Hauppage vs. ATI Theater

[DCypher]

Ok, I know this has been tossed around in the forums before, but I still haven't found a satisfactory answer.

I'm looking at getting either a

Hauppage 350
ATI Theater 550
ATI Theater 650

Any other recommendations are accepted also.

-----------------------------------------

I used to have a remote wonder, but had problems with the audio and video syncing sometimes. Has that problem been fixed at this time with must tv tuner cards?

Is HDTV worth it?

Toss up a few opinions and I'll probably ask some more questions.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Personally I'm waiting for the ATI Theater 650, but it seems to be completely MIA at this point. I just sold my last HDTV tuner to move to something a little cheaper, but I'm definitely hooked on HD now and would never go back to NTSC if I can avoid it. I've very rarely had problems with audio/video sync unless the station themselves has something (encoder, whatever) out of whack.

Edit: The tuners I've used previously were a MyHD MDP-130 and a Leadtek Winfast TV2000XP before that (or something like that, I forget the exact model).

 

[CrazyGamer]

If waiting isnt an issue I think I would go with the ATI 650 (I was waiting on one myself but caught a clearance deal at Directron on an EVGA Single Tuner NVTV).

If you cant wait the ATI 550 and Hauppage 250/350 series are all good cards with hardware encoding so there shouldnt be any sync or dropped frame issues.

Don't rely on the included software however, go for Beyond TV 4 if you dont already have it or it doesnt come bundled.

 

[Dainas]

There are alot of nonames with Philips SAA7134HL that easily rival or surpass the sub-$120 Hauppage or ATI TV tuners in image quality...it really is a matter of recording efficiency and features

 

[imported_Truenofan]

i got the 550 pro, and its quite nice, i dont use the application that came with it, since i play games, and it lags at least one second behind anything you do, there's a second app christv, that works pretty well, but the sound lags by a half second or after you get it all up and running.

 

[gi0rgi0]

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001
Personally I'm waiting for the ATI Theater 650, but it seems to be completely MIA at this point. I just sold my last HDTV tuner to move to something a little cheaper, but I'm definitely hooked on HD now and would never go back to NTSC if I can avoid it. I've very rarely had problems with audio/video sync unless the station themselves has something (encoder, whatever) out of whack.

Edit: The tuners I've used previously were a MyHD MDP-130 and a Leadtek Winfast TV2000XP before that (or something like that, I forget the exact model).

How was the MyHD ? Why did you get rid of it ? Its sort of expensive but I dont live in area where I cant get OTA. How were the standard def channels ? I read that it upconverts sd channels to 720p or 1080i.

Im also trying to hold out for the 650. Whens that supposed to come out ? Anyone know ?

 

[imported_Truenofan]

its supposed to be out i think, but its only moderatly better at colors and stuff, anandtech did a review.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: gi0rgi0

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001
Personally I'm waiting for the ATI Theater 650, but it seems to be completely MIA at this point. I just sold my last HDTV tuner to move to something a little cheaper, but I'm definitely hooked on HD now and would never go back to NTSC if I can avoid it. I've very rarely had problems with audio/video sync unless the station themselves has something (encoder, whatever) out of whack.

Edit: The tuners I've used previously were a MyHD MDP-130 and a Leadtek Winfast TV2000XP before that (or something like that, I forget the exact model).

How was the MyHD ? Why did you get rid of it ? Its sort of expensive but I dont live in area where I cant get OTA. How were the standard def channels ? I read that it upconverts sd channels to 720p or 1080i.

Im also trying to hold out for the 650. Whens that supposed to come out ? Anyone know ?

I was very happy with the MyHD, and I only got rid of it because I'm a bit strapped for cash and I also don't need QAM (digital cable) support anymore. It can scale any broadcast to any of its output resolutions (including 720p and 1080i, among others). I always just had it display native, so I really couldn't tell you whether the tuner or my LCD was better at upscaling lower resolution stuff. SD/analog channels generally looked decent, but not great. I didn't watch a whole lot of analog TV really. Also, if you have cable and the company carries HDTV channels, you might be able to pick up the local HD channels unencrypted (which is what I used to do until my university cheaped out on their cable contract for the dorms).

I've been searching for the Theater 650 for weeks now and still can't find any info about it other than AT's review and a general overview on ATI's website, not a single retailer has one in stock and none of ATI's board partners even seem to have listed any products based on the 650 on their own websites yet. I'm tempted to call it vaporware at this point...

 

[gi0rgi0]

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001

Originally posted by: gi0rgi0

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001
Personally I'm waiting for the ATI Theater 650, but it seems to be completely MIA at this point. I just sold my last HDTV tuner to move to something a little cheaper, but I'm definitely hooked on HD now and would never go back to NTSC if I can avoid it. I've very rarely had problems with audio/video sync unless the station themselves has something (encoder, whatever) out of whack.

Edit: The tuners I've used previously were a MyHD MDP-130 and a Leadtek Winfast TV2000XP before that (or something like that, I forget the exact model).

How was the MyHD ? Why did you get rid of it ? Its sort of expensive but I dont live in area where I cant get OTA. How were the standard def channels ? I read that it upconverts sd channels to 720p or 1080i.

Im also trying to hold out for the 650. Whens that supposed to come out ? Anyone know ?

I was very happy with the MyHD, and I only got rid of it because I'm a bit strapped for cash and I also don't need QAM (digital cable) support anymore. It can scale any broadcast to any of its output resolutions (including 720p and 1080i, among others). I always just had it display native, so I really couldn't tell you whether the tuner or my LCD was better at upscaling lower resolution stuff. SD/analog channels generally looked decent, but not great. I didn't watch a whole lot of analog TV really. Also, if you have cable and the company carries HDTV channels, you might be able to pick up the local HD channels unencrypted (which is what I used to do until my university cheaped out on their cable contract for the dorms).

I've been searching for the Theater 650 for weeks now and still can't find any info about it other than AT's review and a general overview on ATI's website, not a single retailer has one in stock and none of ATI's board partners even seem to have listed any products based on the 650 on their own websites yet. I'm tempted to call it vaporware at this point...

Cool thanks for the info :thumbsup:

 

[DCypher]

Does the 650 support HDTV?

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: DCypher
Does the 650 support HDTV?

Yes, OTA only from what I can tell. Not that it matters much if we can't buy the damn thing

 

[mikek753]

Originally posted by: DCypher
Does the 650 support HDTV?

I don't think so based on Specifications:

Theater? 650 PRO Technical Specs

* 125 channel TV tuner with stereo audio
* New worldwide video decoder
o NTSC, PAL, SECAM support
o 5-line 2D comb filter
o Motion adaptive 3D comb filter
* Worldwide audio decoder
* 3:2 pull-down
* Motion compensated noise reduction
* Edge enhancement
* Hardware MPEG compression engine
o MPEG-2 720x480 compression
o CBR and VBR from 1 to 15 Mbps
* FM radio reception
* Digital audio processing
* Hardware DRM engine
* VBI slicing
* Audio/video input support
* ATSC digital TV support (optional)
* DVB-T digital TV support (optional)
* PCI and PCI-Express 1X bus interfaces

for HDTV it has to be up to 1920x1080 and with DD 5.1 audio

What's the point for this if it isn't HDTV?

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: mikek753

Originally posted by: DCypher
Does the 650 support HDTV?

I don't think so based on Specifications:

Theater? 650 PRO Technical Specs

* 125 channel TV tuner with stereo audio
* New worldwide video decoder
o NTSC, PAL, SECAM support
o 5-line 2D comb filter
o Motion adaptive 3D comb filter
* Worldwide audio decoder
* 3:2 pull-down
* Motion compensated noise reduction
* Edge enhancement
* Hardware MPEG compression engine
o MPEG-2 720x480 compression
o CBR and VBR from 1 to 15 Mbps
* FM radio reception
* Digital audio processing
* Hardware DRM engine
* VBI slicing
* Audio/video input support
* ATSC digital TV support (optional)
* DVB-T digital TV support (optional)
* PCI and PCI-Express 1X bus interfaces

for HDTV it has to be up to 1920x1080 and with DD 5.1 audio

What's the point for this if it isn't HDTV?

The hardware MPEG2 compression up to 720x480 is for NTSC TV which needs to be encoded before saving to disk. HDTV is already an MPEG2 transport stream so no encoding is required for that side, you can just save it directly to disk. Since they list ATSC digital TV support, and Anand mentioned it in his (p)review of the chip, I'd be extremely surprised if the 650 devices (should they ever come to market) didn't support OTA HDTV at all.

 

[Bateluer]

I haven't seen the 650 for sale yet either. I am looking forward to seeing some detailed reviews of shipping cards though.

 

[rbV5]

Originally posted by: mikek753

Originally posted by: DCypher
Does the 650 support HDTV?

I don't think so based on Specifications:

Theater? 650 PRO Technical Specs

* 125 channel TV tuner with stereo audio
* New worldwide video decoder
o NTSC, PAL, SECAM support
o 5-line 2D comb filter
o Motion adaptive 3D comb filter
* Worldwide audio decoder
* 3:2 pull-down
* Motion compensated noise reduction
* Edge enhancement
* Hardware MPEG compression engine
o MPEG-2 720x480 compression
o CBR and VBR from 1 to 15 Mbps
* FM radio reception
* Digital audio processing
* Hardware DRM engine
* VBI slicing
* Audio/video input support
* ATSC digital TV support (optional)
* DVB-T digital TV support (optional)
* PCI and PCI-Express 1X bus interfaces

for HDTV it has to be up to 1920x1080 and with DD 5.1 audio

What's the point for this if it isn't HDTV?

It clearly shows ATSC support (optional)...as well as DVB-T digital TV (Euro digital). Actual support will depend on the model you buy, but ATSC = OTA HDTV/SDTV in North America.

 

[mikek753]

now ATI released 650 HDTV Wonder that has two tuners:
one analog and another one digital based on Samsung tuner

all I found so far

Any reviews?