Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (
More info?)
"Daniel" <daniel_h_wATyyahooDOTccom> wrote:
> My girlfriend wants to eventually build a new computer, but she also wants
> to have TIVO or even just VCR capability on a current system (P3-450MHz,
> 128MB RAM, may be putting another 128 in, 13GB HD, WindowsXP). The system
> DOES have USB ports (1.1 obviously). What we're questioning, is there an
> ATI device (I've heard of the TVWonder2) that is USB, preferably works for
> 2.0 but backward compatible to 1.1 that can be used (even if in a much
> lower
> ability) now & then plugged into a newer system later? The main reason
> for
> this is to not have to replace it again in the future. Quality isn't that
> important as she is using it for TIVO/VCR functionality, so only needs to
> watch the recording, not care if its in DVD vs. VCD quality.
Before I say anything else, be aware that TV recording is going to fill up
that 13 gig disk in no time at all--I get about 1.5-2 gig an hour out of
the ATI software.
Next, go over to <http://www.avsforum.com> and read through the Tivo
discussions--there are many things that can be done with a Tivo that you
might want to be aware of before you decide for sure to use a PC
instead--the Tivo is highly amenable to third-party modification and within
certain limits Tivo seems to encourage this and use it as marketing
tool--many features of the Series 2 Tivo were originally implemented on the
Series 1 by hobbyists.
Next, be aware that you're on a machine that's marginal for video. I've run
ATI video boards in machines of that vintage and they can record video but
that's about all that I'll say for them--they weren't really usable.
Your machine can do it but to get acceptable quality it needs help in the
form of hardware video compression. ATI has several products out that can
do that but most are aimed specifically at Windows Media Center Edition and
don't work without it. The one exception is the TV Wonder Elite, which
uses their new Rage Theater 550 chip. It's _very_ new on the market.
Sapphire (Theatrix Theatre 550 Pro) and PowerColor (Tul Theater 550 Pro)
also have boards out using the Theater 550. These are all PCI interal
boards (if you order, make sure it's PCI and _not_ PCI _Express_ which
won't work in your machine), not external USB. The ATI goes for $135-150
depending on where you buy it, the others are cheaper, but I don't know
what if anything you give up for the lower price. I would expect the video
quality to be very good with these boards--the Rage Theater chips have
always been good in that regard, but they _may_ need more machine than you
have--ATI says 800 or faster but that might be to implement pause and other
features beyond basic recording. FORGET THE ATI USB BOXES on your
hardware. They might come out with a USB box in the future with the
Theater 550 but it's not available _now_.
If you've absolutely positively gotta have an external USB box, take a look
at a Hauppauge PVR-USB2--they say it needs a 733 or faster, but that's for
full functionality with pause and whatnot. It will work as a minimal tuner
on a less capable machine with a USB 1.1 port. Note that Hauppauge has
other USB2 boxes--they do _not_ have hardware compression and are very
unlikely to be satisfactory with the hardware you have. They also have
several internal boards with hardware compression, the PVR-150, 250, and
350--the 350 also has hardware decompression.
Another possibility would be a Sasem Onair, which also has hardware
compression on analog and should be able to handle analog with a USB 1.1
port, later on it will be able to provide you with HDTV on the new system.
However there seems to be something going on with Sasem--their drivers site
was hacked a while back and took them forever to get fixed, their
English-language site seems to be down, their product is backordered, so
don't know what's going on. Hope they pull through whatever it is--it's a
nice product.
When you build the new machine, I _strongly_ recommend putting Media Center
Edition 2005 on it. It is the first such software I've encountered that
comes close to matching the functionality of a Tivo. It's not quite there
yet but it's close enough to be a viable substitute.
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram