HdHomeRun - Our Answer to QAM?!

[evilpenguin]

Originally Posted by blade

OTA isn't possible for me and I'd love to just be able to get ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC in HD.

I'm in the exact same boat as you, that's why i'm so jazzed about all of this QAM stuff. Then again, i'm sure once it's working i'll wish I had more channels, but hey, one step at a time

[Deadbolt]

Originally Posted by blade

The HdHomeRun is a lot cheaper. It is a dual tuner that costs about the same as a single tuner OnAir USB GT.



Everyone says that, but what I don't understand is loads of people use OTA HD and no one says a word. When you mention QAM the first thing people say is you can't get HBO, Showtime, other premium channels, etc... I'm just curious what people are getting with OTA that is so great that makes it worth it and QAM not.

OTA isn't possible for me and I'd love to just be able to get ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC in HD.

OnAir's dual tuner will be about the same price as the single tuner...and you don't need another box. It fits in your PC.

For me OTA HD is like "might as well, it is free" which ups the satisfaction level. If I pay for digital cable I get HBO and the like. Not being able to record it kinda stinks...especially when the cable company will rent me an HD-DVR that will do exactly that...though without all the SageTV sweetness.

[ToxMox]

I bet there will be support for the HDHomeRun in Sage before we see this dual version of the OnAir. I can't even find anything about an internal dual tuner from AutumnWave. I'd like to see where you found this info if you still have the link Deadbolt. Granted I didn't look very hard

[salsbst]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

I'm in the exact same boat as you, that's why i'm so jazzed about all of this QAM stuff. Then again, i'm sure once it's working i'll wish I had more channels, but hey, one step at a time

ditto

[Morgan111]

Sounds like we will see it soon! This is the latest update on the HDHR Sage support:

New postPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2006 6:01 am Post subject: Reply with quote Back to top
Hi,

It currently works, we are going through a cleanup phase and finializing the user configuration program.

It won't be long.

Nick

[blade]

Originally Posted by Deadbolt

OnAir's dual tuner will be about the same price as the single tuner...and you don't need another box. It fits in your PC.

That's fine with me, whoever gets their product to market first will probably be the one I purchase. I've just seen nothing about the OnAir dual tuner yet so until then I'm assuming the HdHomerun is closer to having a dual tuner solution working with Sage. If I'm wrong and OnAir gets their's working first great. The sooner the better.

I just don't want to pay for a single tuner when hopefully I can get a dual tuner for the same price very soon. I don't really care who makes it.

For me OTA HD is like "might as well, it is free" which ups the satisfaction level. If I pay for digital cable I get HBO and the like. Not being able to record it kinda stinks...especially when the cable company will rent me an HD-DVR that will do exactly that...though without all the SageTV sweetness.

I guess I just look at things differently. If you have nothing but OTA and don't pay for cable I could see your point, but if you're paying for it anyway it makes no sense to me.

Many of us aren't able to do OTA so it doesn't matter. All of the broadcast towers are 40-70 miles from me and the last time I checked all were still broadcasting at very low wattage. So low that it can't be picked up more than 10-15 miles from the towers.

Many say QAM isn't worth it and OTA is great, but those people don't seem to realize not all of us live underneath broadcast towers or in markets where they're broadcasting HD at full power. For me some HD is better than no HD.

[akenis]

I'm way new to HD. Finally bought a Samsung LCD, and receiving OTA HD with rabit ears fine. So confused about recording in HD. Currently have one comcast digital box, and the other input of my 500MCE is analogue. What are my options for recording HD?

1. Pay $5 more per month for comcast digital box, and then set up sage for fire wire input. Not sure about 5c encryption. Are almost all of the channels encrypted? Will this only allow me to record/view broadcast HD via sage? So if I steal the comcast HD box to watch HBO in HD, then Sage might miss a channel change? Confused...

2. HD home run? Sounds like this box could add 2 additional channels for Sage. Does this box tune/output just the unencrypted channels as well..or will it gram HBO, etc.

3. A different type of tuner card HD 180? I guess this would just be for OTA as well?

Just looking for the best way to take advantage of HD and seeing how people have it set up...

Andrew

[Morgan111]

With the HDHR I can tune and set the PID filters for the channels I want with no problem. I could run this with Sage now if I could create a graph that uses a UDP stream for input. Anybody now how to do that with graphedit?? Oh so close...

[foolio]

HDHomerun -

"We are aiming for Friday for the first beta.

Nick"

Can't wait - just put in my order... hope it comes in time

[Polypro]

As soon as it works with Sage, I'll be buying as well. It's a no brainer...$170 for dual-tuner OTA/QAM with no slots taken or heat.

P

[blade]

Originally Posted by Polypro

As soon as it works with Sage, I'll be buying as well. It's a no brainer...$170 for dual-tuner OTA/QAM with no slots taken or heat.

Actually I'd rather have a pci or pci-e dual tuner solution, but I agree $170 for a QAM capable dual-tuner would be great. I've held off on purchasing the AutumnWave in hopes that this dual tuner solution will pan out.

[Kimper]

Yeah, this looks like a pretty good solution for qam unencrypted.
One question, though, are channel changes handled via the pc sending a comand to the unit via ethernet?

There appears to be an IR detector on the front of the unit. I hope IR is not the only way to change channels..

[Kimper]

What the heck. I ordered one tonight!

[malbec]

Care to help someone more ignorant than the rest of you?

What kind of horse power will I need to make this work (I am assuming it is software encoded)?

Just to clarify, I get regular old analog cable - I am Dutch and cheap and annoyed at the DRM crap to step much out of this world yet. However, this sounds intriguing. So, just to confirm, I plug my cable in and throw the dice so as to see how many unencrypted QAM channels I can pick up? Worst case, it is good for OTA HD (just need an HD extender then I suppose).

Thanks

[evilpenguin]

There's no software encoding nessisary with HDTV since it's already broadcast in MPEG-2 format. Because of that, simply recording it is not a processor intensive process, playing back, however, is another story. That'll require a minimum a 2 Ghz processor w/ a nvidia gfx card 6600 or above.

[evilpenguin]

Originally Posted by Kimper

Yeah, this looks like a pretty good solution for qam unencrypted.
One question, though, are channel changes handled via the pc sending a comand to the unit via ethernet?

There appears to be an IR detector on the front of the unit. I hope IR is not the only way to change channels..

All of the channel changing is done over the ethernet

[evilpenguin]

Originally Posted by blade

Actually I'd rather have a pci or pci-e dual tuner solution, but I agree $170 for a QAM capable dual-tuner would be great. I've held off on purchasing the AutumnWave in hopes that this dual tuner solution will pan out.

My PCI bus is starting to get a little crowded so I personally welcome off loading it onto another I/O system... that is provided my on-board Ethernet isn't on the PCI bus also

[tmiranda]

I 've been lurking in this thread for some time and like what I am reading about the HDHomeRun. I just joined the usergroup as well. One stipid question, how can I tell if my cable provider has any unencrypted QAM signals?

[Kimper]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

I 've been lurking in this thread for some time and like what I am reading about the HDHomeRun. I just joined the usergroup as well. One stipid question, how can I tell if my cable provider has any unencrypted QAM signals?

Not a stupid question at all. Here is the skinny.
It is the law that your cable company is not supposed to encrypt your local HD channels. However, some over at AVS forums have found that not all cable companies are adhering to this law.
As far as finding out if your local cable company is encrypting I can think of two quick ways.

1. If your HDTV set has a qam capable tuner you can just bypass your cable box and plug the cable right into the TV and try to tune teh HD locals.

2.If you are like me and your HD set does not have a tuner, then I would go over to AVSforum.com and search for your area/cable provider and read up on what the locals are posting. Most metropolitan areas have their own thread discussing local HDTV options in that area. Just type the name of your city into the search field and typically your first hit will be that thread.

I am sure there are other ways but those are the two I would try first. Calling the cable company and getting the answer would be a miracle.
They hire trained monkeys who only know stuff like how to add ppv charges to your bill.

[dflachbart]

Originally Posted by Kimper

It is the law that your cable company is not supposed to encrypt your local HD channels.

Actually, from what I have read in other threads there is no real 'law' or ruling for that, but in the end it doesn't make a difference anyway ...

Dirk