Which WinTV Card To Get?

[joe123]

Ok, I read the manuals and several posts, but am confused about the following.

I currenly have a WinTV PVR 150 pci card on which I connect my cable feed to record channels 1-99 and it works just fine.

Now, I would like to add my Time Warner digital cable box to my SageTV setup to record channels over 99 which I get through my Time Warner box.

What WinTV Card do I need to record in SD format? My understanding is that I need an encoder but not a tuner since my Time Warner Cable box will be doing the tunning via ir signals, correct?

I am assuming that I will need to connect my Time Warner digital cable box to this new device via S-Video & red/white cables for audio.

So do I simply need an encoder with ir ability and no tuner?

[mayamaniac]

Any of the hauppauge PVR cards will do. The PVR-500 is a good deal since it has two tuners in one card. You can connect from the STB to the card via coaxial or composite/RCA cables. You need some sort of way to allow SageTV PC to control the Time Warner STB for channel changing. You can use IR blasters such as the Actisys IR200L or the USB-UIRT. Maybe someone else with a Time Warner STB can tell which is best way to do it.

[ke6guj]

If your existing PVR-150 is the retail version with the remote, then you could use its IR-blaster to control the STB. You could then add in the STB as a second input on the PVR-150 using hte s-video cables. You would only be able to record from 1 input at a time.

Otherwise, if your PVR-150 was the MCE edition without the remote and ir-blaster, then adding in a separate IR-blaster like mayamaniac mentioned above would be great. Then you could either add the STB as a second input to your existing tuner, or else add in a second card. The PVR-500, as mentioned above, is a good card with the multiple tuners.

[joe123]

Thank you.

It sounds as if the tuner will never be used on the WinTV PVR 150 or 500. It will only use the encoder on the WinTV cards since my TW Digial Box will be the one doing the tunning.

This is where I got lost in the tuner / encoder part.

So, to map the process, we get:

1) The image comes in digital format to my TW box
2) Digital image is then decoded to analong
3) Analong image is sent to my WinTV card
4) WinTV card then re-encodes analong to digital format (MPEG2).

Is there a way to bypass some of this Or not since the ditital images coming into my TW box are scrambled and you need the TW box to do the de-scrambling? Are all digital format channels scrambled?

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by joe123

So, to map the process, we get:

1) The image comes in digital format to my TW box
2) Digital image is then decoded to analong
3) Analong image is sent to my WinTV card
4) WinTV card then re-encodes analong to digital format (MPEG2).

Is there a way to bypass some of this Or not since the ditital images coming into my TW box are scrambled and you need the TW box to do the de-scrambling? Are all digital format channels scrambled?

STB Firewire (IEEE-1394) Support is the link you want to look at. It entails hooking up your STB directly to your computer using Firewire, no separate encoder card neccessary. Read all the thread, there is plenty of info to absorb. You can even control the STB through the Firewire, so no IR-blaster needed.

[joe123]

Originally Posted by ke6guj

STB Firewire (IEEE-1394) Support is the link you want to look at. It entails hooking up your STB directly to your computer using Firewire, no separate encoder card neccessary. Read all the thread, there is plenty of info to absorb. You can even control the STB through the Firewire, so no IR-blaster needed.

Great thank you.

So the benifit of the FireWire route is that you get clean digital images exactly as they are being sent? Kind of a file to file transfer from your Cable Company to your PC? Do I have this correct?

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by joe123

Great thank you.

So the benifit of the FireWire route is that you get clean digital images exactly as they are being sent? Kind of a file to file transfer from your Cable Company to your PC? Do I have this correct?

Pretty much so.

Also, be aware that the Cable Co. can still encrypt some stuff out of the firewire port and you will not be able to record it on the PC. The term to look for in the above thread is 5C. Stuff like HBO and Showtime are usually encrypted, but I read that sometimes certain shows on an otherwise unencrypted channel may be encrypted, such as American Chopper on Discovery Channel.

Read the thread to see if you want to mess with it. If not, then just analog recording from the STB is the best we get, until we get Cable Card PC-tuners.

[joe123]

With regards to HDTV PCI Tuner cards that Sage supports, do these HDTV tuner cards get HDTV "free" analog channels only, or both HD and SD free analog channels?

I take it that all these tuner cards only take in Analog signals and no Digital singals?

[ke6guj]

all HD is digital, but not all digital is HD.

HDTV tuner cards come in multiple flavors:

Some only have 1 tuner, which can only receive Over-the-Air digital signals. some can even receive unencrpyted digital cable. That is QAM. Unfortunately, at this time, Sage does not support QAM-capable tuners.

Other HDTV cards have multiple tuners, one for analog and one for digital. That would allow you to receive standard OTA and digital OTA. I don't know if they can record on both tuners at the same time.

[joe123]

What is the difference between the "WinTV-PVR 150 MCE" card and the "WinTV-PVR 150" (no MCE)?

I think that I have the MCE PCI card version which (correct me if I am wrong) is only for Windows Media Center), but I am using it successfuly on a Windows XP box.

I want to buy another WinTV 150 tunner and I am confused if it has to be MCE or non MCE?

[ke6guj]

the PVR-150 (retail edtion) comes with a remote and an IR receiver/blaster. It also comes with hauppauge's pvr software, WinTV.

Teh PVR-150-MCE does not come with a remote or IR receiver/blaster but normally comes with a Radio input that Sage does not support. It also does not come with the WinTV software since it designed for OEM usage in MCE. I think all the MCE cards come white box while all standard 150s comes retail packaged.

All the MCE cards work just fine in standard XP, it is just that they are "designed" for MCE.


How are you controlling your system now, remote through the 150? If so, I read that sometimes mixing an MCE with an non-MCE can cause issues with teh IR receiver not working. Sometimes the MCE card will try to grab control of the IR, even though it doesn't have a port for it. Similarily, if you had 2 retail cards, you may have to try the IR port in both cards to see which one the IR software was going to use.

If you don't use the retail 150 remote, then it doesnt' matter one bit. But if you do, then try getting a PVR-500-MCE, it'll give you 2 extra tuners and should not affect the IR on the 150. I run a retail 150 with 2 PVR-500-MCE cards with no issues.

[joe123]

Originally Posted by ke6guj

How are you controlling your system now, remote through the 150? If so, I read that sometimes mixing an MCE with an non-MCE can cause issues with teh IR receiver not working. Sometimes the MCE card will try to grab control of the IR, even though it doesn't have a port for it. Similarily, if you had 2 retail cards, you may have to try the IR port in both cards to see which one the IR software was going to use.

Cool thanks. I control my viewing through the MVP on my TV - I don't watch TV on my PC. But I will get same type of WinTV cards to avoid the problems you stated.

Sorry, one more question. What does the "PVR" mean in the WinTV model?

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by joe123

Sorry, one more question. What does the "PVR" mean in the WinTV model?

PVR= personal video recorder

The issue about a IR blaster/receiver is that you may want to later on hook up a STB to your system. IF you aren't using firewire to control it, then you will need a blaster of some sort. IF you already had a blaster with a retail tuner card, then a issue with which card controlled the blaster could be problem. Otherwise using a USB-UIRT would eliminate any need to concern yourself with cards battling for the blaster.

If you have no need for IR on your server, then either get an PVR-150-MCE, or a PVR-500-MCE. It doesn't matter if cards are fighting for the blaster/receiver if you are never gonna use it. I saw at pcalchemy.com that they had a stripped down 150-MCE for $50 without a radio tuner. But I'd spend a little more and get a 500, Sage'll eat up all the tuners you can thow at it. It'll make conflicts a lot rarer.