PVR-250 + MyHD HDTV card?

[bdavis_colorado]

Is anyone using the PVR-250 AND the MyHD HDTV card? I think that Sage doesn't support the HDTV card, but I also want HDTV recording capability. My concern is compatibility, and the issue of having yet another video out on my HTPC. I plan on using the 9800 Pro for video output. Ideally, there would be a HDTV card that sage could control, but I don't know when that will happen.

Also - people with the PVR-350 use two separate connections to the TV for video? (ie: PVR-350 AND the video card).

Thanks!

[cbryan27]

I'm using both and haven't ever seen problems.

System: P4 1.7, 512mB, ATI 7500 AIW, MyHD (MDP100), PVR250

The ATI 7500 is connected to my HDTV via S-video, the MyHD via it's own component connection (not pass-through). I intend to change this in the near future, outputting the 7500 and the MyHD via component. That will free up one of the precious two component inputs on the TV (for the HDD-200 and/or DVD player!).

They can both record without any noticeable effect on the other. Just be sure to have lots of storage; recording with the MyHD chews up lots of space - add SageTV and you'll be buying hard drives and ATA adapters and DVD-RW's and....

[bdavis_colorado]

Thanks! I really want a HDTV card since I don't have cable and over the air HDTV quality is mind blowing! What do you use for software for your MDP-100 HDTV card then? I was thinking that is what would determine if it is compatible or not. I was thinking that I could maybe run DVI out from my video card and into the MyHD MDP-120 daughter card, then DVI out from the MyHD daughter card into my television. Is that what you are planning to do? Do you see any limitations with this? I would like to use a XCard, but it would be another input into my TV and I'm trying to keep it simple.

Thanks!

[cbryan27]

No problem

As far as I know, the only software that works the MyHD cards is the app that they provide. I believe I'm running 1.59, but there is at least one more revision since then (with DVD capability).

If you haven't purchased a HD card yet, you should look around these forums a bit. I think I read that there was some movement towards supporting a different make of card (AccessDTV, I think) and maybe even some that were able to integrate it in to Sage!

As for your DVI setup...it sounds good, but I have no experience with it. The MDP100 can't even support the DVI daughter card, so I won't be going that route. I'll most likely try a transcoder to change my VGA output to component.

XCard - I don't think this will help you much. In the setup you describe, you'll be using the MyHD in passthrough mode. AFAIK, you can't passthrough the X-card, just your primary display card. Maybe I'm wrong though. Hopefully others will chime in.

Edited for clarity:

The software that comes w/ MyHD is completely standalone: player, recorder, scheduler (w/ TitanTV), etc. It can -not- pause live TV or view something while recording. For me, not using passthrough, I choose a different input on my AV receiver and TV; although it's in the same PC, I'm treating it like a different component. The only drawback is minimizing Sage to schedule events for MyHD.

[bdavis_colorado]

Thanks for the feedback - I'll look some more into the AccessDTV card. Last I looked, they charged a monthy fee, but if SageTV supports it in the future, that would be great, and I'm hoping there wouldn't be a monthly fee.

I decided against the XCard, since I can do the DivX and MPeg-2 decoding in software, even if it isn't as good when lots of stuff is moving fast on the screen.

My plan for MyHD card was to still use a PVR-250 so that I could watch another show while the MyHD card was recording, or record a show with the PVR-250 while watching a show thru the MyHD card. It would be nice to have real PVR features on the MDP-120 though, so I'll do some more looking on the AccessDTV card. The other thing that was appealing was the ability to do DVI out the video card into the MDP-120, and DVI from the MDP-120 into the TV with only one TV input.

Thanks Again!!!