Average TV tuner card with hardware compression

At the time this was released the two most popular cards seemed to be the 550 based ATI cards and the Hauppauge 150. Both dont have QAM. Hauppauge later added a series of cards with QAM like the 1600 and others.

ATI has since come out with the 600 and 650 which adds ATSC but as far as I know still doesnt have a QAM card. There were many 550 cards sold at the time. It's a typical hardware compression card that works with Media Center. To work with MC you need a MC compatible remote control.

So basically this only works with non-HDTV. It can work alone via the tuner getting analog or non-HDTV cable with a cable box and media center.

This card was hyped as being more advanced than the Hauppauge 150 but many people preferred the Hauppauge 150. Some people claimed the 150 had some problems with blurry action which the 550 didnt have. On the other hand, some people preferred the Hauppauge and some the ATI in terms of picture quality. The ATI also was noted for getting quite hot and it uses a non-mechanical tuner which has an annoying lag. The Hauppauge on the otherhand has the usual sniok-snick, quick TV tuner changing action.

You can use the usual poor ATI software that comes with it or the excellent free GB-PVR or SAGE and Beyond TV which you have to pay for. With GB-PVR you have to find a source for TV scheduling info for your region. Cable TV firms should offer this for free to subscribers but they dont. There is a pay service that was started up to fill the void after ZAP2IT shut off free access. The firm is called Schedule Direct for something like 20 a year.

The best interface is Media center and that can work with analog TV via the cable or non-HDTV via the cable box. Some systems have big problems with ATI software. A system I installed it on when I first got it was trashed. I had to reinstall Vista. Newer versions have been much better.
If you can find this for dirt cheap its an OK card but you can often find the Hauppauge 1600 and the newer 1250 PCI express QAM cards on sale which would be a better deal.