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"Excellent Addition for TV Capture" on by Wolfie2k5
Pros: Dual Tuners/Hardware MPEG2 encoders
Cons: No Bundled TV/Capture App
Summary: I've had this card in my computer for about 6-7 months and I've had NO problems with the card itself - except for an outdated driver that came on the CD. A quick check of Hauppauge's web site and I found the proper revision of the Windows XP driver and it's been working great ever since.
As I am only using XP, the only complaint I had was that the card didn't come with any software. For what it's worth, a trial version of BeyondTV and/or Sage TV would have probably saved me a bit of hassle. The card, given the name contains MCE assumes that you will be using the MS Media Center Edition of Windows.
Fortunately, BTV and Sage are only a download away. Of course, having broadband helps given BTV is a hefty 26 MB download. I'm sure SageTV is right up there as well.
After getting the driver situation sorted out and BTV configured, I found the picture quality to be fairly sharp (given this is Analog TV) MOST of the time. The only exceptions can be directly blamed on signal quality from the cable company.Updated
The WinTV-PVR-500-MCE also has ONE very important bonus feature that some of the other cards in the WinTV line (like the WinTV 150) lack - Onboard hardware based MPEG2 encoding. This allows the card to do most of the work translating the raw cable signal into a picture or recording. Otherwise, the CPU would be working overtime to capture/display MPG files and live TV - especially if both tuners were in use.
Given the price, and the price of other boards, this card is the best value - even if you have to buy the software package to make it work seperately. -
"Best of current crop...needs work." on by somaamos
Pros: Easy setup with MCE, good functionality
Cons: Audio problems sometime, poor picture quality.
Summary: Picture quality is a little mushy and color is washed out. It was a snap to install and setup in Windows MCE. You can only use the 2 tuner coax inputs OR the 2 AV inputs (not all 4 at once, at least with MCE). I find the audio on some channels and some recordings is heinously messed up once in awhile (5%)... new drivers did not help. Dual tuner is a must have for PVR use.
I wanted a dual tuner HD tuner, but given state of cable HD (i.e. no cable card support yet) I opted for standard tuner card -- this seemed to be the best of the current crop (late 2005), overall it is high quality for the price. Looking forward to the next generation, however. -
"best dual tuner" on by ptorres975
Pros: best dual tuner
Cons: not hd compatible
Summary: One of the best tuners out on the market.Installation was a breeze; xp and vista compatible.Loved this tuner so much went out and purchased another one.Have two dual tuners on my vmc.Capable of recording four channels at once and playback a recording at the same time
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"I from perfecttech,engineering co.ltd.,in Myanmar" on by Perfecttech
Pros: I do not understand the word Pros
Cons: Also This is very firsttime for me
Summary: WinTv-pvr-500 MCE is not so bad in feature.But
inreal we need technic;say connection diagran -
"OVER PRICED, even if it came with the software you'll need, remote, cables" on by Bdubslawman
Pros: dual tuners, dual recording, dual watching
Cons: Lack of decoder in the box (that the PVR-150 has) lack of cables, remote...LACKING, in TUNER QUALITY. HIGH PRICE!
Summary: I spent way too much time bloviating in the PVR-150 blog. But this is a card that has also outlived it's high price. This card like the younger sibling (albeit- much better packaged little brother PVR-150)is so in need of a 50% price drop to offer some reasonableness.
I listed the dual tuning among its postitives, but suppose we took that away for a second. Then what, the video quality is no better than the ATI's Pro series PCI cards that are $40+ full price and often $20 MIR's accompany them. So if the quality isn't great then really itsn' only selling point is the ability to dual up!
Why not invest your money, sometimes even less money is a HDTV tuner card. I am in the process of test running two from ATI (old & new). But for $60 the older ATI HDTV came fully loaded with software front & back end, cables, remote, antenna......and it decodes regular & High Def. TV. To me it is a no brainer.
SKIP IT! I own more cards and have tested the main boards from Haupie & ATI. This one was a great set up two years ago. Now its tired at that price... At $50+ it has new life, eventhough the the quality is LESS than ATI's 550 Chip & the 650 Chip. ATI dumped the Elite (550) in favor of the 650 HD TV line Haup is behind the curve. ATI missed its opportunity of combining the 550 chip or the 650 Chip into an All-In-Wonder setup.
Hopefully enough people will push for a fully Hardware Mpeg 650 HDTV All-In-Wonder Card with a X1950 or next generation DX10 platform. I can only hope
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-500 MCE user reviews
