Dual tuner PVR

[eysdan]

Anyone running a dual tuner PVR on their PC? My fiances brother wants one for his PC. I found one from Hauppage, but you either need XP media center or Vista Home Premium or Ultimate. Suggestions?

I am going to see if he can do without the dual tuner part. I have one that is a single tuner and works fine.

 

[tiggitytony]

Yes you can. I have it set up on my Media Center 2005 - 1 Happauge 150 and 1 ATI 650. Basically Media Center allows you to have up to 2 analog/digital and 2 high def signals. My current set up allows me to record a channel while watching another at the same time.

Alternatively, you can run other software such as Snapstream BeyondTV (install on top of Windows) or go Free with a MythTV distribution.

 

[twylie]

Have a Happauge PVR-500? that was used in a MCE 05 box. Worked great, but haven't used it much since getting Comcast HD dual tuner boxes.

I also have some Linksys MC extenders for the XP based Media Centers if anyone is interested. I need to clear out the gadget closet.

 

[eysdan]

I know they are out there, but the problem is, is that he is running XP and not XP media center. I have a single tuner card PVR-150 which works great and you don't need media center. I was wondering if there was one that didn't require MCE or Vista.

 

[tiggitytony]

I know they are out there, but the problem is, is that he is running XP and not XP media center. I have a single tuner card PVR-150 which works great and you don't need media center. I was wondering if there was one that didn't require MCE or Vista.

Check this out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_PVR_software_packages

Forgot to add that on ATI Tuner cards, they bundle with their own basic PVR software. Also NERO suite has their own called NERO Home (I think).

You can install without the need of MCE or Vista

 

[skeptic]

If I switch from DirecTV to cable, which I'm considering, I'll probably be picking up a PVR-500 or two to use in my Linux Media Center (LMCE). It uses MythTV for the PVR type stuff, but I'm not sure if there is a windows port of the back end server stuff. I know you can use a windows box as a MythTV front end.

However, there IS a way to do this. If you use VMware or some other virtual computer you can also pick up something called HDhomerun, a networked digital dual-tuner that supports HD. In Linux/MythTV it "just works" out of the box. As it's networked, it's outside the VM so the linux VM can access it just fine. With that backend running in a VM you can run the MythTV front end on a windoze box and have full control of a dual tuner PVR. Personally, I think the better option is to run a dedicated linux/MythTV server somewhere on your network then just use the windoze/MythTV front end where you want to watch.

 

[twylie]

I know they are out there, but the problem is, is that he is running XP and not XP media center. I have a single tuner card PVR-150 which works great and you don't need media center. I was wondering if there was one that didn't require MCE or Vista.

Pretty sure the PVR series doesn't require Media Center. Buddy was using a 250 w Beyond TV when running XP.

 

[themonk]

Pretty sure the PVR series doesn't require Media Center. Buddy was using a 250 w Beyond TV when running XP.

dual tuner version does require it. IIRC when I bought mine and tried with regular XP, it didn't work because of drivers. Been a while so I could be remembering incorrectly.

I think you can use 2 of the single tuner cards like the PVR-150 for the same results.

FWIW, I prefer the TV app in Media Center over Beyond TV. I've used both.

 

[eysdan]

Pretty sure the PVR series doesn't require Media Center. Buddy was using a 250 w Beyond TV when running XP.

But is it a dual tuner.....you can watch one and record another. I was looking at hauppage's site it doesn't look like that's a dual tuner card. I have a PVR 150 which works great in XP with beyond TV and the firefly remote.

 

[twylie]

But is it a dual tuner.....you can watch one and record another. I was looking at hauppage's site it doesn't look like that's a dual tuner card. I have a PVR 150 which works great in XP with beyond TV and the firefly remote.

250 is a single tuner I think. Looks like the dual tuner PVR500 works w/ Beyond TV & Sage under XP.

http://store.snapstream.com/btvandpvr500.html

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_pvr500mce.html

Make me an offer on mine as it sits unused.

 

[eysdan]

250 is a single tuner I think. Looks like the dual tuner PVR500 works w/ Beyond TV & Sage under XP.

http://store.snapstream.com/btvandpvr500.html

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_pvr500mce.html

Make me an offer on mine as it sits unused.

Cool. Thanks for the info.