USB TV Capture - How's The Quality? Equal to VHS? DVR?

Hi,

I want to record and transfer Basic Channel TV coming in via Cable to DVD and am considering getting an external USB 2.0 Device TV Capture Device.

Would I get quality on that equal to at least that of VHS running at Slow Play (SP)?

How would it compare to a DVR Recorder like the Pioneer DVR633HS?

Thanks.

 

With the Hauppauge PVR-USB 2.0, you can get (near) DVD quality, far better than VHS at SP.

What's your actual purpose?
Do you want to archive shows to DVD, or just timeshift TV (like a VHS), or what combination?
Are you going to use it as a dedicated PVR, or is this also your "everyday" computer?

 

Hi Jim,
I just started finding out about TV capture in any significant way today. I started out wanting to convert some existing VHS tapes I have and others I will make in the future.

Then I realized I can just start capturing future TV programs directly with this hardware, so I want to do that.

I would up buying the Hauppauge 150 today, but I got the PCI version, largely because I only have one DVD burner and it's on my main computer.

I would have preferred to use the capture device on my secondary computer, but I would have had to buy another burner. I hope it doesn't bog me down when it's running. The computer is a Dell Dimension 4600 3.0GHz Hyperthread with 1Gig of 800(?)Mhz Ram and a GForce5200 Video card and I run dual LCD monitors. (1600/1200 & 1280/1024)
I'm glad to hear the quality is so good.

 

The PVR-150 has all onboard hardware mpeg-2 encoding, so it doesn't rely on your CPU for anything. It won't "bog down" a bit. You won't even know it's recording, unless you look.
Download and install gbpvr (it's free). That gives you the total PVR control you want for scheduling and playback of timeshifted TV. It will do much more than you ever thought.

 

Will do with the gbpvr. I found their website. It looks nice. Looking forward to getting this. I should be arriving any day now.