Hi everyone: I decided to try to record cable TV on my PC - something similar to what TiVo does. I bought myself a good NVidia GForce 256MB video card, 500GB hard drive and the PC TV PCI, Philips SAA 7130 PCI TV Card. The tuner card came with the TV Expert DVR program. I tried using it and I am so much dissatisfied with it -- there's no way to localize sound settings for this DVR, instead it uses master volume, so that if my recording is scheduled at night it may wake me up when recording starts, it also drops recording if I touch computer mouse or a keyboard during recording, etc. I tried contacting the developers but they are from one of those .tw domains that can hardly speak English. Here's the actual reply I got when I explained my abovementioned concern about dropped recordings: So the bottom line I need to find a new DVR software to record cable TV. Can you suggest a good program for that? Thanks in advance!
I did a search on your pci tuner card but couldn't find too much info on it. But I think that is your problem. To get the best video and sound you need to have a tv tuner card that has a built-in hardware mpeg encoder. The 7130 card in the ads I saw didn't mention anything about a it having a built-in encoder. The reason a hardware encoder is important is that, the tuner card with a hardware encoder will bypass the computers soundcard and record the video/sound directly from the coaxial cable, you won't have to connect a wire from your tuner card sound out into your computer soundcard audio in jack. If you are serious about building a good computer pvr similar to tivo, you need to get a tv tuner card with a hardware encoder. I recommend the hauppgauge pvr 150 (cost about 70.00 usd) it's the lowest priced card with excellent video/audio. I actually have 3 of them installed in one computer (I can record 3 programs at the same time while listening to mp3's or watching a dvd movie). The hardware encoders tuner cards do all the work in the background without impacting the rest of the computer. There are only 2 programs that I recommend for building a decent pvr system 1.)snapstream beyondtv 2.)sagetv both have trial versions to try out before you buy. Each cost about $70.00 but it's a one-time fee and you get an excellent program with tv listing that you don't have to pay extra for. I've had sagetv for 3 years and it's been rock solid, always recording my shows on time. I recently tried out the beyondtv demo and I liked it alot, it has a better interface and it is more tivo like. For a new user I would recommend the beyondtv it is easier to setup and program. the rest of your system looks good, I think you just need a tuner card with a built-in hardware encoder.
jony218, thanks alot for your in-depth review! I totally agree, it took me some time to find their web site. I'm not going to post it here though. There're lower in the Google list. I checked reviews for that card on newegg and it had 4 out 5 user reviews. It's not bad. I'll definitely consider their product. You know, I tried that beyondtv earlier today (with my existing card) and it totally messed up my system during initial installation. (Luckily I did system restore backup before which allowed to restore it back.) My main concern is that DVR software does not usurp sound card during scheduled recording. I'm so tired of my current PVR (from the company I mentioned in my origianl post), when it has only two options during recording - playing current sound or muting it using a master volume. Another stupid feature that it had is that somehow it dropped segments of recorded video file if I began using computer in the middle of the recording. It was extremely annoying.
