Hardware encoder ATSC tuner card?

[David G]

I'm looking to get over the air HD. Are there any tuner cards with hardware encoders for that signal? Dual tuner, ideally.

I've found several dual purpose cards (ATSC + SD digital cable) with a hardware encoder, but when you read the fine print, the encoder is only used for SD recording.

I have an old SageTV box with an Athlon 3400+, and I think it would be borderline for recording two HD signals at once - common occurrence with my Sunday nights shows .

So - does that beast even exist?

[stanger89]

ATSC is an MPEG-2 transport stream to start with, no encoding is done at all, the transport stream is just saved to disk (well the right subchannel is pulled out and it's saved as a program stream).

[David G]

Ooooooh I did not know that!

Does this means it's very light on the processing? If so, why do they give these rather scary minimum specs - to run their bloated software?

[freedml]

I have 3 digital tuners and you can barely tell (by system usage) whether they are recording or not.

[wrems]

If you haven’t already, take a look at the HD Homeruns. They have dual digital tuners, and work great for capturing OTA HD. Plus, you don’t need a PCI slot. No analog though, purely QAM and ATSC.

[David G]

Originally Posted by wrems

If you haven’t already, take a look at the HD Homeruns. They have dual digital tuners, and work great for capturing OTA HD. Plus, you don’t need a PCI slot. No analog though, purely QAM and ATSC.

I'll take a look, but I do have at least one free pci-express x1 slot in my box, so I think I'd rather go that route to keep it all inside. But thanks for the tip, I will definitely check it out.

[alfi33]

Originally Posted by David G

Ooooooh I did not know that!

Does this means it's very light on the processing? If so, why do they give these rather scary minimum specs - to run their bloated software?

The scary minimum specs probably have more to do with playback than recording.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by David G

Does this means it's very light on the processing? If so, why do they give these rather scary minimum specs - to run their bloated software?

It's for playback. Playback of HD is quite resource intensive (though modern video cards or extenders basically elminate that).

[David G]

Originally Posted by stanger89

It's for playback. Playback of HD is quite resource intensive (though modern video cards or extenders basically elminate that).

Makes sense; I'm all good since I use an HD100. I can play 1080p material without a hitch.

[MattHelm]

Originally Posted by David G

I'll take a look, but I do have at least one free pci-express x1 slot in my box, so I think I'd rather go that route to keep it all inside. But thanks for the tip, I will definitely check it out.

If you are thinking of the 2250, I'd give it a second thought. The tuner in the HDHR is MUCH better.

[David G]

Originally Posted by MattHelm

If you are thinking of the 2250, I'd give it a second thought. The tuner in the HDHR is MUCH better.

I was thinking of the Avermedia duet. Any other recommendation for an internal card?

[Clift]

David,

Do you have gigabit networking? If not I would advise you stay away from the HDHomerun for one reason:
Recording 2 shows OTA at the same time and watching another show (even if it is one of the ones being recorded*) will stress a 100 mbit connection. And, if you are running your HD100 through a router vs a switch the problem then the problem can quickly rear it's ugly head. I found this out the hard way, and my streams were QAM.

With that being said, i wouldn't be afraid of the HDHomerun and it being external. It can be placed anywhere and is by far (leaps and bounds) the BEST digital tuner out there. Hands down!

*remember, even if you are watching one of the channels being recorded it still has to go from the HDHomerun to your SageTv box and then out to the HD100.

[wrems]

I haven’t noticed any performance issues on my regular 'ol 10/100 network with my HDHR. I can record 2 hd shows and playback just fine all at the same time. Regardless, I am going to gigabit soon.

[David G]

I do have a gigabit switch - it's not plugged in right now but I could use it if I go the HDHR route...

Thanks Clift really good info there.

[Clift]

Originally Posted by wrems

I haven’t noticed any performance issues on my regular 'ol 10/100 network with my HDHR. I can record 2 hd shows and playback just fine all at the same time. Regardless, I am going to gigabit soon.

Yeah like I said, this was using my router, not a switch.
But it is something to consider, I think. And it may be that it was my computer's NIC moreso than the router/switch/actual throughput capability of a 100mbit network. But in any case, I have not had any similar issues since going to gigabit.

[David G]

When it comes to tuning quality, are there any head to head comparisons between the homerun and internal cards (wintv, avermedia)? I'm curious if the homerun really is that much better - or maybe it is a factor only if you have a weak signal?

I'm still leaning towards pci-e card. I do have TONS of boxes - I really don't need another one.

[wrems]

Also you will want to take into account where your OTA antenna is. If it’s in the attic and the server is in the basement and it takes you 50 feet of coax to run a line down from the attic then you might be in trouble with any of internal pci card. You lose a lot of signal through that coax. The HDHR has the clear benefit of being able to be installed very close to the antenna connected by only a few feet of coax which will help you maintain a very strong signal. Obviously you’ll need to make provisions for a cat5 drop, but the signal quality won’t be lost through the cat5 like the coax…

[freedml]

If the antenna itself is amplified then the coax run to the tuner is less of an issue.