I am going to build a box, and I had 2 main questions. First, I am going to buy a brand new capture card. What one should I buy? I would like to see a mid-range costing card, and then take a look at the best one possible any suggestions would be awesome ( I don't have HD available in my area:( Platteville , WI, stupid college). Also, how does everyone hook up their setups to their TV's? Through SVideo or what? I do have an HDTV but it doesnt have DVI or HDMI in. Any help would be greatly appriecated.

I went with a Huappage PVR-150 since Huappage seems to be the best supported. It works almost out of the box with KM. You have to add one line to a config file, but that's it. As for connecting to the tv, I'm using a 6600 card that has a dongle containing Composite, S-Video, and Component. I'm usin' composite right now as my tv's S-Video connection is already in use an' I haven't gotten a cable for Component yet. I figure I'll switch to DVI once I get an HDTV.

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KM R5E50; K8NGM2; A64-3800+; 1024MB PC3200; LG DVD-RW; Seagate 750GB; 6600 PCI-E; Onboard sound; Hauppauge PVR-150

So does anyone ever watch recorded stuff on their TV if they are using svid or composite because i would think the quality looks terrible

I have three front ends, all subtly different and they all work awsome from a video quality standpoint which is what you are asking about.

Dragon01 - I'm using a KRP Dragon 1.1 spec'd system that is hooked up to a 55" Sony Grand Wega HDTV (720p). I am using the Componant inputs on the TV. I send the video out the SVGA connection on the computer into a converter which changes the signal to componant. HDTV looks awsome on it. I was watching women's beach volleyball a couple weeks ago on it...I was a happy camper. However, watching analog channels from the PVR500 or PVR150's looks rather poor because of the low resolution being stretched to the higher resolution of the display.

Dragon02 - Also a KRP Dragon 1.1 spec'd system, although this one is connected to an older Sony 32" SD CRT tv via s-video. I still play HD recordings on it, and it also looks fabulous. What I like about this system is that I can also watch the SD stuff on it and it looks pretty darned good. And if I watch the HD stuff, it looks even better.

Epia01 - This is an Epia MII-12000 based mini frontend that I only use to watch SD broadcasts. It is connected via composite(yellow RCA plug) to a 27" sd tv. The SD stuff looks just as great as it does on the Dragon02 system, but this little guy just doesn't have the umph to play HD recordings. This box is slated for replacement, as the wife gets annoyed not being able to play HD recordings on it. (this system is in my bedroom and occasionally we like to finish watching a program in bed rather than sitting in a chair in front of the big screen.)