Opinions of Hauppauge WinTV PVR 500 (TV tuner)?

[Jonathan Bones]

I'm looking at the new dual-tuner Hauppauge PVR television card, the 500 MCE. I'd be using it with a third-party PVR application, not MCE itself. Does anyone have any experience with the card, or know of any reviews?

I purchased my first TV card a year ago, an MSI TV Anywhere Master. I wasn't impressed with the card itself or MSI's support. I've been looking at the Hauppauge cards as I want something with hardware encoding (I only have a P4 1.5 GHz), and was surprised to find that the 500 was out, and costs little more than the 250.

My intention is to watch and record standard cable on my computer. (Not interested in outputting to a television, or anything.)

Your advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Jonathan Bones]

At this point, I'm trying to decide between the following three models:

WinTV PVR 500 MCE whitebox/OEM (the third-generation card with dual tuners): $189 CAD (That's $150 USD, or £80 GBP.)

WinTV PVR USB2 retail (basically the external version of the second-generation 250, includes remote): $149 CAD ($120 USD, £63 GBP.)

WinTV PVR 150 MCE OEM (the standard third-generation card): $86 CAD ($70 USD, £36 GBP.)

Anyone have any experience with Hauppauge tuners?