(Maybe OT): WinTV-USB quality?

[Grasshopper]

Sorry if this is off topic, as it's not directly Sage related. But you folks seem quite knowledgeable about the products available in the PC-TV market. Has anybody tried Hauppage's WinTV-USB unit? (Not the PVR, the cheap one). My brother wants a TV in his (small) bedroom, and already has an old PC with a 17 inch monitor in there. If he can add a TV via this unit without adding another box, that'd be cool. Any reviews? PQ?

[stanger89]

My guess would be poor, since USB is limited to 12Mbit/sec you would be limited to a very small resolution since it doesn't compress the video.

If price is a primary concern he'd be better off with something like the flyvideo 2000/3000.

[Grasshopper]

Thanks for the quick reply. Reading around a bit, I'm learning that PCI will be much better than USB due to bandwidth issues. Would the above cards work reasonably well with a ridiculously old computer (K6-2 400 mhz) -- do they use much processing power? Would they be better than, say, the low-budget offerings from Leadtek?

[stanger89]

Just watching TV doesn't require too much power, the leadtek site specs PII 300. Something like the TV2000 XP should be good, it's got the newer Connexant TV chip which is much better than the old BT8x8.

[Crashless]

The USB2 Unit is very adequate. Don't get the USB1 unit if you want decent quality. PQ will be affected only by the bitrate, and the playback mechanism. If your K6-400mhz has USB2.0 you'll be fine, if not, go with a pvr-250. Besides, it's way cheaper. Else, go with the pvr-350, your PQ will be great with 2.0's OSD. Otherwise, especially in multi-tuner setups, go with the 250s. You'll save yourself a huge number of headaches.

[stanger89]

I believe he was talking about this one:
http://www.hauppauge.com/html/usb_data.htm

But yes, the USB2 would be an excellent choice.