppauge provides us certain benefits.

I'd also check out a retailer's reviews at: www.resellerratings.com before buying from them. I guarantee that you will not get better customer service than the service provided by pcalchemy.com, plus we know what we are doing in the HTPC arena.

BTW, we do sell the whitebox version. If you have seen the retail packaging for the PVR-250/350 cards you'd know what I mean when I say they were not meant to be shipped. Typically a retailer has to put the retail box in another box, which is fine, but the contents of the retail box usually fly all over the place during transit. We have had our packaging for all the Hauppauge cards custom made specifically for shipping, so in the on-line retail world our whitebox has certain advantages over the retail packaging.

[justme]

This wasn't what I meant to start when I posted some advice about where to buy, but... It's good to see some comparisions. Just for the record I've never personally bought from PCalchemy. But I've seen and talked to many users here who have. I honestly have yet to see a bad post about them. I also personaly like their website. It did let me know that they were in the HTPC business.

That being said, get it where ever you feel is best. I perosnally go on price and reputation. I also tend to watch prices for weeks or even monthes looking for one day sales, etc. My wife recently bought me a new Harmony remote from buy.com. If I'd have personally made the purchse I'd have probably gone to NewEgg.com. Even though she got a much better deal at Buy(~ $30 better). I had a very bad experience with Buy.com about miss-shipping(went to wrong address) and then even contacting them. In the end I refused charges and UPS paid out insurance to Buy. But here's the thing til this day that purchase still shows up as shipped and complete in my Buy.com account. No matter how much I've emailed them and I've never found a number to call. My point is that a buyers experience can make them very loyal or your worst enemy, especially in tight groups like this forum. For instance I'll defiintely check out ToonGal's suggestion of CompUPlus, next time I'm part shopping.

PCalchemy,
It's good to see you speaking up a little more. I know you've done a great job of not turning your membership into a sale's pitch, and that's appreciated. But it's nice to see you mention you store where the conversation is appropriate.

CA,
Wow! You CA people can really get the shaft on tax. I'm glad my state doesn't have any of these stores or warehouses located here. It's one advantage to living in WV(The part I'm in is within an hour of DC/Baltimore). I hope we(all of us) never have to worry about a country wide tax on internet purchases.

/justme

[edgley]

Sales tax in the UK is at 17.5%, and of course, twice the price of the goods in the first place!!