Player0
10-24-2002, 07:18 PM
I need your collective input. I'm still working on my digital video recording box. You know, hooks up to your TV, lets you record movies/shows, pause live tv, etc. Not to mention act as high end dvd player and multimedia box, video capture machine, blah blah.
Okay, so basically it boils down to major features: TV-In and TV-Out. Currently I have the box configured with a Matrox G550 Dual Head and it looks great with TV-Out. What I don't have is a TV Tuner.
From talking to people on other dvr boards, the Hauppage WinTV-FM comes highly recommended. I can get it about $70 online, is fully supported by the software I intend to use, and has an IR remote. This card is PCI and will work in conjunction with any AGP card supporting TV-Out (in this case, the Matrox G550).
ATI offers the All-In-Wonder 8500DV. This is an AGP card and has TV-In and TV-Out, not to mention FireWire support and the RF remote control. I like the RF remote control because the computer is not sitting near the TV, and using the IR remote would be a pain. The 8500 of course also does 3D Games quite well, at least much faster than the Matrox G550. I can get the card for $165, and since I'd get the RF remote anyway ($50 value), this card would only cost me $55 more than the Hauppage, which gives me better software and 3d support. The downside is that the card is AGP, and won't work with any other graphics cards.
ATI is coming out soon with the All-In-Wonder 9700. This is also a full featured ATI card, but offers MPEG2 encoding/decoding, uses pixel shader technology to improve TV out and video editing features, has Component TV out support (like a good dvd player). It WILL work with add on TV cards and even supports picture in picture while doing this. It has the same remote, and is as fast as your standard 9700 Pro (not dumbed down like other cards). It has a better comb filter than the 8500DV and has 12 DACs for video as opposed to 9 on the 8500 (not sure of the exact number on that). It's $400 retail (and probably cheaper OEM but it's not available yet). I don't mind waiting a couple weeks to purchase this one, although it is expensive. The card sounds very impressive though.
So now I'm stuck. I do want the best possible video, although I'm not sure if the Ati is any better than the Hauppage/Matrox combo which would be $300 cheaper. The AIW products sound like they would have better software support compared to the very different and very less refined Hauppage/Matrox. I'll eventually be installing an Extigy 2 on this box for sound, so that's not critical. Thoughts?
Okay, so basically it boils down to major features: TV-In and TV-Out. Currently I have the box configured with a Matrox G550 Dual Head and it looks great with TV-Out. What I don't have is a TV Tuner.
From talking to people on other dvr boards, the Hauppage WinTV-FM comes highly recommended. I can get it about $70 online, is fully supported by the software I intend to use, and has an IR remote. This card is PCI and will work in conjunction with any AGP card supporting TV-Out (in this case, the Matrox G550).
ATI offers the All-In-Wonder 8500DV. This is an AGP card and has TV-In and TV-Out, not to mention FireWire support and the RF remote control. I like the RF remote control because the computer is not sitting near the TV, and using the IR remote would be a pain. The 8500 of course also does 3D Games quite well, at least much faster than the Matrox G550. I can get the card for $165, and since I'd get the RF remote anyway ($50 value), this card would only cost me $55 more than the Hauppage, which gives me better software and 3d support. The downside is that the card is AGP, and won't work with any other graphics cards.
ATI is coming out soon with the All-In-Wonder 9700. This is also a full featured ATI card, but offers MPEG2 encoding/decoding, uses pixel shader technology to improve TV out and video editing features, has Component TV out support (like a good dvd player). It WILL work with add on TV cards and even supports picture in picture while doing this. It has the same remote, and is as fast as your standard 9700 Pro (not dumbed down like other cards). It has a better comb filter than the 8500DV and has 12 DACs for video as opposed to 9 on the 8500 (not sure of the exact number on that). It's $400 retail (and probably cheaper OEM but it's not available yet). I don't mind waiting a couple weeks to purchase this one, although it is expensive. The card sounds very impressive though.
So now I'm stuck. I do want the best possible video, although I'm not sure if the Ati is any better than the Hauppage/Matrox combo which would be $300 cheaper. The AIW products sound like they would have better software support compared to the very different and very less refined Hauppage/Matrox. I'll eventually be installing an Extigy 2 on this box for sound, so that's not critical. Thoughts?