Sage Server Rebuild - What PVR Card

[ron.smythe]

Well my shining new Dell PowerEdge 1600SC server arrived on Tuesday and I've finally decided what I am going to do with it in terms of use. The only trouble is I now need to get the other bits ordered. So to my question, I already have 2 PVR350 that do not work in the same system, I'm after a single server that can use two different sky box's, would I be best buying the PVR250 or PVR150 for this new server?

Cheers

Ron.

[eldingo]

Don't get the 150 yet as SAGETV appears to have problems using them in PAL areas. NTSC is fine though.

I've got a 350 and a 250 in my machine and it works fine at the moment.

[SidKnee]

PC world were doing a good deal on the Adaptec Videoh PCI card that Sage supports (around 45 pounds). I managed to get one in store, but they are also advertised online for the same price plus 5 pounds for delivery.

I bought one and it works fine with Sage recorder as a remote tuner off my Sky box, but I haven't tried it in my Sage server yet (waiting for my Sky multiroom to be installed on Sunday). The servers got a PVR350 installed so I'm hoping that the Adaptec won't cause any problems when I move it into the same box. If you can wait that long I'll let you know how I get on next week <fingers crossed>.

Hopefully Sage will get the problems with the PVR 150 sorted soon and then I'll attempt to get all 3 running in the same box

Cheers,
SidKnee

[ron.smythe]

Thanks for the replies, I did notice there where a few problems with the PVR150, I may wait to find out when the fix is, or I may even jump to the DIVX encoder, any one had any experience?

[zz5]

The Divx one has bad quality. If you want quality, don't get it.

[perf]

zz5,

have you tried it?

/Per

[zz5]

No, I haven't tried it, but everyone here says the picture quality isn't nearly as good as the Hauppauge cards. Make sure you look at some screen shots before buying. At one time, I was planning to get one, but decided against it when I saw how bad the color was.

[perf]

I am planning to buy a Plextor card, and I have been following the posts here about it. I can not say that I have found everyone saying that the picture is bad. The review at HTPCnews said that the colour was a bit off compared to the PVR-250 at the default settings, but that that was resolved by changing the colour setting. It would be interesting to hear from any PAL user who has Hauppauge as well as Plextor cards about the difference in PQ.

/Per

[zz5]

There are lots of posts here on the forums that discuss the differences between the Hauppauge cards and the Plextor. Everyone says the picture quality in MPEG-4/Divx is not good compared to the Hauppauge cards even in the best mode. Do a search for my name. I posted a review that has a lot of good screenshots. The color problem is with MPEG-4/Divx, not with the MPEG-2. I assume that most people who buy this want to do MPEG-4/Divx.

[perf]

But that is not really apples to apples, is it....?

If the Plextor does MPEG-2 no worse than Hauppauge does, and you have the option of using MPEG-4 as well, with some advantages and some drawbacks, certainly buying the Plextor can not be worse than buying a Hauppauge. (Of course, the Plextor is more expensive, which could tip the scale.)

Regarding the question of MPEG-2 or MPEG-4, I have not seen any comparison of the PQ of same-size files. If you have posted that, I need to search better.

/Per

[perf]

By the way, how can you have made a review if you have not tried the card?

/Per

[zz5]

I didn't write the review. I just posted a link to it in a post here on the forums. I looked up my post and found the review:

http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Revi...10154&PageId=5

This review has lots and lots of great screenshots.

I'm not really sure if the color problem is limited to MPEG-4/Divx. The color problem may happen with MPEG-2 also. Maybe there are other problems with MPEG-4/Divx in addition to the color. It's been a while since I've researched the Plextor.

Here a thread in which people discuss the quality of the Plextor:

http://forums.freytechnologies.com/f...1&page=2&pp=20

[perf]

Thanks for the links. I have been weighing the pros and cons of the Plextor for months now - but it seems I have more work to do. (It was only released in Europe in the last few weeks.)

/Per

[perf]

Having read the links, I can not see any support for your dismissal of the picture quality of the Plextor compared to the Hauppauge units. I am going ahead with my purchase!

/Per

[zz5]

Well, the links I posted weren't about the Hauppauge cards. I only posted a link to one thread as I was searching for the review. I wasn't trying to give an exhaustive list of threads. There are hundreds of threads about the Plextor. In the thread I posted, someone says that the Divx recordings didn't look very good even at the highest setting. The other link is just a review of the Plextor with screenshots of just the Plextor so that of course wouldn't have anything the Hauppauge right there in the review... You have to then compare those screenshots to the Hauppauge cards...The screenshots of the Plextor are very washed out. Some of them almost look black and white it's so bad. The only PVR software that uses the Plextor is Sage. BTV, Windows MCE, etc. all use the Hauppauge cards. It's not a accident that MCE has always only used Hauppauge. PVR cards have traditionally not been very good. The 250 was really the first card that looked really good, as good as TIVO. The first generation of Hauppauge cards were bad also.