Best tuner type for OTA HD reception

[dale_ander]

Any suggestions?

Note I don't care about getting any signals other than OTA via an antenna on my roof.

There are USB tuners, there are PCI tuners, there are PCI-Express tuners, and I'd like to pick well this time.

There's even this HD Homerun thing which people seem to like - but I don't see that SageTV says it specifically supports it - it does though I guess.

I have some Fusion tuners. They keep causing my PC to crash, so I need to replace them. I want to pick something that will work well this time, as well as do a good job of pulling in OTA ATSC signals. Hopefully as good as my TV. The Fusion tuners do a fine job of pulling in the signals, they just have bad driver software appararently.

Any tips on brands, specific models, etc. would be appreciated.

I do want a total of 3 tuners. (More would be okay.) I see boards with dual tuners that seem attractive, but since they probably split the signal internally, I'm not so sure they'd do a good job for me.

FYI My motherboard has three PCI slots available and I think two PCI-Express slots open. I'd just assume keep everything in the PC, but if the tuners in the USB type hardware are better, I'd go that route.

Dale

[stanger89]

HD Homerun.

[cncb]

I have 2 HDHomeruns and while they seem to pull in signals pretty well I have been burned twice now by lockups in the HDHomerun which caused me to miss recordings (once by a brief power outage and recently by a firmware bug).

So, I'm considering going back to the internal route again. Are there any comparisons of tuner "quality" of the various cards?

[freedml]

I have 3 HVR-950Qs and I live in a 'fringe' area. With lots of amplification on the antenna they tune the signals well. I occasionally have problems with the weakest station or two that we watch regularly which I hope will improve when the digital transition is complete. No hardware or software issues, and no network or control issues since they're attached to the server via USB. One of them was not nearly as good as the other two, which you would only know if you have more than one, and Hauppauge was very good about exchanging it under warranty.

[pjpjpjpj]

The HD Homerun is listed in the Sage compatibility list - look under "SiliconDust" (the manufacturer) alphabetically.

The HDHR lockup thing was (from what it appears) a one-time thing, due to changes in the firmware and compatibility with Sage. There have been numerous firmware changes in the past that have caused no problems. But the new version no longer requires channel scanning in the HDHR software, which is nice - you scan directly in the SageTV software and that's it.

As for lockups with power failures... well, I suppose you should have the unit on a UPS, same as (most of us do) with the server PC itself. So I guess that could be a "disadvantage" of it not being internal.

As I always mention, an advantage of the HDHR, being a network device, is that you can locate the unit near your antenna and cut down on the length of lossy coaxial cable run, possibly saving the need for an inline amp. I put my HDHRs on a small high shelf in my second-floor linen closet, immediately below the attic antennas. Instead of what would have been about 75 feet of coaxial (a huge signal loss) to get to my server, I have no more than 10 feet or so.... and then nice long CAT5e runs.

[Wirenut]

HD Homerun.

Even with the recent firmware issue, it's still a great tuner. I've had mine for six months and it has been rock solid for HD and Sage. I use one tuner for Clear QAM Cable and one for OTA HD. It's a dual tuner and each can be configured individually for Cable Clear QAM only, or OTA with an antenna.

I'm glad I bought it.

Wirenut

[DaveW42]

+1 for HDHomeRun. The lock-up issue was handled very quickly via a firmware update. From what I can see, the Silcondust people do monitor this forum, and they responded to questions when it occurred (i.e., they were open about it and didn't run and hide). I think that means a lot.

I have 2 HDHomeRun's (4 tuners) and am just waiting for NewEgg to drop the price so I can pickup a third unit.

[Taddeusz]

The only two problems I've ever had with my HDHR were first the power supply which was replaced pretty quickly. And second a firmware update which would cause the HDHR to fail to renew it's DHCP lease upon expiration. A beta update fixed that problem. It's been solid ever since as long as its getting a good signal.

[PiX64]

Hands down --- HDHomerun all the way

[dale_ander]

I found 3 of the VBOX USB style tuners (3650s?) at Microcenter last night for only $35 each. They have the HD Homerun too, but if these work I'll have saved quite a bit of money, and if not and can retur these and try the HD Homerun.

I really wanted the VBOX PCI card but the only place I could find any was on EBAY and used! Weird.

I'll let you know how it works out.

Thanks for the feedback.

[jarredduq]

Originally Posted by dale_ander

I found 3 of the VBOX USB style tuners (3650s?) at Microcenter last night for only $35 each. They have the HD Homerun too, but if these work I'll have saved quite a bit of money, and if not and can retur these and try the HD Homerun.

I really wanted the VBOX PCI card but the only place I could find any was on EBAY and used! Weird.

I'll let you know how it works out.

Thanks for the feedback.

I bought one of those at Microcenter, and found it not to be a good fit for Sage. I would get breakups every 10-15 seconds. I now have an HD Homerun and Pinnacle 801se connected to my outdoor antenna, and also have a Happauge 950q connected to analog Comcast.

[sic0048]

I had several ATSC (which is technically what OTA broadcasts are) tuners in the past before ending up with the HDHomeRun (HDHR). I tried a couple VBox Cat's Eye USB tuners and they did not perform well with anything except very strong signals. I also had the MyHD HD-130 which was a great card at the time, but had a weird proprietary driver which meant you could not use it with any third party software (like Sage or MCE).

I finally got a HDHR and absolutely love it. It picks up signals very well - even if the signal strength isn't perfect.

It is network based, so you don't have to worry about compatibility issues that plague many of the internal cards.

It has two tuners built into one unit - very cost effective when comparing it against new generation ATSC cards. The HDHR tuners allow you to have 2 ATSC, or 2 QAM, or 1 ATSC + 1 QAM tuner. Most dual tuners have 1 ATSC and 1 QAM tuner only. This means you generally have to get 2 separate tuners if you want 2 ATSC or 2 QAM stations.

It also has great support. While people have though highly of the HDHR since it came out several years ago, Silicon still is actively improving the unit with new firmware updates. It was good originally, and it keeps getting better with age. Not many people can say that about their internal tuner cards.

I think if you polled people here, you would find 9.5 out of 10 people would recommend the HDHR to others if they own it themselves. That makes a pretty compelling story if you ask me. I personally would not recommend any of the other ATSC tuners I have owned in the past - only the HDHR.

[vikingisson]

Interesting that HDHR. I have a question about channel change delay. My only experience with external tuners is an STB via s-video and the delay is much longer than changing channels on the internal tuner card. I assume that is the live-tv recording delay. Same with an HDHR?
If the HDHR acts like having two internal ATSC tuners then the price is fairly competitive (but I'm in Canada so prices generally suck for things like this).

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by vikingisson

Interesting that HDHR. I have a question about channel change delay. My only experience with external tuners is an STB via s-video and the delay is much longer than changing channels on the internal tuner card. I assume that is the live-tv recording delay.

The delay there is due to the transmitting of the IR to the STB, that can only happen so fast or it will be missed. There's also the time it takes the external tuner to respond, and the encoding delay all piled on top of each other.

Same with an HDHR?

No, the HDHR is just a tuner. It works like a tuner, not a remote controlled STB, because it's not a remote controlled STB, it's a tuner that uses ethernet instead of PCI.

[dale_ander]

So far so good with the 3 VBOX 3650s hooked up via a powered USB Hub.

It may not be pretty, but my system hasn't crashed like it did with the Fusion cards.

The reception by the VBOX tuners is fine too!