Networked TV Tuner for SD cable?

[dinki]

We only have basic cable but would like to get away from using PCI tuner cards as these slots are getting fewer and fewer on modern motherboards and eventually I'm going to have to upgrade my system.

I'm looking for a networked TV tuner similar to the HD Homerun that works for regular SD cable signals (not QAM or Cable Card).

Does a device like this exist? If so, will it work with Sage?

[Boolah]

I don't know of any network enabled NTSC tuners, but if you can get by with a USB tuner, Hauppauge has a couple that might fit the bill: The HVR-850 and HVR-950Q are both USB tuners that do ATSC and NTSC. The 950Q comes with a [useless] remote control and will additionally do ClearQAM. Price difference between the two is about $15-$20.

[dinki]

Are the USB tuners any better than they used to be? I'm definitely not against them but in the past they seemed to need a pretty hefty cpu to use them. I'd like to have three tuners for NTSC cable channels. Can the USB bus handle that many devices recording at the same time?

[Tiki]

It's probably not worth investing too much money into this sort of solution - NTSC is no longer used for broadcast TV (OTA) in the US, and most US cable providers are phasing out their analog (NTSC-like) channels to make room for more digital content. If analog cable is still available in your area, it may not be for a whole lot longer.

[BobPhoenix]

If you have a 1x PCIe slot available then get a HVR-2250. It does all the same things as the 950Q does but is dual tuner and NOT USB.

[dinki]

Originally Posted by Tiki

It's probably not worth investing too much money into this sort of solution - NTSC is no longer used for broadcast TV (OTA) in the US, and most US cable providers are phasing out their analog (NTSC-like) channels to make room for more digital content. If analog cable is still available in your area, it may not be for a whole lot longer.

I don't buy into the phase out argument. I've been hearing that for years. In fact, here's what my cable company says about that it has no plans to do this so if it did change it's stance it would still be years in coming down the pipe.

[dinki]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

If you have a 1x PCIe slot available then get a HVR-2250. It does all the same things as the 950Q does but is dual tuner and NOT USB.

Check out my sig! haha I've already got one.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by dinki

Check out my sig! haha I've already got one.

See that now. I use 1 tuner on the 2250 for SVideo SD signals from my DirectTV STB and the two ATSC tuners for OTA. Once and a while I end up with a conflict because Sage wants to record SVideo and ATSC OTA at the same time on the same tuner but then I just connect up a spare 950Q I've got to take care of the conflict.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by dinki

I don't buy into the phase out argument. I've been hearing that for years. In fact, here's what my cable company says about that it has no plans to do this so if it did change it's stance it would still be years in coming down the pipe.

I agree, and even if they do phase out analog cable there will still be cable boxes with S-video outputs for a long, long time. As long as you are fine with SD content then this does have an advantage as you can get all of your cable channels and you don't have to deal with any DRM. The downside is that you are limited to 480i but that may be fine for some material, like kids' shows or older content that isn't HD in the first place, or if you don't have HDTVs.

The other device that you can use that doesn't take up an internal slot is an HD-PVR. It is a bit expensive but it works via USB and it does have s-video and composite inputs on the front. And you can always repurpose it to an HD capture device as it can also take component cables.

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by wayner

I agree, and even if they do phase out analog cable there will still be cable boxes with S-video outputs for a long, long time.

Cable Boxes are a different story. I agree - they will support analog output for a long time. But, that is different from analog broadcasting. When you use a cable box, you don't need a capture device with a tuner at all.

All of the major cable companies in the US are aggressively scaling back on their analog transmission. If you are a Comcast subscriber, chances are they already took away your analog channels and you need either a QAM tuner (for a limited number of channels) or some type of box or cable card. As long as you have one of their boxes though, you can probably use any TV made in the last 75 years.