Instant HDTV PCI

[doublebogey]

Hi all. I'm thinking of installing this tuner from ADSTECH to grab the OTA HD signal. Has anyone used this with Sage, and if so, would you give me some feedback?

Phil

[tarsosis]

I'm using two of them in my setup and evertyhing appears to be working fine (recording wise that is). However, my setup is a little different than most. I have SageTV installed on a computer in a backroom with my two ADS cards installed in it. I also have server software installed on the system (Simple Media Server). I use network DVD players throughout my house to view the recorded HDTV. The only reason that I mention this is because my PC isn't directly connected to my Hi-def box. I do ocassional watch TV on my PC changing channels etc (works fine). However, I didn't bother to hook up the remote control.

PS
As I remember I had to reboot the system after I installed the card and drivers before SAGETV could see them.

[mike1961]

I'm curious - how do you get HDTV reception? Do you need an antenna on the roof or something?

Thanks,
Mike

[blade]

Originally Posted by mike1961

I'm curious - how do you get HDTV reception? Do you need an antenna on the roof or something?

Thanks,
Mike

Depends on how far you are from the broadcast towers. Some people only need a small indoor desktop antenna while others need a large outdoor one. Then there are us unlucky ones that can't get any OTA HD no matter what.

This site will tell you what type of antenna you need for your location.

[doublebogey]

Originally Posted by tarsosis

I'm using two of them in my setup and evertyhing appears to be working fine (recording wise that is). However, my setup is a little different than most. I have SageTV installed on a computer in a backroom with my two ADS cards installed in it. I also have server software installed on the system (Simple Media Server). I use network DVD players throughout my house to view the recorded HDTV. The only reason that I mention this is because my PC isn't directly connected to my Hi-def box. I do ocassional watch TV on my PC changing channels etc (works fine). However, I didn't bother to hook up the remote control.

PS
As I remember I had to reboot the system after I installed the card and drivers before SAGETV could see them.

I installed the card yesterday and had some interesting results. Sage saw the card and I configured it for antenna usage. Most of the channels had a signal strength of about 80%. Picture and audio were choppy or the signal was non-existent.

Just for yuks, I installed BeyondTV 4. The antenna was in the same position, and BTV reported signal strength on most of the channels at 95%. HD picture was clear as a bell.

In looking at Sage's tuner requirements, Instant HDTV pci isn't a supported card. Would this make a difference? Or... does BTV just do a better job of grabbing the OTA HD Signal?

Phil

[tarsosis]

SageTV and BeyondTV worked the same for me. I bounced back and forth between the two applications. However, as I remember the BeyondTV default settings resolution wasn't as great as SageTV and produced smaller files (due to lower resolution).

[doublebogey]

Originally Posted by tarsosis

SageTV and BeyondTV worked the same for me. I bounced back and forth between the two applications. However, as I remember the BeyondTV default settings resolution wasn't as great as SageTV and produced smaller files (due to lower resolution).

I made a couple of recordings in BTV. One hour show came in a little over 8GB. Still working on getting the card to get a signal in Sage. I'm trying a different antenna tonight.

[tarsosis]

Had a house full of relatives so I didn't get around to upgrading / rebuilding my PC until Tuesday. Well it would appear that I'm seeing the same thing that you are Beyond TV signal strength is higher that SageTV. This isn't really a problem for me since most of my stations under SageTV come in at 88% - 92%. However, my Beyond TV signal strength is 98% (on all channels).