Low Profile Capture Card

[J_L_D]

Planning a do-over on my current HTPC, with emphasis on noise reduction, using a Pentium-M CPU. I like the "slim" cases with low-profile PCI slots, but haven't found a capture card. I've seen the PVR-150MCE-LP, but I'm not running MCE and would need (some way or another) a remote and a way to change the Satellite Box channels.
Does anyone have a suggestion?

If not, how about a suggestion on smallish, quiet case with full size PCI slots? I guess I'd stay with my full size PVR-150 in that case.

Thanks for any comments.

[dbfresh23]

You can use the 150MCE with WinXP. You can also buy a Powercolor ATI Theater Pro 550 from PCAlchemy and get the Low Profile bracket for it. Either method would require something like the USB UIRT to change channels on a STB. If the Sat boxes are DirecTV you can also look into serial control of them.

[yaromir]

As an alternative, you can use the USB-based Hauppauge WinTV250 PVR card. I just bought one at CompUSA for $99 after rebates.

[J_L_D]

Thanks, guys.
Both solutions look interesting. The Theater 550 Pro would need the USB UIRT, ($50?) and I have no idea how hard it would be to get it set up and working with Sage (yes, it's DirecTV, but I don't have Serial port option). I'm using the PVR150 with the included IR Blaster and remote, and all has been well for over a year (except for the hiccups when upgrading to Sage v4).

The PVR250 USB looks nice, but I'd just as well have everything in the box (is bandwidth over USB2 vs. PCI a concern?). And the product description goes on about Windows MCE; I know it comes with a remote, but I don't go for XP or XP-MCE - I like Win2K Pro, and I can't tell which of these will work with my OS.

I've read a review where the reviewer preferred both the ATI (somethng Elite) and an EVGA NVTV (something) card to the 150MCE, but maybe he didn't have it tweaked, because the picture with my PVR-150 (not MCE) is outstanding in most cases (IMHO).

I do appreciate your suggestions, and that certainly gives me some options I was not aware of.

[dbfresh23]

Actually everything i've read points to the NVTV cards having very poor quality when compared to the ATI and Hauppauge cards. The ATI 550 cards (same thing as Elite) have gotten slightly better reviews then the Hauppauge cards, but most people here seem to use the Hauppauge cards.

If you do have an available serial port, it may actually be cheaper to get a new DTV D10 receiver w/ serial port off ebay (about $15-20 shipped) and use serial control of it rather then buy a USB UIRT ($50 + S/H). The parts to make the custom serial cable would add a few bucks, but you'd wind up saving around $30. Both LP cards should work with Win2k, not sure about the USB but I agree with your thinking of keeping everything inside the box.

[J_L_D]

Thanks, DB. Present situation is that my DirecTV box also serves up some HDTV programming. For best results, I watch this directly on my 27" LCD via either DVI or Component input (both work very well). If I revert to a different (I own a vintage Sony) STB with serial connection, I'll be giving up my HDTV (which I could consider, but prefer not to do at this time). That leaves me with the same cumbersome (but effective) IR solution I've been using. But I don't know what the learning curve would be with a different card.

I like your ATI solution and have read good things. Just gotta work out the details about the case, card size, STB, etc....

Thanks again. Should I go with a larger case and full size PCI card? I'm not dissapointed withe the PVR-150 PQ, but I like to try new things and after all I'm basically startring all over here - new MB, etc...
Could I post an image and ask if my PQ is average, sub par, etc...?