From what I have read here, it sounds like the PVR 250 works out of the box with little or no configuration and the PVR 350 will work with lots of configuration.

Will both cards allow me to watch TV and record 1 channel at the same time on a TV set.

Is the picture quality the same or better on the PVR 350?

my turn to answer this one.....

the 250 is a capture card only...the 350 adds video out. Each can capture a single stream at a time. the 'extra configuration' has to do with getting the 350 output working. setting up the input for either the 250 or 350 simply work 'out of the box'

decision between boards is based on your need for an output option. I use a 250 and output via a separate nvidia graphics board

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R5F1 - Dell P4 2.4Ghz 500MB - PVR250 x 2 - GeForce FX 5200 - Onboard sound/NIC 80GB ATA/250GB ATA/400GB SATA

These are FAQ questions. You should have been able to find the answers in the FAQ, on the Wiki, or by searching the Forum:

http://knoppmythwiki.homelinux.org/faq/
http://knoppmythwiki.homelinux.org/
http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/search.php

For example:

http://knoppmythwiki.homelinux.org/index.php?page=TVCards

As for your questions...

250 = Tuner + MPEG2 encoder
350 = 250 + MPEG2 Decoder + TV Output

Configuring either card to record is painfully simple. Setting up the TV Output on the 350 is more difficult.

The recording quality is the same. The playback quality using the 350s TV Output is supposed to be "best of breed". With a 250 your output will either be via a video card or some external device which most likely won't be as good.

You can only watch or record one thing per tuner, and both cards only have one tuner. When you watch TV via the PVR it actually records the signal into a cache buffer which is then played back as a recording. This is how you can pause, rewind, ff (if you're behind real time), ... Your TV has a seperate tuner which you can use for watching live (without the magic) while the PVR is recording just like a VCR can record a different channel than what you're watching. You can also add more PVR cards...

If you've got a cable box you're out of luck. Because it's tuner becomes your limiting factor.

I actually had a reply 95% written and killed my browser window with a finger fumble... As you can imagine I said a couple bad words in a loud voice Sigh...

Thanks for the quick and expert feedback. -Lots of information in many places.

I thought the problem with the 350 was that it only allowed playback of things it records, and thus is rubbish if you want to watch DVD/DIVX/etc?

It has an MPEG-2 decoder, DVDs are also MPEG2. To display anything else (like DIVX) means going through the frame buffer driver which isn't the best.

So how difficult is it to get a 250 *and* a 350 working in the same box? I don't have a video card with TV-out so I figured I'd just go for the dual-tuner setup and use the 350 for video out.

it will be just as hard as it is to get the 350 working. multiple tuners is not really much harder than a single tuner, but the 350 will be a challenge in any setup.

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Have a question search the forum and have a look at the KnoppMythWiki.

Xsecrets

Getting the 350 working was moderately straightforward for me, but it's not 100% stable. Here is my conversation with myself about my installation .

Well I'm going to try getting everything working tonight. Hopefully your info will make things a little smoother. Thanks.