Dual OTA Tuner

[tomrossi7]

I'm going back and forth over what tuner to purchase for a new media center. The AVerMedia AVerTVHD Duet is about half the price of the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250. I really just want OTA, so I don't care about analog and certainly FM. What does the community think?

Also, I've never set up a half-height card. Is it just replacing the metal slot cover?

Thanks!
Tom

[barnabas1969]

I don't know about the Avermedia card, but I have the Hauppauge 2250 connected to an outdoor antenna and it works well.

If you have a low-profile PC, make sure the card you buy comes with the low profile bracket (the metal slot cover). It's as simple as unscrewing the full-height bracket and screwing the low-profile one onto the card.

[Wolfshadw]

While I'd personally recommend the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250, I never had any problems with my AVerMedia AVerTV Combo PCI-Ex1 card. Looking at the reviews for the AVerMedia card you listed would tell me to stay away from that card.

-Wolf sends

P.S. If you're interested, (and based in the US), I might be willing to sell you my card.

[staknhalo]

I own a 2250, but also have a AVerTV Combo PCI-E in my 2nd HTPC (and that was my first Tuner). While it's not the exact card you're talking about, I've never had problems with the AverMedia card. I say go for it if it's cheaper. I would. I trust AverMedia's quality.

[dmagerl]

The Avermedia Duet used to have a problem with it disappearing when waking from sleep. I dont know if its been fixed but I havent seen any complaints on any forums lately. I and several others I know have the cards and have never had any problem with them. So if you buy one, make sure you have good return privileges, just in case.

[Kustom Kid]

I can't speak for the Avermedia card, bit when I was looking for an OTA card I saw a ton of poor reviews for it. I ended up going with the Hauppauge 2250. We've have had zero problems over the last year + that it's been in use. As far as the half height issue all you have to do is remove the full height brackets and replace them with the included half height ones. Very simple to do.

[josim]

I have the Duet and like it much better than the Hauppauge 950 USB tuner that I had. Better channel changing and signal. I not trying to compare a single channel hybrid USB tuner with the duet but, just saying.

IIRC the problem with the Duet was narrowed to some Asus motherboards. Those poor souls that had this problem could not resolve it. Odd thing is that my HP a6528a has a Asus motherboard and I had no problems with it. I now is in use on a Biostar MB and is still working well.

BTW, the duet had some drivers, maybe beta, from Avermedia that would allow it to work w/QAM signals in Vista. I never tried as I moved on to Win7.

Good luck with which ever you choose!