On Wed, 7 Jul 2004 13:47:56 -0400, Michael Adolf wrote > I am ready to purchase a TV Card > > Requirements: > Include cable ready tuner > have s-video in/out > accept antenna or cable > PCI > > TVWin (TV-PVR-350) does everything I want. Is this the one to get. > Any cheaper available. > > Recommendations??
PVR-350 contains an mpeg encoder and decoder hardware. In other words you can capture directly to an mpeg file and save a ton of processing power. Likewise you can send an mpeg file directly to the card and get video out. Again saving a ton of processing power. The catch is support. PVR-350 output is still bleeding edge. You won't easily find drivers for Mandrake. The encoder part (capture) is not so bleeding edge, but you'll still have trouble finding drivers for Mandrake. The 2.6 kernel support is still pretty fresh. You can get around the decoder (output) poor support with any number of graphic cards that have TV out. In that case the TV-PVR-250 is a cheaper option. It's exactly the same as the 350, but without the output. The PVR- 250 has been supported in the 2.4 kernel for some time now and near as I can tell, 2.6 kernel support is there too. (at least that's what I've been told, I'm still trying). You'll have to do your own leg work, it's not part of the Mandrake config tools. If you can stand living on the edge, the PVR-350 should be a nicely supported hardware before too long, but the card may sit not fully used until then. In theory, ATI TV Wonder (capture only) cards should be supported, but I've yet to produce proof of that. Stay away from ATI all-in-wonder cards (as I've learned). Win-TV GO cards are easily installed and supported well. Great if you're looking to get TV up on the monitor with a minum fuss (and they're relatively cheap). I never had much luck capturing anything to file (never tried very hard) but install and config is fully supported in Mdk. Other than these I can't comment. Scott -- Nothing goes to waste when Little Fish are near! (http://www.littlefish.ca)
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