[B]Have I been sold an obsolete card in my computer?[/B] (1 Viewer)

tarfon

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January 31, 2009
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I wanted to buy a Hauppauge HVR2200 MCE tuner card but I've been told that my 3-month old computer can't be fitted with this card.
The Hauppauge website says about it:
"The Hauppauge HVR2200 is . . .designed the HVR2200 as a low profile single-lane PCIe card that ships with both half and full height mounting brackets.
Key Features
* PCIe Card with full and half height mounting brackets provided.
* True single PCIe slot design with single RF input for both tuners.
* Dual digital SD/HD tuner.
* Dual analogue tuner with hardware MPEG encoder.
* FM Radio.
* Australian Windows XP MCE and Windows Vista Ultimate (or higher) drivers included.
"

Belarc reports to me that my computer board is a MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO.,LTD MS-7529 1.0

Can anyone help me with advice on this?
Is PCIe slot design for the so-called Express card?
Is my computer board an old model or an old version if it can't take the HVR2200?
Should I worry about it or just settle for the older Hauppauge Nova T500?
Should I make a fuss about it?
 

tarfon

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January 31, 2009
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The fuss is that 've tried two Fusion cards, a Compro card, a DigitalNow tinytwin USB tuner and none of them will work with their bundled software (which I wanted to use so that I could burn recorded material to disc), so i'm getting desperate. Surprisingly (to me) all the tuners do much better through Vista Media Centre, however. I was hoping that the latest Hauppauge card might solve my problems (at a considerably higher cost, admittedly that the others.)
I'm also trying to work out:
1. Why Vista Media Centre can scan and detect all my local Adelaide, Australia channels whereas the DigitalNow software bundled with my latest Tinytwin USB will only detect a couple of channels - and then VMC plays digital TV and HDTV reasonably, while this bundled software rarely plays at all. It isn't only with the TinyTwin, VMC has consistently outperformed the bundled software from DVICO Fusion and Compro, too. Why?
2. I use a 32inch Hitachi screen and a LG set top box and get crystal-clear DTV and HDTV. No computer Tuner I've used to date gives as clear a picture - they're much fuzzier with flatter colours. I was hoping Hauppauge might do better so was looking at their latest. Don't know if I'm asking too much from my set top box comparison.
3. I wish there was somebody out there in Adelaide who could lend me a Hauppauge USB dongle tuner so i could try it for an hour - I can't afford another failure. I wonder also whether USB is inherently weaker than a built-in card.
4. Has the technology changed or would the older Hauppauge Nova T500 be as good as the HVR2200?
5. I've heard rumours that Windows 7 will allow recording of terrestrial TV in a variety of formats so that burning to disc will be possible. Does anybody know if this is true?
 

etheesdad

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  • November 8, 2008
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    3. I wish there was somebody out there in Adelaide who could lend me a Hauppauge USB dongle tuner so i could try it for an hour - I can't afford another failure. I wonder also whether USB is inherently weaker than a built-in card.

    I also live in Adelaide (small world isnt it?) :) I dont have a usb tuner but I can tell you Ive never had any troubles picking up channels with MP and have been using it since RC3. (tuner hardware under sig on left)

    5. I've heard rumours that Windows 7 will allow recording of terrestrial TV in a variety of formats so that burning to disc will be possible. Does anybody know if this is true?

    I dont see what the issue is with burning tv streams to disk. Convertxtodvd will do .ts to dvd. There are a number of other programs that will convert .ts to h264 or xvid/divx (mcebuddy comes to mind but there are lots more). You have the option of mpeg2 dvd or these (and numerous other) formats. (same thing can be achieved with WMC recordings - cant remember the file type but achieveable in the same way) Is there something else you're trying to achieve?
     

    mdbarber

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    February 19, 2007
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    you need to show the system specs here i think such as what vga card u are using and the model number of tv would be helpful.
    what is the problem if MC picks up the channels, why would you want to use the crappy bundled software?.
     

    globaldonkey

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  • April 23, 2007
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    2. I use a 32inch Hitachi screen and a LG set top box and get crystal-clear DTV and HDTV. No computer Tuner I've used to date gives as clear a picture - they're much fuzzier with flatter colours. I was hoping Hauppauge might do better so was looking at their latest. Don't know if I'm asking too much from my set top box comparison.

    First, how about comparing how you have the computer connected to the TV vs how you have the STB connected. Are you using the same input and what is it (ie composite, component, HDMI?). What video card are you using in the PC?
     

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