Most solid tuner card?

[APillowOfClouds]

I am currently using a dual tuner 500MCE (legacy card) and I'm getting tired of the Hauppauge driver/tweak dance. What cards are there out there that are not necessarily hi-def (I'm still on CRT's) and have been ultra-solid for people? Pls take a moment to reply and throw yours in the mix if you've had good luck i.e. no constant driver/firmware upgrades, no weird reg settings, no dropouts/timeline problems etc.

TIA

Rob

[Peter_h]

HD Homerun - hands down.

I've had one problem with it and it is very well documented on the forums. It was a bug with the HDHR reporting to their server and was fixed immediately.

Other than that, no lockups, ever. It just works.

[MitchSchaft]

Does the HDHomerun do regular ol' analog channels? I'd like to ditch my internal tuner and go with one of the HDHR's if I can.

[evilpenguin]

It doesn't do analog, but most cable companies these days seem to be simulcasting their analog channels as SD clearQAM channels which the HDHR can record. The quality vs. file size is really good comparied to regular SD capture cards. I get about 800 MB for a great looking 30 minute show.

[tahoetim]

I have one 500 and one 2250 in my server. I actually like the 500 better. I don't have issues and don't ever change/update drivers. I even considered buying a second 500 but the 2250 gives me future capability when my town goes digital next month.

I have a HDHR sitting in the box waiting for the July cutover. I would go with a 2250 if i were in your shoes.

[MitchSchaft]

Damn, I really wish they would do analog. I don't have that many QAM channels floating around and Comcast likes to make them disappear and reappear for days at a time.

[Brent]

For QAM the HDHomeRun by silicondust is the best. I have two (four tuners total) and LOVE IT!

For analog I use an older Hauppauge PVR500 dual tuner that has been rock solid for me for years. I don't expect I'll ever get another analog given the current state of CableTV though so that just might be the last one I own.

NOTE: I do own a Hauppauge USBPVR2 which is pretty good but not quite as solid as the other two mentioned above.

As mentioned above, once I had Hauppauge drivers that worked well (not including the HD-PVR in that mix) I never, repeat NEVER changed them.

[sic0048]

I recently installed a used PVR-500 card into a new Vista machine for my parents. I had no problems setting it up (downloaded the latest drivers from the Hauppauge site) nor do I have any stability issues with it.

For analog signals, I think the PVR-500 is hard to beat. It is getting hard to find now, but its a dependable workhorse with dual tuners. It seems that many of the current cards are hybrids with 1 digital and 1 analog tuner.

[freedml]

I have three Hauppauge 950Qs which have had no problems. They are USB, which makes them super easy to install.

[APillowOfClouds]

Thanks everyone for the input!

[markettwain]

I started out with a 500 MCE, but it gave me nothing but problems. I swapped it out for the 150 MCE (model 1042), and I've never had a single problem in three years. I don't know if you can find those anymore though.

[flavius]

My AverMedia M150 has been running 24x7 for at least five, probably closer to six years now.

[tahoetim]

I have my old 150 and 500 working together nicely with their original drivers from teh original disks that came with the cards years ago. My new 2250 works along side in a third slot, no issues. I bought the 2250 to replace the 500 or 150 somewhere down the road but I may leave it in the box and use it for Netflix.

IMHO, the 2250 is a modern 500.

[VikingCrown]

Kind of on topic, so will my 500 still work after the cutover to digital? i have a HDHR and it works great, just want to know if i should get another one or if my 500 will still work.

[APillowOfClouds]

Originally Posted by VikingCrown

Kind of on topic, so will my 500 still work after the cutover to digital? i have a HDHR and it works great, just want to know if i should get another one or if my 500 will still work.

If it's being fed by a cable box it will, if you have straight coax going in then probably not but depends on your cable company. We still get 2-13 and maybe a dozen other channels on straight coax but they are dwindling (I have NY Cablevision)

[VikingCrown]

well that stinks. Oh well guess i'll have to get another HDHR and hope the ammount of ClearQAM channels don't go down after the switch. I'd hate to get another cable box just to hook up to the 500 to make it work. Guess i'll just have to wait until July and see what the deal is with Comcast and go from there. Thanks for the quick response!