Ok, so I am happy with my Ceton InfiniTV, although I used to have 8 tuners I sold one because Comcast was getting silly with the fees. I dusted off some older ATI HD650's that I had and shoved those into the HTPC as well.
That is fine and dandy as they can pull down OTA and ClearQAM...but it means that I now have 3 pci-e slots taken up for only 3 tuners!! I was wondering if there are any good DUAL or QUAD tuner cards for use in the U.S. where both or all 4 tuners are digital and capable of being used simultaneously... as this would allow me to regain some pci-e slots for further use...
I ask this seeing some DVB-T2 tuners out there but struggled to actually spot someone stating they work in the US, they appear to be for other countries using a different broadcast standard than the ones in place here in the US.
Ok I also noted that I think Silicon Dust HDHR series does what I am looking for except networked, considering my mish mashed network I am not certain if this would be the BEST for my setup and am leaning toward's pci-e for this reason.
And while I am asking... does the SD HDHR Prime work without a cable card installed? I mean could I use a prime as a tuner for OTA and or ClearQAM as is without installing a cable card?
Quad or Dual tuner OTA - USA
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werds
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barnabas1969
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We don't use DVB for terrestrial or cable broadcasts in the USA. We use ATSC for terrestrial (OTA) and QAM for digital cable. We also use NTSC for analog cable. DVB is only used for satellite TV in the USA. In Europe, they use DVB-T (terrestrial SD), DVB-T2 (terrestrial HD), DVB-C (cable), DVB-S (satellite SD), and DVB-S2 (satellite HD).
The Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 is a dual-tuner "hybrid" card. It works well for all three (NTSC, ATSC, un-encrypted QAM). You can use both tuners simultaneously. It fits in a PCIe X1 slot. Some versions also have an FM tuner.
Many people also like the Silicondust HDHR3-US. It's a dual tuner that can be connected via Ethernet. It can tune ATSC (OTA) and clear QAM. It does not have an analog NTSC tuner, nor an FM tuner.
I have read somewhere that the HD HomeRun Prime can be used without a CableCARD. That would give you three clear QAM tuners, but it does not have ATSC (OTA) tuners.
The Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 is a dual-tuner "hybrid" card. It works well for all three (NTSC, ATSC, un-encrypted QAM). You can use both tuners simultaneously. It fits in a PCIe X1 slot. Some versions also have an FM tuner.
Many people also like the Silicondust HDHR3-US. It's a dual tuner that can be connected via Ethernet. It can tune ATSC (OTA) and clear QAM. It does not have an analog NTSC tuner, nor an FM tuner.
I have read somewhere that the HD HomeRun Prime can be used without a CableCARD. That would give you three clear QAM tuners, but it does not have ATSC (OTA) tuners.
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werds
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Awesome, looks Like I am buying a pair of hdhr3's then - will free up the pci-e slots and found a sale on them for 65 bucks!barnabas1969 wrote:We don't use DVB for terrestrial or cable broadcasts in the USA. We use ATSC for terrestrial (OTA) and QAM for digital cable. We also use NTSC for analog cable. DVB is only used for satellite TV in the USA. In Europe, they use DVB-T (terrestrial SD), DVB-T2 (terrestrial HD), DVB-C (cable), DVB-S (satellite SD), and DVB-S2 (satellite HD).
The Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 is a dual-tuner "hybrid" card. It works well for all three (NTSC, ATSC, un-encrypted QAM). You can use both tuners simultaneously. It fits in a PCIe X1 slot. Some versions also have an FM tuner.
Many people also like the Silicondust HDHR3-US. It's a dual tuner that can be connected via Ethernet. It can tune ATSC (OTA) and clear QAM. It does not have an analog NTSC tuner, nor an FM tuner.
I have read somewhere that the HD HomeRun Prime can be used without a CableCARD. That would give you three clear QAM tuners, but it does not have ATSC (OTA) tuners.
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barnabas1969
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You'll like them. You can locate them anywhere in your house that has a coax connection to your cable/antenna. They also require a wired Ethernet connection. It is OK to connect them to a network switch. They can also be shared by multiple PC's on the network.
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Whiznot
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This week I installed a HDHR3-US on my wired network and I can recommend the unit without reservations. I'd never previously added a separate tuner but my ancient VCR was a joke. There was a problem with WMC finding EPG information so I used GuideTool which worked flawlessly after I struggled to learn it. I just hope my cable company, Mediacom, never decides to encrypt all channels.
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blueiedgod
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Whiznot wrote:This week I installed a HDHR3-US on my wired network and I can recommend the unit without reservations. I'd never previously added a separate tuner but my ancient VCR was a joke. There was a problem with WMC finding EPG information so I used GuideTool which worked flawlessly after I struggled to learn it. I just hope my cable company, Mediacom, never decides to encrypt all channels.
And when they do encrypt your cable, all you will have to do is put up an antenna, and switch the HDHR3-US to ATSC from ClearQAM, and continue using them, and receive much better signal than you ever will with cable.
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aeblank
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One ota 1/2 hour show (news) for me is 4GB. How does cable compare?
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barnabas1969
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About the same either way for me. My cable company doesn't re-compress the OTA signals. Some cable companies do.aeblank wrote:One ota 1/2 hour show (news) for me is 4GB. How does cable compare?