Newer computers and less slots... what capture methods???

[Brent94Z]

Hey Guys,

I've gone through a couple old motherboards in my Sage HTPC. I keep finding older motherboards because they are the only ones I can find that have enough PCI slots to hold my 3 PVR250 cards along with the regular stuff. I simply use a splitter to put the coax cable to the 3 PVR250 cards.

I know the way I'm doing this is a bit outdated but am curious how you guys are doing things? I'm out in the boonies so over the air HD is not an option for me and I don't really want to pay for a bunch of cable boxes.

What are the best options out there for having say 4 tuner/capture devices for recording just regular cable over coax? Are my PVR250 cards a thing of the past considering the lack of PCI slots (and just slots in general) in newer motherboards? Right now I'm "OK" with my setup but if my motherboard goes out again, I'd like to move up to something a bit newer than 2004 tech

[GKusnick]

You could trade your 250s for dual-tuner PVR500s and use half as many slots. But you'll have to get them used since they're not made anymore.

Or you could go to external USB tuners. I'm pretty Hauppauge makes a hybrid digital/analog USB tuner, but I don't know the model number offhand.

[Brent94Z]

I know Hauppauge made a USB PVR USB2. I have one but don't even have it hooked up. LOL I suppose that could be a good solution... just use a few of those... no internal slots to worry about

[Grasshopper]

HDHomerun for the win here. Works like a dream, and it's just another device hanging off your switch, no PCI slot at all.

[Spectrum]

HDHomerun will only do ATSC and QAM. It's not a valid option for recording an anlog cable signal.....

[mayamaniac]

HDHR is the way to go if you only care about the free network channels, and you get both SD and HD.

[Menehune]

The HVR-2250 is a dual channel PCIe card. I use two cards which gives me 4 tuners. I specifically got a motherboard with 4 PCIe slots so I could expand if needed.
I use all the tuners to record off my analog cable feed. I haven't set any up to record digital.

[Brent94Z]

Originally Posted by Menehune

The HVR-2250 is a dual channel PCIe card. I use two cards which gives me 4 tuners. I specifically got a motherboard with 4 PCIe slots so I could expand if needed.
I use all the tuners to record off my analog cable feed. I haven't set any up to record digital.

Thanks for the recommendations, guys. Much appreciated!

The above HVR-2250 looks like the best option for a newer motherboard thus far... at least for me since I'm only able to record off a coax cable.

I actually have an HDHR but my cable company doesn't give me anything "good" on it when plugging in the cable directly and I'm too far away from a main city to get over the air. However, this was about a year ago so maybe it is time I plug in the HDHR again and see what there is to see

Thanks much guys!

[tmiranda]

Beware. The HVR-2250 has a driver bug that causes the timeline on some recordings to get messed up. Sage support and Hauppauge support are aware of the issue.

[Brent94Z]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

Beware. The HVR-2250 has a driver bug that causes the timeline on some recordings to get messed up. Sage support and Hauppauge support are aware of the issue.

Thanks for the heads-up. Hopefully when I come to the point of needing to upgrade this will be resolved but I'll keep it in mind for sure. Thanks!