Recommendations on dual tuner for HDTV OTA

[lmoseley]

I am still at the planning stage here... I know that I will be getting a HTPC case with a microATX mobo, so only two available slots after the video card. I'd like to be able to record two over-the-air HDTV programs at once. And maybe the ability to record an analog cable show (or two) in needed. Probably not more than two recording at once, but two would be common.

So, I need two analog tuners and two OTA HDTV tuners, and the fout need to be on no more that two PCi cards, prefereably the short cards (to fit in the HTPC box).

One dual HDTV and one dual analog cable?

Two combo cards, one HDTV and one analog per card?

Specific brand recommendations?

Any need to worry about the HDTV "broadcast flag"? Do any of the current crop of HDTV cards have that so-called "feature" waiting to bite me on the rear when Hollywood gets its way?

Any help appreciated...

[Fluffdaddy]

HdHomeRun

http://www.silicondust.com/wiki/products/hdhomerun

Just got it two weeks ago and loving this thing

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by Fluffdaddy

HdHomeRun

http://www.silicondust.com/wiki/products/hdhomerun

Just got it two weeks ago and loving this thing

I agree. I got mine last week (still haven't added to my sig). It is the way to go for Dual HDTV (whether QAM or OTA).

[NEOSG]

hdhomerun rocks. very easy and rock stable.

Did notice slightly longer channel changes when moving from Sage 5.x to 6.x

[lmoseley]

Your're talking about the external unit that connects to the PC via Ethernet?



I would have never guessed that one.

[jprine01]

Yeah get one of those! I have 3!, 1 using dual OTA at one location, 2 using dual QAM digital cable.
They work great, my friends cat eye dual pci-express OTA tuner doesn't look any better.
Save your PCI slots for analog capture cards etc. I have a Nvidia Dual Tuners in one, and PVR-500 Dual tuner-Capturing from Set top boxes in the other system. They both are dual tuners on one PCI, so you could have 4 analog tuners in there if you wanted. With the PVR-500 it only has one set of S-video/Composite/Audio in on the back, the other set is on a bracket that takes a expansion slot.

[jprine01]

If anyone is looking for a plainish black HTPC case that takes full size ATX I have one of these: nMEDIA HTPC 400BA @ Newegg
I have a huge 8600GTS video card and a full atx board everything fits good. Only 3 3.5" HD bays though. It looks slick takes a little time to put together you need to go in the right order.

I'm sure there are much better ones but I was looking for a roomy full-atx case that is as short as posible without spending over 100$ish, and this thing only measure 5.5" tall or so with the feet.

Any of the ones with vertical power supplyes were out of the question for me, I don't have that much room.

Oh yeah I forgot to say the it is rather quiet even with all the fans on the back, the only thing i can hear is my CPU fan when it speeds up from heat.

[FJC]

I'll toss in another vote for the HDHomeRun. I just built a new SageTV box, after running my two-analog-tuner older one for a few years. I wanted the new one to be HDTV capable, but didn't want to just throw away the pair of PVR-250 analog cards I have. However, the nice case I use doesn't have a lot of room for a large motherboard.

So, I stuck with a micro-ATX motherboard with just a pair of PCI slots. Put the analog cards in there, and ordered an HDHomeRun. It's run like a champ for the past 2.5 weeks, and setup of the HDHomeRun was easy as could be.

[lmoseley]

So you can record two OTA HDTV programs without overloading the 100-speed Ethernet line? Can you also stream other things at the same time?

I guess I don't know what bandwidth recording uses...

[werneral]

Just contemplating making the move to HD and ran across this thread. The HD Homerun seems like an easy solution, but I'm not sure I'm following how it would connect to my PVR PC. Does the HD HR output each of its signals via Ethernet? If so I assume that an Ethernet connection is needed for the HD HR in addition to the connection for the PC via a network as opposed to a direct connection between the two.

Could someone confirm?

TIA,

Al

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by werneral

Does the HD HR output each of its signals via Ethernet? If so I assume that an Ethernet connection is needed for the HD HR in addition to the connection for the PC via a network as opposed to a direct connection between the two.

The HDHR does output via ethernet. Just plug the HDHR into your existing network router/switch and your all set.

[kricker]

Anyone try this with a setup where the sage PC is wireless and the HD HomeRun is connected directly to the router?

[Fastrack]

Originally Posted by kricker

Anyone try this with a setup where the sage PC is wireless and the HD HomeRun is connected directly to the router?

From what I've read Wireless does not have the bandwidth to sustain streaming 20Mbit/s - average size I've seen for OTA 1080i - It can in theory approach 40Mbit/s.

[mikesm]

i'll add another vote for the hdhomerun. ethernet is so much easier than dealing with all the PCI niggles and such. Save your slots for analog tuners and go with the hdhomerun.

Thanks,
Mike

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by Fastrack

From what I've read Wireless does not have the bandwidth to sustain streaming 20Mbit/s - average size I've seen for OTA 1080i - It can in theory approach 40Mbit/s.

Yah, I've heard that with both tuners going, you can more than max out a wireless connection, and thats at it's theoritical 54 Mbit/s max data rate, which seems to be around 20 or so in the real world, and thats not really stable enough for video streaming.

If you need to get wireless to the PC and cant run Cat5 from the PC to the router, there are still ways to get cat5 from the PC to the HDHR. You could set up a second NIC in the PC and run a second network for just the HDHR, or better yet would be to get a multi-port wireless bridge. Set the bridge to do wireless to the router for the internet and then plug the PC and HDHR into it. I've heard that some routers can be easily reconfigured to act as wireless bridges.

[technazz]

Originally Posted by ke6guj

You could set up a second NIC in the PC and run a second network for just the HDHR.

Now its been a while, I have this same setup my HTPC has wireless card to my router downstairs so my Ethernet port is free. So how to configure my free ethernet port for my HD homerun? On its own subnet?

I just ordered an HDHomerun and hooking it up was an afterthought


Technazz

[othy]

Originally Posted by technazz

Now its been a while, I have this same setup my HTPC has wireless card to my router downstairs so my Ethernet port is free. So how to configure my free ethernet port for my HD homerun? On its own subnet?

I just ordered an HDHomerun and hooking it up was an afterthought


Technazz

That is exactly what I do. You'll have to set up a small DHCP server on your Sage box to do this. There's one available over on the HDHR forum, but I can't get it to install on my system. I'm running this one:

http://www.magikinfo.com/dhcp.htm

It's a simple setup and my HDHR has been rock-steady for months.

Tim

[subslug]

I wished I would have seen this thread before I ordered the pcHDTV 5500 tuner. This thing would have been a lot easier to get setup.

Looks like there might be a 5500 card on Ebay soon enough....once my new toy arrives.

Thanks for the tip everyone.

[kricker]

Originally Posted by ke6guj

.... or better yet would be to get a multi-port wireless bridge. Set the bridge to do wireless to the router for the internet and then plug the PC and HDHR into it. I've heard that some routers can be easily reconfigured to act as wireless bridges.

Now there is a good idea. It would solve a few issues for me. I need to look for a multi-port bridge now. I doubt they make 'em in the MIMO variety.

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by kricker

Now there is a good idea. It would solve a few issues for me. I need to look for a multi-port bridge now. I doubt they make 'em in the MIMO variety.

They aren't common. One of my clients uses a couple of them to span the wherehouse floor to separate areas that needed multiple computers but didn't want to run cat-5. I don't recall the brand.

Here's one, http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...Tab=0&NoMapp=0

I also thought that there was a brand of routers out there that could be put in bridge mode, but don't recall the brand of that either