Product Description

Watch one channel while recording another with the WinTV-PVR-500MCE and Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. WinTV-PVR-500MCE contains two complete TV tuners, each with their own hardware MPEG encoder!Ever want to watch the ball game while your favorite late night TV show is on? Well, with WinTV-PVR-500MCE, you don't have to choose which show to watch. Just set the Media Center Edition to record that late night TV show while you continue to watch the ball game, with full PVR capabilities. Pause live TV, replay and skip forward, all while your other TV show continues to be recorded to your PC's hard disk.

Product Details

• Brand: Hauppauge
• Model: 1081
• Dimensions: 1.50 pounds

Features

• PCI-based digital video encoder and recorder designed for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and, with limited functionality, Windows XP
• Features 2 NTSC TV tuners, each with its own hardware MPEG encoder so you can watch one channel while recording another
• Pause live TV, replay segments, and skip forward, all while your other TV show continues to be recorded to your PC's hard disk
• Audio/video inputs (including S-video) accommodate external sources like camcorders, cable boxes, and VCRs
• FM radio reception

Customer Reviews

Great piece of hardware
GREAT card, two tuners, high image quality, easy to install and configure. Works as a charm in Windows Vista Home Premium.

Outstanding
For the last 3 years i have been using SageTv and a PVR-500 to record TV to my computer. In the past, I have used several Hauppauge products; the PVR-500 is by far the best product I have used. I had 1 card break (trauma due to moving) and I happily replaced it with another PCR-500.

It works as advertised, does most of the processing on the card so that you can easily record two programs at once while having enough RAM (374 RDRAM) to use other programs.

Several recommendations I would make after several years of using this card:
- Buy a remote: If ordering OEM it does not come with a remote. I highly recommend the Firefly remote control. Or you can get the MCE package that comes with a standard windows remote that cannot be programed, but works.
- I highly recommend using 2 hard drives. 1 for the OS and 1 for recording. This greatly reduces lag/artifacts that sometimes get added to the recording. It also eliminated the rare crash.
- Card works well in a piecemeal computer. Need very little RAM or processing power.
- Get a Video Card with a video out (S-Cable is most common) that way you can hook the tower up to a TV (much better than computer screens)
- For broadcast TV you don't need a fancy soundcard.... only has to handle stereo broadcasts. If you want to turn it into an entertainment center (DVD, Blueray, hook in your PS3), but a nice soundcard so it will interface with your surround system!
- Works best on XP SP1/2. Have tried on MCE and Vista.
- SageTv >>> all others

Only Vista compatible Dual Tuner
Price is a little high but it is the only card out there that I could find that allows be to record two shows at the same time with only a single coaxial cable input.