any reason to pick 250 over 150?

[Scott5]

Hi guys...

I'm playing around with piecing together a PC for a dedicated PVR. I've followed the various discussions on the new PVR 150 and decided that the card would be perfect for me because #1 - it seems to be just as good as the higher end 250 card and #2, I could stand saving the money! - I don't actually need to be buying anything for a couple more weeks, btw. I'm currently planning to wait for a frey bundle deal.

Now, however, I've seen the rebate offer that has brought the PVR 250 down to something like $89. Would you grab that card now, or it it ok for me to wait until I actually need the card and buy the PVR 150 (with the newer/better? remote control) when I need it?

Thank you,
Scott

ps: As an aside for the extra helpful folks here!: I'm also struggling trying the buy a motherboard. I need an ATX-478 to fit an existing Celeron 2.0 and am confused as the which chip sets are better/newer than others. I'm trying to go for a tigerdirect $29 - $34 type MOBO and they all say - "newest chip set" - which was probably true when the ads were first written! Is there a non-biased guide somewhere? ~ thanks

[spanky]

The only thing I can think of is one is a known commodity while the other is brand new so you don't know what issues may arise with it because, let's face it, a lot of hardware hits the street before it should. Just look at the Roslyn card as an example.

[kny3twalker]

the pvr 150 comes with a IR blaster

and is 99.99 retail
oem's come with no Blaster or remote

and the pvr 250 is 80.00 after rebates

also it appears the pvr 150 uses the same drivers as the pvr 250/350 with just different driver updates (pvr.exe, you will see when you buy one)



tiger direct is really bad so I would expect to see them and you should probably look for either a Intel chipset or nforce chipset
unless you enjoy fighting with pvr cards
especially with multiple ones (pvr cards)

[Deadbolt]

Also, no CC with PVR-150....CC is very useful if you want to do commercial detection

[natesneat2000]

Does the commercial detection STV look at them? I would disagree, as some commercials are CC'ed.

[Deadbolt]

The commercial detection system COMSKIP looks for telltale signs of a comercial CC..not for a drop off in CC at a comercial. If you look at the output CC from the MPEG stream it is very easy to see breaks marked by "****" and/or other characters

[7up]

Is the lack of CC on a PVR 150 a hardware or driver limitation? I'm confused as I thought with a 150/250 recordings were played back in software, unlike the 350, so does that mean the 150 just doesn't record the CC data? I was thinking of getting a PVR 150 but it sounds like it won't be able to do commercial skip

according to the Hauppauge website faq:

"Can I view Closed Captioning with the WinTV-PVR-250/350?

Not currently, however, this feature is planned for a future update."

[phenixdragon]

Technically the 250 is better then the 150, but from what everyone is saying you will not notice a diffrence. I myself dumped my 250's for the 150 since I sold the cards for about $100 a pop and I am picking up the 150 for about $65.

[mikejaner]

How is it technically better? I am under the assumption the 150 may actually have a slightly crisper image, due to combining the two chips on the 250 into one. This may be very hard to tell, but at least it tells you the cards are the same quality wise.

Mike

[Deadbolt]

Originally Posted by 7up

Is the lack of CC on a PVR 150 a hardware or driver limitation? I'm confused as I thought with a 150/250 recordings were played back in software, unlike the 350, so does that mean the 150 just doesn't record the CC data? I was thinking of getting a PVR 150 but it sounds like it won't be able to do commercial skip

according to the Hauppauge website faq:

"Can I view Closed Captioning with the WinTV-PVR-250/350?

Not currently, however, this feature is planned for a future update."

There is a registry hack you can make (see the comskip thread) that will allow a pvr-250/350 to record the CC stream into the MPEG (has to be DVD format). You can view the CC with some of the STVs also if you want, but I use it for added commercial skip ability. The CC comskip stuff is new...and I've been using comskip very effectively for awhile without it. CC is not required for comercial detection, it just helps. The PVR-USB2 and PVR-150 (not sure about the PVR-500) does not record the CC stream. I guess it is a driver issue...not sure.

[phenixdragon]

2 chips are better then one. Just saying it technically is better, but also then again I think the 150 is 10 bit and the 250 is only 8.

[Deadbolt]

Why is two chips better in this case? Just wondering because there are times where advancements allow for one chip to be better overall...such as the old i386 + coprocesser < i486

[mikejaner]

I don't see how two chips is better than one.

[SHS]

Usely two chips have much bigger die size and usely run hotter then one chip with a smaller die size.
More stuff can be add to chip when smaller die size
less stuff on PCI board it self
If you haven't look at ATI 550 Pro board you see that take it one self more and the only thing that not build in is the RF Tuner.

Closed Captioning is on the 150 but I think on MCE can used it now so back 1year ago with 250/350 it was feature is planned for a future update.
The PVR 150 drivers are not same as the PVR 250/350 drivers how time do I have say this.

[phenixdragon]

Well, last time I check anytime you have one chip for one process and another for another process it will run better. Just like there is a reasonw hy there are multi proc systems and soon dual core procs.

[PGPfan]

phenixdragon,

Two chips aren't 'always' a better way to go. Multi-proc, and dual-proc exist because there were deficiencies in the way a single proc has to process ALL the data required of it. With a 'purpose built' chip like the mpeg encoder, one chip is designed from the get go to be able to do all computations necessary.

If it were as simple a comparison as to multi/dual proc, you'd see that they always need the software to be re-compiled to take advantage of the additional hardware. This isn't happening with the 150.

All the single chip did was make marginally better picture quality (due to 10bit versus 8bit), and make it cheaper to produce.

-PGPfan

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by phenixdragon

Well, last time I check anytime you have one chip for one process and another for another process it will run better. Just like there is a reasonw hy there are multi proc systems and soon dual core procs.

I think you just contradicted yourself... a dual core processor would be a single chip solution instead of a dual chip solution for a multi-cpu system.

- Andy

[phenixdragon]

Actually I didn't

And I only am saying technically, never said it is actually better. From everything I see it is them same and possible the 150 can do better being 10 bits instead of 8.

[mikejaner]

So...... it's technically better than the 250.....

[phenixdragon]

All depends, but technically no.