Buying the right TV-card (dual tuner or 2 separate cards?) (1 Viewer)

[mh99hojo]

Hello!

I have three questions before I decide what TV-card to buy:

1) Are there any advantages/disadvantages to having two separe cards rather than one with dual tuners if you want to be able to watch and record at the same time?

2) Does having a card with hardware MPEG2-encoder mean that you can build your HTPC around a much "weaker" CPU and VGA card (i.e. does a card without encoder require a lot of CPU time to encode whatever you are recording - and can you at all use timeshift if the card doesn't have build in encoder?)

3) In a year or two the broadcast where I live will change from analog to digital. Are capture card for only one or the other, or are there cards that will accept both type of signals?

Thanks!

 

[NormM]

1. Can save space if you're low on PCI slots, also two seperate cards may not be compatible with each other.

2. Yes, a card with HW decoder will take load off the CPU. Not sure about time-shifting.

3. Yes you can get hybrid analogue/digital TV cards. Compro make a nice one (Compro Videomate DVB-T300).

 

[Callifo]

2) From 0.2 you will need a card with a hardware encoder as the SW support was dropped. Pre 0.2, no you cant use timeshift with a software card.

3) Hybrid yes, but look at a Hauppauge HVR-1300 or something. Those compro's have a software analogue card which as said above wont function anymore. Only downside to the hauppauge card is both sections cant be used at the sametime, so for now seperate cards are superior.