Hauppauge PVR-150 sound

[BMW2000z]

I currenty have an old ATI AIW card, i think it's a 7000 or 7200. i tried installing the drivers and software for it in vista 64 bit, but it didn't work. i also heard that the ati card doesn't work in linux. and i wasn't happy with the ati software. so anyways, i've heard good things about hauppage so i decided to buy it now that i'm building a new comp. i noticed that it only has line in for sound. on my current ati, it has a sound out which i have to connect to my sound card, or else i get no sound. how does the sound work on this card? i also noticed that on my aiw, the sound from recorded video is very low and noisy, and i always have to crank my speakers all the way up to barely hear anything. how is the sound on the hauppage? will i need any extra cables to connect it with my sound card??

One more thing. How come it seems that all tuner cards are PCI while stand alone video cards (not tuners) are mostly PCI 16x. Does this really make a difference? I thought PCI 16x is the future?

 

[nullpointerus]

There are different models of the PVR-150, with different connections. Regardless, you don't connect the PVR-150 to your video/sound cards; the data is automatically encoded into the MPEG2 stream with the video, and this stream works just like any other video you download in that your PC will send the appropriate sound/video to your preferred playback devices in Windows Control Panel. Doesn't matter if you are watching live TV or a recording: it's always the same MPEG2 stream.

For standard cable, you do not need any sound inputs. In this case the sound comes in the cable jack just like the video.

For digital cable or satellite, you will be connecting your existing STB (set-top box) to your PVR-150, and this can be done either via standard cable (low quality), composite+stereo audio (medium quality), or s-video+stereo audio (best quality).

For stereo audio cables, you've either got a 1/8" mini jack like on a walkman or 2 RCA jacks. AFAIK all PVR-150's include a 1/8" mini jack for the IR receiver of the Hauppauge remote, and this has nothing to do with audio. Make sure you look at the audio jacks closely or check the *input* connections in a features list to be sure. Conversion cables between 1/8" mini jacks and 2 RCA jacks are very inexpensive in any case.

 

[BMW2000z]

Originally posted by: nullpointerus
There are different models of the PVR-150, with different connections. Regardless, you don't connect the PVR-150 to your video/sound cards; the data is automatically encoded into the MPEG2 stream with the video, and this stream works just like any other video you download in that your PC will send the appropriate sound/video to your preferred playback devices in Windows Control Panel. Doesn't matter if you are watching live TV or a recording: it's always the same MPEG2 stream.

For standard cable, you do not need any sound inputs. In this case the sound comes in the cable jack just like the video.

For digital cable or satellite, you will be connecting your existing STB (set-top box) to your PVR-150, and this can be done either via standard cable (low quality), composite+stereo audio (medium quality), or s-video+stereo audio (best quality).

For stereo audio cables, you've either got a 1/8" mini jack like on a walkman or 2 RCA jacks. AFAIK all PVR-150's include a 1/8" mini jack for the IR receiver of the Hauppauge remote, and this has nothing to do with audio. Make sure you look at the audio jacks closely or check the *input* connections in a features list to be sure. Conversion cables between 1/8" mini jacks and 2 RCA jacks are very inexpensive in any case.

Thanks for the great response. I see you're running Vista 64. Did you have any problems loading drivers and software for the card on it? Have you used this card in linux before? And can you compare the WINTV-PVR-150 card to the ATI AIW 7000 (or another AIW series card)?

 

[nullpointerus]

My Vista 32 setup was completely fine. My Vista 64 setup is *usually* fine, but occasionally it experiences this odd problem of massive stuttering and 100% CPU usage for some unknown reason. A reboot cures that, but it does make scheduled recordings a real hassle since I must remember to check whether it's working before the scheduled recording starts. I have one more thing to try before I can say it's Hauppauge's driver problem.

For both Vista 32 and 64, PVR-150 drivers are included and automatically installed by Windows Setup. Vista Home Premium includes Media Center. Setting up software and drivers takes a few minutes as you have to enter your zip code and configure the TV guide and such...otherwise, it's as easy as it gets.

I have no idea how it works in Linux as I haven't tried it there. I do have FC6 installed ATM, so I'll reboot and see whether there's any out of the box support for the card.

Quality is probably *much* better than older TV cards from the Radeon 7000 series. Still, it's SD, so it will never be as good as DVD or HD on a computer monitor. Playback quality depends greatly on which decoder is used. Using PureVideo or the Vista Media Center decoders will produce a very good quality image; there are probably some other good decoders out there if you look for them. I think Hauppauge has a link to a decent, free Intervideo decoder on their PVR-150 drivers page.

And, compared with the AIW cards, the hardware encoding on the PVR-150 means that recordings take almost no CPU time. If you can record to a separate drive than your OS/documents drive, then you won't notice recording at all. Otherwise, game load times and other HDD-intensive tasks will be somewhat longer. Extra hard drives are cheap these days, and eBay has some decent used drives.

 

[nullpointerus]

I rebooted into Linux and installed some kind of TV viewer, but the PVR-150 drivers weren't installed by default.

Hauppauge driver page links to an open source driver project called IVTV where you can d/l appropriate drivers.

 

[v8envy]

I've been an extensive user of happage PVR-150 cards (plural) in my linux-based DVR for several years now. The box has been 'in production' as the only way my family views television. There's an easy way for you to play with this card with Linux -- download and install Knoppmyth.

Ubuntu may have usable versions of the hauppage drivers, but I haven't checked.

The ivtv drivers don't come with most linux installations out of the box, and if they do they may be ancient beyond description. You also need the firmware (comes with knoppmyth) off your windows driver disks if you're going to roll your own rather than just use knoppmyth.

 

[BMW2000z]

Great. Thanks a lot nullpointer for checking it with linux. I've read that the drivers for the 150 do come loaded with the latest ubuntu, but i've also heard that it didn't work for some people and it took a little work for it to work ok. I'll check out myth and ivtv when i get this card. Thanks again for the help!