How about looking into a Theater 550 Pro-based card?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16815117603
The software installation process will be much less hassle. You also get a 5-line comb filter and 16MB of on-board memory for buffering. The 550 cards are low-profile, so they will allow more airflow or fit in HTPC cases.
If you have a Pentium 4 with HyperThreading, you DO NOT want the Hauppauge cards. The software doesn't work well with HyperThreading, which has to be disabled to avoid software lock-ups.
I guess the only negative is the lack of A/V I/O and the jack for an IR eye ( if you get the one with a remote ). The 550 Pro cards come with an A/V I/O breakout box. With the right PVR software ( like Beyond TV 4 ) you can use the breakout box
to connect to a satellite receiver or cable box and record / tune channels using the A/V input instead of the coaxial.
I have owned both Hauppauge and Theater 550 cards. I would have to say that the picture quality is slightly better with the Theater 550 cards.
If you plan to get some type of PVR software instead of trying to do it for free, visit the Snapstream ( makers of Beyond TV ) site. They were giving away a FREE Firefly ( $50 ) remote with the purchase of the Beyond TV 4 software ( $70 ).
You can set up a PVR for free by using TitanTV, which is web-based, but it requires you to set up the Task Scheduler service and forces you to use Internet Explorer as your browser ( Firefox doesn't work ).
