HDHomeRun Performance vs. Hardware Encoding

[heatvent]

I am considering a HDHomeRun but I am wondering if it uses significantly more PC resources than a hardware encoder (HVR-2250). Anyone try both? What is your experience?

[bits]

Originally Posted by heatvent

I am considering a HDHomeRun but I am wondering if it uses significantly more PC resources than a hardware encoder (HVR-2250). Anyone try both? What is your experience?

I am pretty sure the HDHR is a hardware encoder and does not use any of the PC resources to encode video.

[KeithAbbott]

I've got both. Either is a good choice from a cpu resource perspective. The decision to pick one or the other usually comes down to other factors, such as:

• Do you need support for analog cable? If so, the 2250 would be the best choice, since the HDHomeRun does not support analog.
• Do you have a motherboard with available PCIe slots? If not, the HDHomeRun would be the best choice.
• Both devices support two tuners. If you were looking to have one tuner for cable, and the other tuner for OTA, the HDHomeRun would be the best choice, as the 2250 only has one coax tuner input that is shared by both tuners.

There are other differences also. Best read up on the two devices and make your decision based on features.

[jasonl]

Hardware encoders only apply to analog content. For digital content, all tuners are roughly equivalent in terms of CPU use because the encoding is done by the broadcaster or cable provider and the tuner simply receives the stream, optionally applies some filtering, and passes it on to the application.