Yep. I actually have used both the Hauppauge PVR 250 and the PVR USB2. The hardware seems to work fine. I actually use Beyond TV by Snapstream instead of the software that comes with them. I've also used the PVR 250 under MythTV which is a freeware solution for Linux. MythTV really rocks - especialaly for the price, but is a real pain the rear to set up.
It would probably be helpful if we knew what your current setup looks like, how much you are willing to spend, how do you plan to use it, etc.
Here are a couple general thoughts:
- (IMO) You want to make sure you have (at least) a HDD that you can dedicate to this purpose.
- The HDD should be on it's own controller.
- You want to have a card that does MPEG2 encoding (like the two listed above).
A lot of this depends on how you are going to use it. For example, do you plan to use the PC while it is recording? Do you plan to play back on the PC? Do you plan to play back on the PC while it is recording? How many shows do you want to be able to record at once? Do you want to play back from another computer? Do you want to play back to a TV? What is your level of computer experience? What is your level of patience? Etc.
-john
p.s. There is a good forum just for this:
AVSForum.com