BEST PC based PVR system for viewing & recording TV signals from digital satelite boxes

(Skip this first paragraph and perhaps the second, to get to the central point of this thread.) I have been researching this question on and off again for at least a year, and the more I learn the dumber I feel. If I am lucky enough to get the information I am seeking, I am hoping it will benefit many others as well. Perhaps this information, or certainly at least parts of it, is/are scattered throughout these forums. I hope that this inquiry will gather the relevant information into one thread that others may find and benefit from as well. With all that said by way of introduction, here follows the crux of the matter.

I have DirecTV, but I believe my question will apply to any satellite receiver. I experienced the convenience of a Panasonic Showstopper for Replay TV, but the unit burned out. I may or may not get it fixed.

Point is, I want to find the most reliable, cost-efficient, and effective way to channel my satellite signals into my PC, view them, and record favorites to VCD, SVCD, or DVD.

I am persuaded that hardwired MPEG encoding is best (if it is not proprietary), but I am willing to consider otherwise. Unless a system controls the DirecTV input somewhat the way my Showstopper did, the "125 channel input" is a waste, simply because the PC tuner will have to be set on channel 3 or 4. However, I realize that any "waste" may be a necessary trade off to obtain the best possible configuration of hardware and software that is currently economically available (my budget is very limited).

For those of you responding with suggestions, please note that I prefer not to buy products that will be obsolete, non-upgradeable, or incompatible with related advances and upgrades in a very short time.

I know this query is both overly optimistic and demanding, as all my own research and even "ruel's" website have left me totally confused. I also have a strong hunch that there is more to this lack of market clarity than my own ignorance or intelligence, but I do believe there are some intelligent and savvy computer/electronic wizards that have sorted their way through this maze to hardware/software configurations that get the job done as effectively and economically as present technology will allow.

Now that I have stuck my neck out so very far in the above declaration, I hope there will be some responders who will prove me at least partially correct. If any of you readers know of potential constructive respondents from the other forums, please, yes PLEASE, refer them to this inquiry thread. Thanks to all, and especially to anyone who may significantly reduce the confusion I am experiencing in this knowledge quest.

 

I nearly went the PC based PVR route, then got a philips standalone DVD recorder.

the vidac vamgic series of cards get good reviews on vcdhelp.com.

the web site is german only, but from google translation I believe the cards have mpeg-2 encoding in hardware (chip on card) - this has two advantages: 1. you don't need a super fast PC & 2. you don't get sync problems between audio & video. optional built-in tv tuner. PVR timer software. can capture external video & encode to mpeg-2. optional adobe premier plugin software available, so that hardware mpreg encoder is available to premier for encoding or transcoding.

http://www.vidac.de

regards,
mark.

 

Thanks for the input, Mark. Unfortunately, I cannot afford a standalone DVD recorder, and I would like to be able to save less demanding video as VCDs or SVCDs.

The German site now has a link to English site http://www.vidac.de/english/index.htm. According to that site consumer products are still to come.

 

dear islandman,

1. read the reviews on vcdhelp.com to see that lots of people are using this card and that its a good product.

2. don't use the english link on their website, when they say "consumer products to come" they mean the english descriptions of consumer products to come, not the products themselves.

3. instead go to the site via google - search on "vidac vmagic" & let it translate for you - its not a perfect translation, but its good enough.

these cards appear to be the only ones available that have a tv tuner & mpeg encoding *in hardware* and that are any good. the cards are not cheap - I seem to remember about £300.

*do not*, repeat, *do not* purchase a hauppauge wintv-pvr without doing *lots* of research first. I purchased one of these cards & sold it within 2 weeks - and this is same for lots
of other people too.

regards,
mark.

 

Mark,

Hauppauge staffer recently responded to my inquery with a recommend of the 250 model (and 350 implied as well), but I cannot see the need for the TV tuner when my DirecTV box does the signal capture from all available channels. The USB model is not half as good, but I did not ask about the old PCI version, which I am guessing is what you had. Someone else told me about the Hauppauge WinTV Nexus-s available in Europe, http://194.112.81.191/PDF/651z014.pdf, which supposedly can work with satelite input with some sort of adaptor for DirecTV.

Hauppauge USA doesn't seem to want to give any info on this unit so I am currently prevented from investigating this option further. It is also a bit pricier than most of their units, but I think not as high as you recall for the Vidac.

Thank you for the further instructions on Vidac's website. I will check it out.

BTW My Showstopper is working again as of 15 minutes ago, due to some telephone technical assistance and information not in the manual. However, I still want to add PVR capabilities to my PC, only now I also want to be able to record shows from my Showstopper onto VCDs, SVCDS or DVDs. Thus I now need that 125 channel tuner ubiquitous to nearly all PC PVRs even less.