USB PCI Card & Hauppauge USB ATSC Tuner Sticks and/or HD-PVR - Do They Work?

[Savage1701]

Just curious if anyone has tried using some of the various USB-based ATSC tuners or an HD-PVR with a PCI add-in card, and if they have had success/failure/issues?

One CPU I am looking at using for a SageTV server only has a total of 4 motherboard-based USB ports, 2 on the back and 2 internal headers. I'll need one for a sound card and another for a HD-PVR and one for the front header on the server chassis. That leaves one for a tuner stick. I'd like to have a few more available if a PCI-based USB card will work.

I'm suspecting connecting a hub to one of the ports will cause all sorts of trouble, so I don't want to go that route.

Thanks for any info.

[Fuzzy]

Just get a USB 2.0 Hub. It'll work just fine... hubs don't degrade the capabilities of USB. In fact, odds are the 4 ports you already HAVE on your MB are from a single controller, with a 4 port hub.

[Savage1701]

Good point Fuzzy and now that I think about it, probably true. I guess I was more concerned that that was sort of like connecting a hub to a hub.

Thanks.

[GKusnick]

Hubs are designed to support daisy-chaining, more or less like Ethernet switches. You can extend the topology as far as you like, up to something like 128 devices total.

Do be aware, though, that some USB devices draw power from the bus, and your motherboard can power only a few devices that way. So if you're plugging bus-powered devices into a hub, make sure the hub has its own power supply.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

Hubs are designed to support daisy-chaining, more or less like Ethernet switches. You can extend the topology as far as you like, up to something like 128 devices total.

Do be aware, though, that some USB devices draw power from the bus, and your motherboard can power only a few devices that way. So if you're plugging bus-powered devices into a hub, make sure the hub has its own power supply.

Technically, I think the limit is a depth of 8, and max devices of 127.. you can't just keep extending lengthwise, but you CAN to up to 8 points between controller and device. Either way, you shouldn't have a performance problem associated with using a hub in this instance, the only issue you might have, as discuessed, is power. If you are using windows, you can monitor how much power each device on your USB chain is using by looking at the properties of the Hub in device manager. It will show how much power each 'compliant' device is using... keep in mind, some devices do not properly request/report their usage.. but good compliant ones do.

[Savage1701]

Thanks. Sounds like a plan. I've got a great Supermicro server that comes up strong everywhere but in the USB port department.

I will make sure it is a powered hub. That much I did know to do. I was just worried about daisy chaining.