I'm looking for a cature card with hardware encoding for around $100.
I've narrowed it down to two cards:
1) Hauppauge WinTV PVR-150 Personal Video Recorder
http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_pvr150.html
2) Sapphire Theatrix Theater 550 Pro PCI TV Tuner
http://www.ati.com/products/theater550/index.html
Does anyone have any insight as to which one is better? The Hauppauge
is a tried an true unit while the ATI Theatrix is newer technology.
Yeah that was covered ad nauseum here and at various sites. The
Hauppauge is very popular and excellent. The main things it had going
for it was compatibility wth various software and supoort and lower
price.
The ATI I was looking forward to it after the ATI hype excited various
sites into thinking it might be a big breakthrough. When it came out
it was really disappointing. Not that it was bad but several sites had
people rushing out to buy who had not just one but two Hauppauge cards
some older and and the 150 or 500. They captured examples off both and
posted them for comparrison and there wasnt much difference. Some
claimed the ATI was worse - softer.
However ATI prices really fell with the sapphire version selling for
$75 here with remote etc And some people say they like it. One
problem claimed on the Hauppauge 150 is that there was a ghosting
problem with fast sports action which was cured on the ATI. Ive never
noticed this . I looked into both and ended up buying the 150. Also
some posts claim they fixed this with new drivers a while ago. I have
no definitive proof about this but I dont see tons of whining
complaints about the 150 so I assume its not a problem. Ive also
captured Power Rangers which has tons of super fast action and I dont
notice any really bad problems. Aandtechs review which was posted at
one site says the text is a bit cleaner at the edges with the ATI not
really a bid deal. ATI boasts a lot of video processing features that
clean up the pic but theres no big obvious difference if you just look
at the outpiut vs the 150. Additionally many are weary of ATIs rep for
buggy software and drivers on their TV cards and compatiblity problems
with software. Havent really kept up with that side recently.
The Hauppauge retail may actually be higher than the sapphire package
selling at Newegg etc Havent checked recent prices. Hauppauge 150
comes in various packages - retail is usually 100 bucks or so but has
been on sale with rebate down to 60-80 with remote and software.
Sapphire comes with remote and software for 75-99 at various places.
The Hauppauge though comes in whitebox versions OEM no software only
or remote only card and drivers for as low as $55-65 at various places
including Amazon.
I bought the 150 as I said and I like it. Got the whitebox Amazon
version which comes in two version MCE and non MCE - one I think comes
with the remote but Im not sure (non MCE) while the MCE no remote but
has radio too. Also they had a half height card for HTPC in the past.
You can use GB PVR google it - free decent software to use with the
150 which works well. Or you can pay 40-50 for Beyond TV snaptream
which many like.
