[ivtv-users] which PCI or USB digital tuner to use?

[Tony Ross]

Andy Walls wrote:

>> I currently have an Hauppauge PVR-500MCE which is working well for
>> my needs, but wish to capture digital ATSC transmissions in my area.
>>
>> I purchased an HVR-1800 for the purpose but am dismayed to find that
>> it has a (new to me) PCIe connection rather than PCI.
>>
>> What PCI cards (or USB for that matter, but the MPEG2 hardware
>> compression is desired) are others using to enable ivtv, please?
>>
>> Thank you.
>
> An HVR-1600 is PCI.  It can capture Over The Air ATSC or North
> American Cable (clear) QAM for digitial TV.  It can caputre and MPEG
> compress NTSC from over the air or other analog standards from the
> video inputs. It can perform analog and digital TV capture at the
> same time.


Thank you, but I get the distinct impression that there are driver problems
with the HVR-1600, as evidenced by the thread "HVR-1600 Improvements". I
will look for one on Craigslist however, in the hopes that Devin achieves
his goals.

> However, you don't need an MPEG encoder for digital TV.  USB devices
> DTV devices are cheaper and more flexible, if you already have an
> analog MPEG encoder card like the PVR-500.

The analog PVR-500MCE tuner is used only for VHS video capture; there are no
analog television broadcasts here.

I do desire the ATSC capture in an MPEG2 format for my specific needs, and
prefer that it be done in hardware. Are you suggesting that a USB DTV device
can somehow be routed through the PVR-500 to achieve the hardware MPEG2
compression, or do I misunderstand you?