Nice review.  What's up with the "automagically" is that supposed to be there?  Been waiting to find a good review on this card, now we all finally have one.  I'm definitely getting one, I want the hardware decoding even if it doesn't do DVD hardware decoding (I probably won't be using that much anyway).  Just got finished building the "PC" part of my PC PVR today, it's up and running well.  It's doing a memtest at the moment because I don't trust any memory you can buy right now, too many horror stories.  I'm going to presume the hardware decoder also works on the composite out? (This wasn't mentioned).  Also there was no mention of a VHS capture, I'm sure there's some of us (like myself) that are also planning on dumping the ol' family movies on DVD, I've read conflicting reports of the quality level on hauppauge cards, I'd like to get a straight answer (and yes I know this is a bit outside the realm of a PVR only).  Overall though, great review.  Thank you.

Thank you and welcome to byopvr... "Automagically" is supposed to be there.  It's a word I like to use/bring into common parlance =)  I think old sysadmins came up with it.  



It does do VHS capture (either RCA connector composite or svideo).  I did not test that functionality, but I intend to.   There will be several addendum follow up "reports" using the PVR350 with different hardware/software/situations (especially since it's the only card currently in the lab!  :P )  Planning on getting a DVD writer soon and burning my wedding video to DVD (I neglected to mention in the review that the pvr350 comes with the well regarded ulead DVD authoring software ... but I did not use it, yet)

As homebrew mentions: The quality of the source material, and the method of connecting it to the card (svideo vs composite), will dictate the initial PQ (picture quality), i.e. it's not going to sweeten or clarify VHS tapes...

For a consumer level card under 200 dollars I doubt you'll find better quality encoding.

Will a super videophile who is looking at prosumer or pro gear find a better encoder/signal chain at a higher price... yes they probably will.

for general "normal" person use, at *this* price range the quality is more than good enough for me.  does that help explain some of the inconsistent answers you get re: pvr350 PQ quality? *shrug*  

As we build momentum, we'll be evaluating other cards/solutions.

Are you going to be hooking a TV up to your PC PVR?  If you are ONLY going to be encoding home videos and burning them to DVD, you may just want the PVR250 MCE (if you aren't going to use the TVout on the 350).

rampy

PS thanks homebrew...

[Edited on 3/29/04 by rampy]

Thanks homebrew and rampy.  I guess what my point was someone was complaining in a review I read that there were "scan lines" with the VHS caps he tried with this card and was under the impression it was a defective card.  Story went on to say he got the card replaced with another and it did the same thing.  My line of thinking here is that *ANY* capture card is going to have those VHS scan lines, isn't it?  I bought a S-VHS deck recently just for backing up the old home movies, it's the only sort of VCR I've ever found that has S-Video outputs.  I've also just been made aware of a program called X-oom Video Clean, which appears to be a program to clean up video material for those who are planning on archiving our old VHS tapes to DVD.  Could be a useful program (just google it you'll find it).  I am planning on using this to watch TV/pause live tv/save some shows to DVD so yes I need the 350 card.  I almost bought the 250 but then I realized it has no outputs, and then I would have needed to purchase a video card with TV-Out.  Well a 250 card + a video card with TV-Out ends up being *more* expensive than a 350 does, so therefore I'll stick with that.  I can't really speak on the Ulead DVD program, all I can gather is you either swear by it or swear at it ;)

Oh and I've got KnoppMyth running on my PVR right now, even though I don't have my cap card yet, Myth looks SWEET  :D  Totally blows Tivo$$ away.

I don't even have the card (yet) been holding out for a good deal (still haven't found one) and also learning some linux again (very rusty).  So maybe by the time I get the card it'll be fixed (fingers crossed).  I guess for part 3 of BYOPVR (the software section) perhaps it should touch on what the best linux base is for a PVR.  Or perhaps there should be a thread going in the forum about that.  There's so many linux bases out there, something efficient would be great for a dedicated pvr box.

Hey guys,
I got the PVR-350 about a month or so ago, but just installed it a couple of weeks ago.  After reading your review I went and looked at my CPU usage, and it seems way too high when i am recording. Depending on the quality I am recording at, I get CPU usage readings between 30% and 70%. I am running a Celeron 2.4 GHz processor.  Is there something that I don't have enabled, or do you think that my card is defective.

I am using it on a Windows machine.  I am playing it on my monitor right now b/c i don't have it near my TV.

I am running Windows XP Pr with 512 MB of memory.  I am using the Haupage software.  I have closed out everything but the tv card software.  If I am viewing the TV on my monitor would the encoder/decoder hardware hardware be used?  When the software records TV, it automatically plays what is being recorded at the same time.  Without the PVR software running my CPU usage is 4% or less.