hauppage 1850 vs 2250

[lund0485]

I am upgrading my OS to windows 7 64 bit and my pvr350 wont work anymore, which board should I get the 1850 or the 2250?

[Naylia]

Well, what kind/how many tuners do you need.

The 1850 will allow you to simultaneously tune 1 analog (NTSC) channel and 1 digital (QAM or ATSC).

The 2250 will allow you to simultaneously tune 2 of anything (ie...2 analog, 2 digital, or 1 digital & 1 analog).

[davephan]

The Hauppauge 2250 is a good choice for recording SD programming. You need to have a PCI-E slot, which you probably do judging by your OS. I think there may be 64 bit drivers for the 2250. Two tuners on one card frees up more slots for additional tuners in the future too.

Dave

[lund0485]

I am going to tune a QAM and an analog cable.

[Naylia]

So both tuners support QAM and analog...I guess the question is, might you also want to tune TWO QAM channels at the same time or TWO analog channels at the same time. If so, you want the 2250.

[lund0485]

So is there any difference in ease of setup reliability etc with either of the cards?

[paulbeers]

I can't say anything about the 1850, but my 2250 is rock solid. It is great being able to required 2 digital channels if I am not recording anything in analog (and vice versa). As an "all purpose" card it rules.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

I can't say anything about the 1850, but my 2250 is rock solid. It is great being able to required 2 digital channels if I am not recording anything in analog (and vice versa). As an "all purpose" card it rules.

are you by chance also using a HD-PVR in conjunction with the 2250? If so, do you have any installation advice?

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

are you by chance also using a HD-PVR in conjunction with the 2250? If so, do you have any installation advice?

Yes I am. Honestly they were both installed at different times. I had my HDPVR installed first last summer and it was working flawlessly. Finally in February? I realized I needed more QAM tuners, so I added the HVR2250. I have two SD Dish Receivers hooked to the HVR2250 and 1 HD receiver hooked to the HDPVR and all are controlled via 1 USBUIRT. I didn't have to do anything special. I am not even sure what drivers I am running. I am not even sure I ran HWClear before I installed the HVR2250.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

Yes I am. Honestly they were both installed at different times. I had my HDPVR installed first last summer and it was working flawlessly. Finally in February? I realized I needed more QAM tuners, so I added the HVR2250. I have two SD Dish Receivers hooked to the HVR2250 and 1 HD receiver hooked to the HDPVR and all are controlled via 1 USBUIRT. I didn't have to do anything special. I am not even sure what drivers I am running. I am not even sure I ran HWClear before I installed the HVR2250.

well, if they're playing nice with each other, that's the important part. Any reason you didn't go with one of those HDHomeruns?

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

well, if they're playing nice with each other, that's the important part. Any reason you didn't go with one of those HDHomeruns?

I have an HDHomerun as well (which I love), but I needed something that could also be used for my SD Dish boxes as I wanted to dump my PVR500. Since the HDHomerun can only be used for digital capture, buying another HDHomerun wasn't going to fit my needs. It was also cheaper to buy an HVR2250 rather than an HDHomerun (but not by much).

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

I have an HDHomerun as well (which I love), but I needed something that could also be used for my SD Dish boxes as I wanted to dump my PVR500. Since the HDHomerun can only be used for digital capture, buying another HDHomerun wasn't going to fit my needs. It was also cheaper to buy an HVR2250 rather than an HDHomerun (but not by much).

with the 2250, my intention is to run my cable companies (Cox) coax into it to record HD QAM channels (the locals, basically). Can you record two channels at the same time, and do you need to split the coax feed, or does the 2250 do an internal split before channel selection and recording?

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

with the 2250, my intention is to run my cable companies (Cox) coax into it to record HD QAM channels (the locals, basically). Can you record two channels at the same time, and do you need to split the coax feed, or does the 2250 do an internal split before channel selection and recording?

Yes it can record to Digital Shows at a time and no there is only a single coax post on the HVR2250.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

Yes it can record to Digital Shows at a time and no there is only a single coax post on the HVR2250.

thanks - i'll check prices on that and the HDhomerun - sounds like they will both be able to do the job

[wayner]

What about s-video or composite inputs. Does the 1850 allow you to hook up these inputs? Does the 2250 allow you to hook up two s-video or composite? From the photos on Hauppauge's website I don't see how you could hook up two s-video or composite connections?

How good are the ATSC tuners for weak stations?

[wayner]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

Yes I am. Honestly they were both installed at different times. I had my HDPVR installed first last summer and it was working flawlessly. Finally in February? I realized I needed more QAM tuners, so I added the HVR2250. I have two SD Dish Receivers hooked to the HVR2250 and 1 HD receiver hooked to the HDPVR and all are controlled via 1 USBUIRT. I didn't have to do anything special. I am not even sure what drivers I am running. I am not even sure I ran HWClear before I installed the HVR2250.

Wouldn't HWClear wipe out all Haupauge drivers. If you did run it wouldn't that kill your HD-PVR's drivers?

[CollinR]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

thanks - i'll check prices on that and the HDhomerun - sounds like they will both be able to do the job

The HDHomeRun can't do analog at all, it's just an ATSC/QAM tuner.

Originally Posted by wayner

What about s-video or composite inputs. Does the 1850 allow you to hook up these inputs? Does the 2250 allow you to hook up two s-video or composite? From the photos on Hauppauge's website I don't see how you could hook up two s-video or composite connections?

How good are the ATSC tuners for weak stations?

There are headers on the board to have another set of inputs, looks like the same ones the PVR500 takes. Plus another header I don't recognize.


I haven't had any issues with mine either, QAM from Cox in Tulsa and my DVD changer on the Svideo.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by CollinR

There are headers on the board to have another set of inputs, looks like the same ones the PVR500 takes. Plus another header I don't recognize.

What sort of cable/connector do you need to attach to those headers? And does the 1850 come with everything needed for this?

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by wayner

What sort of cable/connector do you need to attach to those headers?

Because there isn't enough realestate on the HVR2250 for two sets of Svideo/composite connectors, it comes with a "daughter" board that has a second set of svideo/composite connectors that you hook into the HVR2250. You don't need any special cables. I have my two Dish 311's hooked to my HVR2250 for analog capture. Works fine. The only downside to the HVR2250 is that you can only capture two digital streams, 2 analog streams or one of each at any given time. So you can't capture 4 shows, only two. Sage does realize this and adjusts how it records things accordingly.

[wayner]

Thanks Paul - Newegg sells a version of the 1850 that is "board only". The other version, which is $15 more includes the MCE kit with remote, IR recevier, blaster, etc.

Would the "board only" version include this daughter-board? It doesn't show up in the photos that they post, but it also doesn't show up in the photos for the kit version either.

Here is the link to newegg 1850 "kit version" http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...-015-_-Product

And the link to the board only version http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...-044-_-Product