Word is out that SageTV will begin a new beta version that includes EVR support soon. What is this EVR they speak of? The short of it is this: EVR, short for Ehanced Video Renderer is the next video renderer iteration after VMR7 and VRM9. Better support for playback timing and synchronation and more importantly it means hardware accelleration with h.264 content!
For those using the Hauppauge HD-PVR with a PC (and not an exender which handles playback perfectly anyway) this should offload the CPU and help with visual quality. Even if your like me and your dual-core computer handles the h.264 files well, this is still a good thing as it will allow your CPU's to worry about things other than rendering.
Note: EVR support comes built-in for Vista but to get it in XP you'll need to install .NET 3.5
via Andy VT's Blog