Wow! that's exactly what is was looking for E , cheers for the in-depth breakdown that'll help me decide which to get.

Coast - thanks man I was kinda swaying towards the c281 but really liking the Hauppauge prouducts too , both seem reasonably priced.

I'll be using a standard laptop nothing extravagant (think it's a Samsung) will there be any problems with that? I've got an external harddrive too (1tb) not sure if that's useful?

Cheers again for the replies , it's appreciated lads.