Any plans to support Diamond's new PVR card?

[zyphaz]

Just wondering if there's any plans to support Diamond's new offering to the arena, the XtremeTV cards.

[sudipto]

Is this card based on the new, much hyped, ATI TheaterPro 550 video processor chipset ?

[dynamix]

Hrm doesn't look too bad, but I would love to see other companies try to compete with the PVR-350. Offer some freaking S-Video output!

[SHS]

From look of it I say it ATI TheaterPro 550 video processor chipset but BeyondTV 3.5 dosen't make good use of diff rez I wonder this custom ver BeyondTV.

[thatdude90210]

I'm not sure that's a theater 550 chip card, the layout looks different. The tuner looks too big and I don't see the big memory chip that the theater 550 cards have.

[SHS]

I just fine out that the Diamond board is based on a Conexant Falcon II design, not the ATI Theater Pro 550.
So for Comparison that would WinTV-PVR-150MCE l.p., YUAN PVR - PG600

[SHS]

That good point thatdude90210 but 3rdparty manufacturers have been know not fellow the reference design

[sudipto]

Also, looking at the bottom of the Diamond product page for this card, I found something really interesting about where BeyondTV might be heading from a business strategy point of view --

http://www.diamondmm.com/pvr550.php

• Beyond TV 3.5 "Subscriber Edition"
• Beyond Media 1.0
• SnapStream.Net TV Guide, 60 Day Free Trial

What is this "Subscriber Edition" they are talking about ? It almost sounds like you pay for the EPG data with this model (after the first 60 days trial, of course).

[zyphaz]

Well I went out and picked up the 550 version of the card (PCI card less the Firefly) and as you assumed sudipto it is just a 60 day trial for Beyond TV's EPG. After that they want $4.95/mo or $70 for a lifetime membership.

[Wheemer]

The Diamond site describes: "no delays when you're changing the channel!" under the heading "The Difference You Can See! With An On-Board Hardware Encoder!"

Meanwhile the delay seen when changing channels is a direct result of the hardware encoder... without the hardware encoder channel changes are instant. What a bunch of idiots.

[waltc]

So, does anyone know if these Diamond Xtreme cards are supported by SageTV? I have a ATI 8500DV now and am shopping for a hardware encoder now.

Any recommendations on a cheap card (<$100)? Amazon and buy.com have no PVR-150 MCE in stock.

[Wheemer]

I'd stick with a PVR 150, try here: http://www.pcalchemy.com/index.php/c...c5aebf569c371e

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by waltc

Any recommendations on a cheap card (<$100)? Amazon and buy.com have no PVR-150 MCE in stock.

Those aren't the only places to get a 150.

Regarding the card of topic, if it uses the same drivers as the ATI 550s, then it may work via this:
http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=10537

[waltc]

Just ordered the Hauppauge 150 MCE from ebay. Might as well get a card that is trusted.