Best non-PVR tuner card for 64bit Win7 / Comcast box??

[kkelley929]

What is the best (non-pvr) card for tuning a Comcast box? I am running Win 7 (64 bit) w/ 4Gig of DDR3 RAM, i5 processor.

I have an HD-PVR which seems to be working fine except for the looong delay when changing channels. My son keep swiping it to record his xbox sessions, however. I am going to just get another HD-PVR at some point...

In the meantime, I was thinking of buying a second non-pvr tuner which I was planning to add to the system at some point anyways. I am hopeful this new tuner will run a little cleaner and be better for channel surfing than the HD-PVR.

Thanks in advance!

[Tiki]

Not sure what you mean by "non-PVR".

Do you mean "not made by Hauppauge", "not an HD-PVR", or "not part of their PVR series", or something else?

Does it need to record in HD? Do you care if it is external (USB or Ethernet), or internal (PCI, PCIe)?

HD-PVR is currently the only solution that records full HD (720p/1080i) from a cable/satellite STB and is supported by Sage. Avermedia has a competing HD-PVR, but it is not supported by Sage yet (perhaps in the future?).

If you don't need HD, there are several solutions that can record from a STB in SD (using composite or S-Video), including the Hauppauge HVR-2250. This is a PCIe card that installs inside your PC.

[kkelley929]

I guess I mean "not the HD-PVR". Don't care if it is internal or external. My goal is to be able to view HD Cable through Sage TV. I was hoping to find something that would use the same "blaster" approach to control the Comcast box.

Don't care which brand. I am just looking for quality and something makes channel surfing quicker thatn with the HD-PVR. If it happens to have upside additional functionallity then that is fine as well but not required.

I will eventually get another HD-PVR to replace the one my son keeps using. At that point, I am hoping that I would have the HD-PVR to record HD and the other tuner to channel surf...

Thanks!

[stanger89]

There's nothing else that can record HD from an STB in Sage.

[kkelley929]

What if I don't want to "record" but just want to "view" hd content from a Comcast STB?

[stanger89]

You have to record. There's no way around that other than connecting the STB directly to the TV.

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by kkelley929

What if I don't want to "record" but just want to "view" hd content from a Comcast STB?

You can't view something in sage without recording it, so this distinction is meaningless. If you want to view without recording, jut hook your STB directly to your tv.

[kkelley929]

Problem is I have lots of TV's. I am using sage to drive a signal to my secondary TV's where I don't want to pay rent for an extra STB. It is cleaner and cheaper to just use HD 300's in the long run ( forgot to mention the HD300s).

Just so I understand, you have to use the HD-PVR to view an HD signal that is from a STB? So, folks using all these other cards mentioned here are not watching an HD signal form a STB?

Thanks for clarifying this for me!!

[paulbeers]

Correct, the only device capable of recording HD content from an STB that is fully supported by Sage is the HDPVR. There are other devices out there, but they are not compatible with Sage (I assume support will come some day, but probably not until v7 is fully released and they have more time!). SD is your only other option at this time.....

[kkelley929]

Got it. Guess I'm just going to buy another HD-PVR and live with the long time it takes to change channels. Otherwise, I love how it all works!!

One last question, can I use mutipal HD-PVR's. So if someone wants they can watch a different channel on a different HD 300? I know SageTV supports mutipal tuners but am courious if things are different with the HD-PVR. I konw I will need another STB as well.

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by kkelley929

One last question, can I use mutipal HD-PVR's. So if someone wants they can watch a different channel on a different HD 300? I know SageTV supports mutipal tuners but am courious if things are different with the HD-PVR. I konw I will need another STB as well.

It's just another tuner*, so it works the same. You record using the HD-PVR and any client can watch it. I have 2 myself and I believe someone around here has 3 or 4.

[mechling-burgh]

Have you tried setting up Firewire recording. This works very well for me and I get most of my HD stations throught firewire. Also a HDHomerun may get the local stations in HD so you would only need the tuner box for expanded content.

[stanger89]

Being on cable you can also look into a QAM tuner, like the HDHomerun. This records directly off the cable line (no STB), but it limited in what channels it can recieve, how limited depends on your provider. Silicondust (HDHR makers) have a database on their website you can check to get an idea of what's available.

[Tiki]

Yes the HD-PVR is about the only thing that can record everything from the STB in full HD (up to 1080i).

Many other tuners will record everything from the STB, but will encode it as SD (480i).

Firewire may be an option for you. Requirements: Your STB must have a working firewire port, your PC must have a firewire input, you must be running a 32-bit version of Windows (there are no firewire drivers for 64-bit Windows). With Firewire, you can change the channels through the firewire connection, and record channels that the cable company has not locked-down. Some people report great success with this, others only get a handful of channels that aren't copy protected.

Also, you need a dedicated STB for this (you can't use the same STB that you are using for your HD-PVR). This should be obvious, but just in case, I thought I'd mention it.

Clear QAM is another option. This uses a tuner such as the HVR-2250 or the Silicon Dust HDHomerun (both of these devices are dual-tuner devices). Clear QAM does not use a STB at all. It can record any channel that you could tune directly with a newer digital TV. For most cable users this is limited to the locals and maybe a few extra channels. For others, you get most of the basic cable lineup - nobody gets the premium channels this way. You get a pristine recording in its original format. Some clear QAM channels are SD and others are HD.

Personally, I like the idea of mixing a dual-tuner QAM device and an HD-PVR. The HD-PVR gets all your premium content, and the QAM tuners get all your local HD stuff. For a lot of people, at least 50% of what they watch is on the local channels anyway. A dual-tuner QAM tuner is usually cheaper than a single HD-PVR and you don't need a STB for each one, so you save on the rental fees from the cable co.

[Spectrum]

For QAM/OTA these are pretty good tuners and the price is definately right.