Getting Started with OTA WMC

Help with tuners from ATI, Hauppauge, AverMedia and more.
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BillVa

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Joined: Tue May 13, 2014 1:25 am
Location: Redmond, WA USA

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Getting Started with OTA WMC

#1

Post by BillVa » Tue May 13, 2014 1:34 am

I'm an experienced systems builder (since 1975) and I've built a PC-based Windows Media Center system before, but not for a decade or more. I want to record TV shows from over the air (OTA) broadcasts but I can't find a tuner card (PCI Express) that can support more than 2 tuners. I've worked with Hauppauge (several versions) and they're okay but I would like more tuners/card. It's that simple. Do I need to add one or two more USB tuners? This seems messy. I had considered using a card like the Ceton 6-tuner but these require a 'cable card' from Frontier. I would even consider an external device of some kind but I would rather not.

Ideas?

TIA

William Vaughn
Author, Mentor, Dad

smcmillan2

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Location: Farmington, MI

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#2

Post by smcmillan2 » Tue May 13, 2014 2:23 am

Yeah, if you're looking to watch/record OTA the software possibilities are numerous, but hardware solutions are dwindling when it comes to more than 2 tuners on a given device. I am not aware of anything that provides 3 or more ATSC tuners on a single device, but putting multiple HDHR Duals on your network is one possibility. The Hauppauge 2250 tuners are another possibility. None of the Ceton products are ATSC tuners. And many of the USB tuners should work with WMC (I've read good things about some of the Avermedia products).

Is there a specific reason you prefer an internal card?

Are you tied to WMC? MythTV and many other solutions provide nice interfaces to TV/other media viewing/listening, if you're not limited by DRM. Only reason I ask is because you mentioned it's been awhile since you worked with WMC.

TeddyR

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#3

Post by TeddyR » Tue May 13, 2014 5:47 am

Multiple HDHR Duals is the way to go on this. Multiple USB tuners can get dicey and the reliability is NOTHING compared to the stability of the HDHRs vs USB.

With the HDHRs you would also need to worry only about one driver and that is has a known compatibility with multiple tuners on the same system. I have found that not all USB tuner drivers can detect more than one of its tuners on the system. [before my HDHR days I had 1 internal HVR and a 2-3 USB tuners from multiple vendoer and they were a PAIN to keep stable without dropping a tuner).

Also, with the HDHRs the HTPC does not need to have all the coax hanging off it. The coax can be tucked away nicely in a closet/attic with the tuners which then can be shared across multiple HTPCS if needed (all that is needed is the Ethernet to the switch). If you ever end up needing a cablecard and TA, then you already have the infrastructure and would just need to add a Prime (or next gen prime if its out by then). A single HTPC on a switched network with a gig card can handle multiple HDHRs easily.
Time is on my side.

Mike88

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#4

Post by Mike88 » Tue May 13, 2014 7:36 am

I don't know if you have 2 PCI-E slots available, but I use 2 of these dual tuner cards for a total of 4 tuners with WMC7.
http://www.avermedia-usa.com/avertv/pro ... spx?Id=474

They seem to be intermittently available on Newegg & Amazon for about $50. I also got one from ebay.

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