What TV Tuner do you use? Help me make a list

[Brent]

Hi all,
I’m working on a TV Tuners for HTPC article and need some help from you. Please tell me in the comments the following:

1. What HTPC Software do you use? Which version/OS too
2. List the TV Tuners you use with your HTPC
3. Optional – which TV Tuners that you’ve used are your favorite versus least favorite.

I can take your comments here in this forum or on the blog comments at GeekTonic. Thanks for your input!

[drewg]

1) SageTV V6.6.2 *and* MythTV 0.23 on Ubuntu 8.04. Have played some with 7MC as well.

2)
a) BBTI/TechniSat AirStar-HD5000-PCI
b) DViCO FusionHDTV5 Gold
c) Pinnacle PCTV HD Card (800i)
d) KWorld UB435-Q USB ATSC TV Stick
e) Silicon Dust HDHR rev2

3) I love the HDHR in that no drivers are required, and it has excellent signal monitoring, and excellent support from Silicon Dust. However, it is by far the worst ATSC tuner I own, and exhibits severe multipath issues. The HDHR will have problems where any other tuner above will not. It forced me to go up in my attic, and move my antenna for the first time in 5 years.

The Pinnacle is excellent. Very cheap (got it from woot), and uses very little power. Probably has the best reception of the bunch.

The UB435 is a pain. There are no QAM BDA drivers, so you can't do QAM with 7MC (which is why I bought it -- to play with 7MC). The only linux drivers are experimental, and have to be built from a special DVB tree. But they work fine with QAM.

Drew

[ace007]

Sage 7.0.11
2 x HD HomeRuns (4 tuners)
2 X Hauppauge 1600s

The HDHRs are my favorite since they can provide both SD and HD digital quality from a network based tuner. Unfortunately since they are clear QAM they cannot get all chanells so I use the analog inputs on the 1600s to feed in the rest of the line.

[graywolf]

Sage 6.6.2
XP SP3
2x Hauppauge 1600s
2x DirecTV Sony SAT-B50 STB

[Slingshot72]

1) SageTV 6.6.2 on XP SP3

2) Ive used the following tuners:
Hauppauge WinTV Nova-T-500 PCI
Cinergy 2400i DT

3) Currently only have the Cinergy card installed as was having trouble with Standby/Hibernate and the Nova-T-500. The Cinergy has been a fantastic card and Ive had not trouble since Ive installed it well over a year ago.

[HelenWeathers]

SageTV 7 on two servers - one is Vista, one is Win 7

Each has two AverTVHD Duet cards (four OTA ATSC tuners).

Love them (replaced Hauppauge 2250s with the Avers, didn't need the analog)

[sic0048]

My system:
SageTV 7.0.10 running on WHS
1 HDHR (recording QAM from Charter)
1 Hauppauge HD-PVR (recording Dish Network)

My parents system:
SageTV 7.0.10 running on Windows Vista Ultimate
1 HDHR (recording QAM from Charter)
1 Hauppauge PVR-500 (recording analog cable from Charter)

The HDHR is normally rock solid after getting everything set up. Occationally upgrades/updates cause it to need to be set back up again which can be a pain.

I have a love/hate relationship with the HD-PVR. Normally it is stable with only an occational freeze (one every couple of weeks or even longer). I love it when it is working, but hate that I cannot trust it 100% of the time like I can the HDHR.

[tonaeli]

Sage 6.62 WHS

1 HDHR
1 hvr-1600

love the hdhr--rock solid--never any problems here

[wrems]

Sage 7.0.11 on WinXP Pro
1 x HD HomeRun
1 x AverMedia HD Duet A188 WB

HDHR hands down. I love having the option to put the thing anywhere on my network.

[Skirge01]

You said "tuner", so I'm guessing you don't want HD-PVRs, correct? In my mind, the "tuner" I'm using is my STB. Therefore:

1. On this forum, are there really going to be people not using SageTV? I guess it's possible. Anyhow, I'm using SageTV under WHS.
2. 2 x HDHR
3. The HDHR is my absolute favorite because it just works. Other than the firmware issue we had a few months back, it has been fantastic.

[HelenWeathers]

I forgot to mention my 2 HD PVRs attached to two DirecTV receivers. They have been so rock solid that I forgot to mention them.

[Rico66]

1. Sage (latest version on Win7) with
-HD PVR
-Avermedia M780 (OTA)

2. Windows Media Center (Win7) (this isn't really a HTPC, it's an office pc, which is used as a back-up system for OTA)
- Vistaview DA-1N1-E (I think this is the best OTA tuner out there, and I used to have this one in the Sage system, but moved it out, since it didn't play 100% nicely with Sage)
- Xbox 360 as extender

[Zippster]

Sage 7 on XP Pro sp3 - Server

2 HDHR's

1 ATI HD which I pretty much gave up on as it was always throwing communication errors....

[cncb]

1) Sage7, Win7
2) 2 HDHRs for OTA
3) Used Avermedia A180s in the past which were also good until I needed more tuners and ran out of PCI slots.

I'm thinking about trying a couple AverTV Duet cards as I've had a few occasions where I've had to "reboot" the HDHRs because they get into some unexpected, funky state where the tuners are shown as in use (when not tuning anything) or missing as far as the drivers are concerned.

[pjpjpjpj]

Latest Sage 6 on Win XP Home
2 HDHRs for OTA
Never had anything else, never had one problem (other than the HDHR power supply issues a few years ago which they quickly resolved).

Currently building a new server with Win XP Pro, and will have Sage v7 as soon as someone develops Dynamic Customizable Menus!

P.S. drewg - tuners do not create multipath, antenna locations and antenna designs do. If the HDHR has problems with multipath-like symptoms, it's more likely because it's a better and more sensitive tuner than your others, not because it's worse. If you are getting all your OTA signals from one direction, you should add a reflector to your antenna to help eliminate multipath.

[pot_pie]

Currently using two AverMedia Duets w/Sage 7 and Win7 64-bit + 2 HD200s. Running trouble-free since I set it up a few weeks ago.

I had been using a Hauppauge 2250 which gave me nothing but trouble on the Win7/Sage7 machine and on a WHS/Sage6 machine before it. I also had Hauppauge 1600 which worked fine with WHS/Sage6.

[RocKKer]

1. SageTV Server v 6.6.2 Ubuntu Server 9.10 (32 bit)
2. 2 X HDHR
3. HDHR are the only ones I have used, but have been trouble free.

[naln]

Originally Posted by Brent

Hi all,
I’m working on a TV Tuners for HTPC article and need some help from you. Please tell me in the comments the following:

1. What HTPC Software do you use? Which version/OS too
2. List the TV Tuners you use with your HTPC
3. Optional – which TV Tuners that you’ve used are your favorite versus least favorite.

I can take your comments here in this forum or on the blog comments at GeekTonic. Thanks for your input!

Sage V7 on Windows 7 Ultimate
HVR1600 and HDHR dual tuners
Least favorite was Plextor USB tuners and best so far is HDHR

[panteragstk]

SageTV V7, XP SP3.
Hauppauge 2250
Hauppauge 1600.

The 2250 is much betterh than the 1600. Reception on the 1600 is much lower. I have no problems with the 2250 at all. Going to get a second to replace the 1600. Or I may try an avermedia card. Maybe.

[mistergq]

SageTV V7
Windows XP MCE SP3
2 HDHR
2 HD PVR

Not sure I have a favorite tuner. Each have their pros and cons. Love the HDHR because of the ease of setup and use (not including the antenna issue). I love the OTA picture quality and sound quality. I will also probably be picking up a 3rd HD PVR specifically for QAM of the DC market stations from FIOS. I don't like FIOS QAM because the last time I used it, the picture quality and sound were subpar. The HD PVR are a necessity for non-network HD stations.