tuner card or just video input?

[pitir]

I'm building my first PVR, and Sage looks like the best option for me. I use 2 DishNetwork satellite tuners, and I intend to use the USB-UIRT to control them. Do I really need 2 tuner cards, like the PVR-150 in this setup? Or can I just use 2 Hauppage Impact VCB cards?

I'm not sure why I'd need any tuner cards at all, since I'm just controlling the satellite tuners with the USB-UIRT.

Any insights aould be greatly appreciated.

[GKusnick]

You may not need any tuners, but you do need hardware MPEG encoders that are compatible with Sage. I have no idea whether the ImpactVCB is in that category, but personally I wouldn't buy anything that's not mentioned on the hardware compatibility list. Plus you can get a dual-tuner card for not much more than the cost of two ImpactVCBs.

[stanger89]

I'm not aware of any hardware encoder cards without tuners (well save the Plextor ConverX, but that's about as much as a PVR 500 anyway).

[pitir]

Thanks for the good info. I just assumed that card had a hardware encoder on it, but it didn't! Glad I looked - thanks again.

I'm checking the list to see if any of the cards listed have just an MPEG encoder, without a tuner. Since I'm getting 2, I'd like to save money if I can

[stanger89]

I think tuners are essentially free at this point.

[pitir]

Upon looking around newegg and mwave, I can see you are right I guess 2 of the hauppage 150 are the best bet for me, since I want 2 S-Video inputs. Thanks!

[ke6guj]

or you can get a dual-tuner card, such as the Hauppauge PVR-500 or nVidia DualTV cards. They both have dual S-video inputs. the DualTV has both on the actual card, and the 500 has one one the board, and the second one is on a secondary header cable.

edit: DOH, fixed typo, S-video, not 2-video

[pitir]

Since I'm using 2 satellite recievers, the decoding takes place in the satellite boxes. So, the best signal I can get to the PVR will be S-Video, which requires 2 tuner cards.

Coax is fine if you are using the tuner card to do the decoding, but I'm only using the MPEG encoders in this instance, so input quality is high priority.

Great forum, thanks again.

[Alfiegerner]

Originally Posted by ke6guj

or you can get a dual-tuner card, such as the Hauppauge PVR-500 or nVidia DualTV cards. They both have dual 2-video inputs. the DualTV has both on the actual card, and the 500 has one one the board, and the second one is on a secondary header cable.

Good info on the pvr 500 having 2 potential s-video inputs, I never realised that. Does the secondary header cable to allow this come as standard with the unit?

[doc]

Originally Posted by Alfiegerner

Does the secondary header cable to allow this come as standard with the unit?

I've only ever bought one of these for someone, an OEM version in a plain box, and it did come with the secondary header cable.

If for some reason it doesn't, you can get them from Sage for $13.95, but I'm pretty sure it will come with it.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by pitir

Since I'm using 2 satellite recievers, the decoding takes place in the satellite boxes. So, the best signal I can get to the PVR will be S-Video, which requires 2 tuner cards.

No the PVR 500 (and I assume DualTV) can take two S-Video inputs as well.

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by doc

I've only ever bought one of these for someone, an OEM version in a plain box, and it did come with the secondary header cable.

If for some reason it doesn't, you can get them from Sage for $13.95, but I'm pretty sure it will come with it.

All the PVR-500s come in an OEM white-box, since they are supposed to be sold as an "OEM" item. My original PVR-500's that I bought 2 years ago didn't come with the header cable, but the last four I got, in the last month did. I heard that just after I got my original 500's, they started including them in the package.