Capture cards

[mediahome]

I am impressed with what I see so far in SageTV and it is now time to take the plunge. But which capture card?

I have been looking for some discussion on the pros and cons on the various capture cards. I have not even seen much discussion on the "supported" Provideo's versus Hauppauge cards. How does PQ compare? Driver support? System compatibility?

There was also some mention here about the ProVideo PV256T Pro and the Navis Pro. Is SageTV working with them now? How does the PV256T Pro compare to the PV256T? Is the Navis Pro significantly better to warrant the higher price of it?

What about some of the other SM-2210 cards? PixelView Video Maker, V-Gear Security TV, Mr.DVD, etc? It appears that some of these are simply OEM'ed versions of the ProVideo cards but that is hard to sort out.

Are there other CX-23415 cards? I assume so. Any other good ones?

Are there any low profile PCI cards that will work with SageTV?

What is the *best* capture card for use with SageTV?

What is the best *low cost* card for use with SageTV?

And the $1M question - Where can you buy these capture cards (other than the Hauppauge cards) in the US?

Help would be appreciated.

Matt

[Narflex]

I try not to play favorites between hardware companies because we like them all. :)

But here's some information for you.

The PV256TPro isn't available yet (it was for a short period, but pulled because of driver issues). So if you want one now, that's not an option.

The Navis Pro hasn't been successfully used with Sage yet, but we're working on it. You don't need to go to that price range however.

The CX23415 cards have a significant advantage over the SM2210 cards (and the Creative Digital VCR card) because the CX23415 also does audio encoding & multiplexing. This means almost 0% CPU usage while recording. The SM2210 and Creative cards needs about 100MHz of CPU to do encoding.

The Creative cards are not officially supported yet, but are functional in the current beta release. They have undergone limited testing, so they don't yet have the official thumbs up for us to recommend to go out and buy one for use with Sage.

Don't know of any low profile cards.

The SM2210 cards aren't widely avaialble in the US. If you want one, I recommend purchasing from the manufacturer directly.

I know I didn't answer everything you asked, but hopefully that should give you some unbiased information. I'm sure others will have more to add. And if you're unclear about anything, ask again and I'm sure you'll get an explanation.

[mediahome]

Thanks, that helps. Now I wonder if anyone out there has had experience with both the Hauppauge cards and the PV-256T Pro. If so comments would be appreciated.

Matt

[SHS]

There lot of other clone CX23415/16 aka iTVC15/16 out there and there are lot of clone SM2210 cards out there.
How ever mediahome your best beat is hauppauge cards it much eazy to get in USA those other have be order direct lee from the manufacturer which are all oversea.

[somanyquestions]

What about MSI's TV anywhere card? Does Sage support that?

[Narflex]

Currently we do not support the MSI TV anywhere card.

[ruel]

Originally posted by somanyquestions
What about MSI's TV anywhere card? Does Sage support that?
AFAIK :confused: the MSI TV Anywhere card has a hardware decoder but doesn't have a hardware encoder.

[7up]

What is the least expensive card which is compatible with SageTV?

[dkardatzke]

The Creative Digital VCR card would be the cheapest. I know it retails for $100 but people have told me there is usually a heavy rebate through some computer outlets.

However, we only support this card with the current beta versions, not with version 1.1. So if you try it, make use you are using the latest beta version 1.2.5.