Hauppauge Computer WinTV-PVR-500 MCE-Kit Personal Video Recorder with NTSC TV Tuner $131.36 shipped

[Silly Burrito]

I've been on the fence about building my own PVR, and have been looking for a decent price on this card. I found it at Dell for $131.36 shipped. Since this is a two tuner solution AND it includes the remote and IR receiver, I think $131 is a pretty good price considering the remote runs around $35 at Newegg. I also think that this is a learning remote, so I may just have to give up my JP1 remote I have now. Also, while it says it needs XP MCE, I believe that it works with XP Home/Pro just fine from reading the reviews.

Now I just have to decide on Sage, Beyond, GBPVR, Meedio, or MythTV....

PVR500 Kit

Here's Dell's description:

Watch TV on your PC screen using Windows® XP Media Center Edition, digitally record your TV shows, or pause live TV with instant replay, and listen to FM radio with the WinTV®-PVR-500 MCE-Kit Personal Video Recorder with NTSC TV Tuner from Hauppauge®. This Kit includes a PCI board with 125-channel cable-ready TV tuner, and hardware MPEG-2 audio/video encoder. It also includes a Media Center remote control transmitter and receiver ('beanbag'). The board features composite, S-Video, and audio inputs to connect to a cable TV set top box or, satellite receiver. You can pause live TV with instant replay, fast forward and rewind. With the built-in dual hardware MPEG-2 encoders, you can record up to two TV channels at the same time to the disk using from 1-2 GB of disk space per hour of recorded video. While recording, the WinTV-PVRs' hardware MPEG encoder does all the work, so your PC continues to run at full speed. The included IR transmitter controls the channels on a cable TV set top box or satellite receivers. A dbx-TV stereo audio decoder ensures great TV sound while, the included A/V cable set helps connect to a second A/V input such as a satellite receiver or cable TV box.

 

[foolish501]

$131.25 at MWAVE but that's with a $10 rebate, and currently not in stock, so dell has the best price

 

[abre]

These cards are quite popular in the MythTV crowd. If you're considering a PVR, go Myth. It is open source and free and runs on Linux. They just released version 0.19 which is chock full of good features. I'm running the 0.18 version with the OEM PVR150 card which was about $50. I added the MS MCE remote and USB IR receiver for an extra $30. Getting two tuners in one PCI slot would be very nice - so this card is a good value.

 

[dboy]

OP, why not keep your JP1 remote and have IT learn the hauppauge remote... that's what I did (OFA 8910 remote) and it's great in meedio...

 

[Silly Burrito]

I may do that, but the remote here is more TIVO shaped, which I do admit I miss. The one I have now works well, but it's a bit clunky. If this remote has similar functions and can do what my JP1 remote does, then I may switch.

 

[bearxor]

I have one of these and it works awesome. Paid about 140 shipped from newegg for the version without the remote. Bought a seperate Microsoft MCE remote.

 

[Fritzo]

I'm doing MCE with it since I get it for free after my job pays for my yearly MS Action Pack subscription

 

[Mustanggt]

Does that card encode in mpeg4 and divX? this would be alot better as the Mpeg2 uses a ton of disk space. I have a ConverterX Usb that converts in Mpeg 2 and a 1hour standard play uses 1.7 gig. I have 3 hard drives and need to find a better DVR encoder.

 

[scootermaster]

If only it worked with just XP. :-( I'm looking to replace my AIW 9000

 

[TerryMathews]

Originally posted by: Mustanggt
Does that card encode in mpeg4 and divX? this would be alot better as the Mpeg2 uses a ton of disk space. I have a ConverterX Usb that converts in Mpeg 2 and a 1hour standard play uses 1.7 gig. I have 3 hard drives and need to find a better DVR encoder.

MPEG2 only.

2GB/hour isn't that bad, and there are certain other benefits - namely it's ready to go to DVD without any transcoding/reencoding.

 

[Silly Burrito]

Originally posted by: scootermaster
If only it worked with just XP. :-( I'm looking to replace my AIW 9000

I believe it does, scooter.

 

[BadThad]

Great card, nice price!

 

[TestGuyCT]

Buyer Beware !!!

It seems that people are not getting the remote control - see this thread from FW:

Thread


"It seems that Dell is sending out Manufacturer Part# 1081 instead of Manufacturer Part# 00253.
Manufacturer Part# 00253 is the kit with remote control.
Manufacturer Part# 1081 is the whitebox without remote control. "

 

[Abel007]

Nice price. Wish I had this instead of the PVR-150 cuz the shuttle only has 1 PCI slot.

 

[Navid]

I don't know enough about TV tuner cards.

What makes this better than this?

Thanks,

Navid

 

[XBoxLPU]

Originally posted by: TestGuyCT
Buyer Beware !!!

It seems that people are not getting the remote control - see this thread from FW:

Thread


"It seems that Dell is sending out Manufacturer Part# 1081 instead of Manufacturer Part# 00253.
Manufacturer Part# 00253 is the kit with remote control.
Manufacturer Part# 1081 is the whitebox without remote control. "

Which makes sense since $131 is a hot deal with the remote included

 

[imported_raulinigo]

Originally posted by: TestGuyCT
Buyer Beware !!!

It seems that people are not getting the remote control - see this thread from FW:

Thread


"It seems that Dell is sending out Manufacturer Part# 1081 instead of Manufacturer Part# 00253.
Manufacturer Part# 00253 is the kit with remote control.
Manufacturer Part# 1081 is the whitebox without remote control. "

This is true. I speak from experience. They keep claiming you get the remote/receiver yet ship card only. Many of us have gotten three shipments(original and 2 exchanges), all with the card only. Dell is being extremely difficult about the whole situation. I am going to keep having them ship me replacements until they realize that they are wrong (which is what they refused to admit everytime I call).

 

[nomadh]

I think I saw Beyond tv at frys for freee with mult rebates. I have it with a pvr250 card and I couldn't imagine anything more stable. I do horrid torturous things to my pc while recording and playing at the same time on my main mid level pc. Mpeg does take alot of space but beyond does showsqueeze to wmv that saves lots of space. MP4 would be nice.

 

[scootermaster]

Originally posted by: Silly Burrito

Originally posted by: scootermaster
If only it worked with just XP. :-( I'm looking to replace my AIW 9000

I believe it does, scooter.

Everywhere I see it says "Windows MCE required". Can anyone confirm this?

 

[XBoxLPU]

Originally posted by: scootermaster

Originally posted by: Silly Burrito

Originally posted by: scootermaster
If only it worked with just XP. :-( I'm looking to replace my AIW 9000

I believe it does, scooter.

Everywhere I see it says "Windows MCE required". Can anyone confirm this?

It will work fine with XP Pro/Home, you just need a third party TV application as well as girder for the remote to work. However BeyondTV seemed to able to pick up the MCE remote functions.

Under MCE, you need no other applications.

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_pvr500mce.html

 

[dorkbert]

This card is essentially two PVR-150MCE crammed onto one card behind a PCI bridge. Word around is that compatibility problem exists with some VIA based motherboards. People interested may want to do some research on the subject before sinking money into one.

 

[JasonCoder]

I'm in for one, I already bought an MCE remote (don't ask) so don't mind if it doesn't ship with one.

I'm really diggin MCE but I do have a couple of gripes. Mainly I wish it were more multiuse friendly. Like letting me pick which sound card to use so that I can have use of the machine for other purposes while I'm using it as a HTPC. Hopefully Vista will solve this.

Thanks OP.

 

[r3juilla]

Purchased one Wednesday 3/8/06. They quoted a ship date of 3/23/06. Seems a little slow! Thanks for the post OP.

 

[Silly Burrito]

My ship date is March 15. It's a bit slow to me, but hopefully that means that I'll actually get the full kit.

 

[elph]

Deal is dead. Now it's 145.95