Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This is probably the best quality tv card you can buy for the money. Picture is clear and crisp with no dropped frames, and is much better than previous ATI and Hauppauge tuner cards that I have used.
The included Hauppauge software is crap, and their software has always been crap since when I first used it 7 years ago (Its the SAME application!). Its buggy and slow and has a very non-intuitive interface. Be sure to grab Snapstream BeyondTV, SageTV, MythTV or basically ANYTHING else and you will be pleasantly surprised by the difference.
Performance-wise this card is much better than the cheaper TV cards that do not include a MPEG encoder. Using an ATI TV Wonder I would routinely get 30-50% CPU usage when recording programs at fair quality on my 1.3Ghz CPU. The PVR 250 uses less than 5% CPU while recording at much higher quality.
Don't be fooled into buying the more expensive PVR-350. The only difference is the included MPEG decoder/tv-out on the 350. Its sounds like a good idea but unfortunately the decoder really only works with Hauppauge's software (and maybe SageTV) leaving you locked into using their crappy software. Besides the decoding process only uses 30-40% CPU for me and since the encoding uses basically no CPU it does not cause dropped frames while doing PVR decoding/encoding timeshifting activites.
The included remote (gray version) is "adequate" and contains most of the needed buttons. A plus is that is also works with the other PVR applications I have tried: BeyondTV and SageTV include native support for it. Unfortunately the range is really short and I can't get it to work more than about 7 ft away from the receiver, but it is better than nothing.
Bottom line: If you're building a serious Home Theater PC you should consider this card. Even though it costs more than double the cheapest tv card you could find, the quality and performance more than make up for the cost.
On the other hand if you're just planning on watching TV on your computer or digitizing some old VHS tapes you have lying around, this card is probably overkill as you won't benefit as much from the hardware MPEG encoder and there are cards out there that have better software packages and remotes for less money.
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Item #: 654316. The WinTV-PVR brings live TV to your PC screen. With WinTV-PVR's 125-channel cable-ready TV receiver, you can watch TV in a resizable window or full screen. WinTV-PVR puts TV watching under your control! Watch what you want, when you want! With WinTV-PVR you can pause TV when you want, create your own instant replay and even burn your TV shows onto CD-ROM or DVD! Product Description: Hauppauge WinTV PVR-250 - TV tuner / video input adapter - PCIDevice Type: TV tuner / video input adapter - plug-in cardInterface Type: PCIVideo Input: TV tuner - S-video input, composite video input - plug-in cardAnalog Video Format: PAL-B/GAnalog Video Signal: S-Video, HF TV signalVideo Compression Format: YUV 4:2:2Digital Video Format: MPEG-1, MPEG-2, AVIDigital Video Capture Speed: 25 frames per secondDigital Video Capture Resolution: 704 x 576Data Transfer Rate: 12 MBpsAudio Input Support: StandardOS Required: Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 98/ME/2000 Customers also search for: Discount Hauppauge WinTV PVR-250 - TV Tuner / Video input Adapter - PCI, Buy Hauppauge WinTV PVR-250 - TV Tuner / Video input Adapter - PCI, Wholesale Hauppauge WinTV PVR-250 - TV Tuner / Video input Adapter - PCI, 0785428009803, 980, Video Input Adaptors
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