Build Your Own PVR Community Site
Author: Erik Pettersen ( reviews AT byopvr.com )
INTRODUCTION:
The Hauppauge WinTV
PVR 350 combines powerful hardware encoding/decoding with TV tuning to create
an all in one PVR solution.
From the WinTV
PVR350 data sheet:
TV and video recorder with hardware MPEG encoder
and decoder plus FM radio!
Turn your PC into a Digital TV recorder
Watch and record your TV shows with
instant replay and program pause
Watch your TV recordings on your PC screen or TV set
Burn your home videos and favorite TV shows
onto CD-ROM or DVD* and play them on your home DVD player
Includes hi-performance hardware MPEG-2 encoder
and hardware MPEG-2 decoder!
On the box it sure looks like a winner, but does it past muster for the BYOPVR
staff?
PACKAGING:
The PVR350 retail package comes with: The PVR350 PCI card, a 9-pin DIN A/V
adapter cable (S-Video, L/R audio out RCA jack, and RCA composite video out),
remote control, 2 AAA batteries, an IR receiver, installation CD, quick install
guide, promo slick for SnapStream, coax connector to FM antenna, composite to
S-Video adapter, and last but actually least some self adhesive Velcro to secure
the IR receiver to the top of your PC case.
INSTALLATION:
If you have ever upgraded your PC before there’s nothing new or cryptic
here. Open up the case, remove the back plane cover, and insert the WinTV PVR
350 into the PCI slot. Close everything back up and attach your coax cable to
the card. Boot the PC, insert the supplied CD, and let Windows XP auto detect
the new hardware and step through the driver install. (Note: I opted to download
the latest
version of the supplied software and manually install each component to
ensure I had the latest and greatest drivers/software. I realize that deviates
from the “out of the box experience” slightly but if you aren’t
in the habit of downloading the latest stable drivers before installing new
hardware you should start)
SOFTWARE:
I fired up the supplied WinTV2000 application and ran through the channel scan
process. After that I was greeted with the joys of television displayed on my
desktop. Granted the WinTV2000 interface feels a little dated/clunky but the
base “PVR” functionality is there. I was pausing live TV, grabbing
screenshots, recording clips without a hitch. I was immediately reminded as
to why I was so amped up to build a PVR from scratch in the first place. I love
my Tivo, but if I record a show and want to send a clip to a friend, or email
a screen capture, I can’t do either on my Tivo (ReplayTV fans: I know,
I know… save your emails. ReplayTV has had similar capabilities for a
while now).
The bundled software depends on a separate program scheduler to handle scheduling
of future television programming. Again it is not very sexy looking but you
can do very basic digital VCR-esque scheduling through it. If you sign up for
TitanTV’s free guide service you can graphically look at TV listings and
clicking on the little record button of a show in the grid will call up save
as/run dialogue. If you run that little file (its file type is associated with
the WinTV scheduler) it automagically populates the recording time/etc in the
scheduler, and records my selection without my intervention. The TitanTV interface
for choosing which programs to record is neat, but it is not revolutionary.
They do bundle a trial version of the sexier looking SnapStream Personal Video
Station (which is now called BeyondTV) on the installation CD if you want to
try a different / better software experience. If you are building a PVR / HTPC
I would suggest trying all the free/open source software and the trial version
of commercial software first and then decide which one would best suit your
project’s needs. That is a different article for a different day and I
digress.
