I'm looking for recommendations on a non mpeg capture card (no pvr-x50's, m179's, etc) to act as my second tuner. I am subscribed to both DirecTV and my local cable company. I currently am using an ATI TV Wonder VE. At the moment, I can only record video AND audio from the ATI TV Wonder from one of these sources due to the lack of btaudio on the card. The card also does not provide any patch-thru type functionality for audio.

I would like to add an inexpensive capture card that is capable of stereo audio via btaudio. This would be nice so that I wouldn't have to add an additional soundcard.

I don't plan on recording from both software encoding cards at the same time, so performance shouldn't be an issue. My setup is AMDAthlonXP 2200+, 512 meg ram, 120 gig, ATI TV Wonder VE, GEForce2 video out, onboard lan/sound.

TIA

I'm pretty content with my Leadtek Winfast 2000/XP. The cards works great for me.

Ns

Thanks Netsurge. Did you get btaudio working? I found this 'googling' around:

From [mythtv-users] DRAFT of proposed new FAQ (or HowTo section):

Leadtek Winfast 2000 XP TV. Video capture works with this card, which uses
a bt878-compatible chip. Audio requires using a jumper to a sound card;
btaudio does NOT work.

btaudio does not work on the leadtek.

I think the only cards that do work with btaudio are the tvwonder non ve and the older haupagge cards, good luck finding the exact ones you need. By the time you do the price will probably be as high as the m179 hardware card.

Yeah, the more I look it seems my options are quite limited. I guess I might just have to go the additional sound card route. I've got a few spares in my junk bin.

Has anyone added a second sound card to their myth box? Is it hard to get up and running?

Yes I have. I have two Winfast Cards and i'm using my built in sound card on the motherboard and a second sound card in one of the PCI interfaces. It took quite a bit of tinkering to get working right I must admit.

Ns

Can you ellaborate on 'tinkering' (ie what kind of pitfalls can I expect)? I'd like to know what I'm getting into. I'd hate to get a capture card that needs another soundcard and not be able to get the additional sound card to work.

Thanks

I am currently using two Haupauge! WinTV 401 cards for capture. While I do have a patch cord so I can watch TV while the first card is recording, it is not strictly necessary. btaudio does work, and is where the recording of audio for the second card is coming from.

I have notes in my Tier 2 explanation for how I got everything together and working. Of course it is all about to come appart for a coupl of pvr cards and a second hard drive.
-Rusty

_________________
Master:
- AMD 1800XP on a MSI KT4V motherboard, via KT400 bios
- 120 G Segate Baracuda /, /cache, /myth, swap
- 200 G Segate Baracuda /myth/tv
- 3 Haupauge! WinTV PVR250s
- 19" Daewoo Monitor (1280x1024 ni)

I really like the quality from my Pinnacle PCTV Pro, however i've had no luck getting btaudio to work on it...