HTPC Tuner Question

T

TimG

Gawd
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Jan 30, 2006
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I'm doing some research on HTPCs and I want a tuner to record TV.

I want to be able to record OTA HD, ABC/CBS/NBC/FOX, along with all the regular 1-99 channels I get on basic cable. I'd also like to be able to record two shows at once. I'm thinking about going with a mATX build while using video and sound from the motherboard.

Right now I stream my movies and TV series on my Xbox 360, so I can watch them in any room with a 360, using TVersity.
 
SC385 said:
+1 for the 2250
Click to expand...

+1. I own this card and it works great. Using it to tune cable channels though you might encounter some errors. I was able to tune them but unable to watch them. I am using Vista 64bit however which is known to have lots of issues with things like this. In my case I just hooked the cable up to the TV and recorded OTA DTV to my computer (since I only wanted the full seasons of regular TV channels anyway.)
 
Im not sure about the 2250, but usually mixing antenna & cable causes some issues. You'd need seperate inputs on the tuner, as well as you need to be able to configure the inputs as antenna / cable seperately since they are on different frequency bands.

I like my dvico tuner, but it only has one input that both tuners use, so wouldnt work for you.
 
Thanks guys, I'll look into the HVR2250.

I plan on using Windows 7 with this too, if that makes any difference.
 
Sorry to hijack your thread but I basically have the same questions as the OP and I thought it made more sense to post here.. Anyone have any experience with the Hauppauge PVR recorder box and can compare it to the HVR2250?
 
Box is great for recording because it records EVERYTHING without a problem however...its files are hard to edit as of right now. videoredo has an alpha though that is supposed to be able to cut these files easily.
 
TimG said:
Thanks guys, I'll look into the HVR2250.

I plan on using Windows 7 with this too, if that makes any difference.
Click to expand...

One thing to point out from your OP is that the 2250 cannot record both OTA and cable. It only has one input. You can either connect an antenna or cable, not both. Fortunately, most cable companies pass the OTA HD channels unencrypted over QAM. If your cable company does, the 2250 will do just fine. If it does not, you will have to look elsewhere for another solution.
 
DDR4040 said:
One thing to point out from your OP is that the 2250 cannot record both OTA and cable. It only has one input. You can either connect an antenna or cable, not both. Fortunately, most cable companies pass the OTA HD channels unencrypted over QAM. If your cable company does, the 2250 will do just fine. If it does not, you will have to look elsewhere for another solution.
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I guess I don't understand. I googled QAM and found a Wiki entry with a lot of formulas that I don't understand.

Right now I've got a cable running from the wall, split two ways. One into the back of the TV and the other into our Digital Cable box. Changing the input on the TV allows me to receive the OTA HD channels and when I want to go back to digital cable I just switch inputs back.

I know the TV has an internal antenna which picks up the HD broadcasts. You're saying I won't be able to watch/record both without physically switching the coax from the wall to an HD antenna?

Should I be looking for a dual tuner, with dual inputs? My cable provider is Charter Digital Cable if that helps. Thanks for all the advice.
 
Sorry if this is a little off topic, I am also looking for a HDTV tuner. I have Comcast digital cable in the Boston area, and I would like to be able to watch all the basic cable channels (1-125) as well as my HD channels (800-850). I have read posts about Comcast encrypting their HD channels though. Any suggestions? I just want to be able to watch HD channels on my computer.
 
cu2cool said:
Sorry if this is a little off topic, I am also looking for a HDTV tuner. I have Comcast digital cable in the Boston area, and I would like to be able to watch all the basic cable channels (1-125) as well as my HD channels (800-850). I have read posts about Comcast encrypting their HD channels though. Any suggestions? I just want to be able to watch HD channels on my computer.
Click to expand...

Your only option: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116030
 
TimG said:
I guess I don't understand. I googled QAM and found a Wiki entry with a lot of formulas that I don't understand.

Right now I've got a cable running from the wall, split two ways. One into the back of the TV and the other into our Digital Cable box. Changing the input on the TV allows me to receive the OTA HD channels and when I want to go back to digital cable I just switch inputs back.

I know the TV has an internal antenna which picks up the HD broadcasts. You're saying I won't be able to watch/record both without physically switching the coax from the wall to an HD antenna?

Should I be looking for a dual tuner, with dual inputs? My cable provider is Charter Digital Cable if that helps. Thanks for all the advice.
Click to expand...

You will be fine with a 2250. Your TV doesn't have an internal antenna, it has a built in QAM tuner. Your are mixing up your abbreviations. OTA stands for Over The Air, meaning the old rooftop antennas. QAM is the digital standard cable companies use to broadcast their signal through the wire. If you don't want to use a rooftop (or set top) antenna, you will be fine with the 2250. Just take the 2 cables from the splitter and run one to the cable box and the other to the 2250. You might also want to go to the silicondust website and plug in your zip code and Charter and see what their QAM lineup is right now.

The situation I described earlier is for people with a rooftop antenna and cable. People with a good signal on their rooftop antenna generally prefer to watch their local HD stations with that. They claim Comcast is compressing the local HD signals. They also want cable QAM for the national expanded basic channels. For those people, a 2250 will
not work, since you can't physically plug in both a rooftop antenna cable and a cable company cable into the 2250. The 2250 has one TV input and 1 fm radio input, that's it.
 
Thanks DDR :)

Here's what I would like to achieve, in around 6 months.

1.) Be able to record up to two channels at once (Two college football games, one HD(CBS) one SD(ESPN)

2.) Store recorded video on external HD, accessible by two Xbox 360s scattered around the apartment.

3.) Be able to use nice looking front end software to browse media like Media Browser on my HTPC connected to the living room HDTV.
 
TimG said:
Thanks DDR :)

Here's what I would like to achieve, in around 6 months.

1.) Be able to record up to two channels at once (Two college football games, one HD(CBS) one SD(ESPN)

2.) Store recorded video on external HD, accessible by two Xbox 360s scattered around the apartment.

3.) Be able to use nice looking front end software to browse media like Media Browser on my HTPC connected to the living room HDTV.
Click to expand...

That is all easily done with a $60 tuner card and a copy of Vista Home Premium or Win7 RC. You can set it all up from scratch in a single Saturday afternoon. The really pain in the ass and wallet part comes when you want to substitute HBO-HD or TNT-HD for CBS HD. There are 2 tiers of HD channels. You have your local network HD channels, that the FCC forces cable companies to pass along unencrypted. Almost any QAM enabled tuner card will be able to record these channels. Then you have the National HD channels like TNT-HD, ESPNHD, HBO-HD. Almost every cable operator in the country encrypts these channels. The only way to record them is with a CableCard enabled device like the ATI tuner, a Tivo or Moxi DVR. You can also go with an HD VCR device like the 1212 that you connect to the HD set top box you rent from your cable company. Like a VCR, it basically records whatever is playing on the STB. You can schedule recordings by using an IR blaster that changes the channel on the STB when your show is about to begin.
 
Right, but I don't even have the high tier HD channels. I do have SD HBO/Cinemax though. Are those encrypted as well?

I read an interesting article by Engadget where they installed a cable card into their PC and while I would love to do that, It's way too expensive for my budget right now. I just bought a 1TB Green drive and an external case. Next step will be an AM2 build for the HTPC. I also just found a buyer for a lens I've been trying to sell, so maybe this will all take place sooner than expected!

Again, thanks for all the help.
 
TimG said:
Right, but I don't even have the high tier HD channels. I do have SD HBO/Cinemax though. Are those encrypted as well?
Click to expand...
You have a cable box (STB), all you need to do is take the analog out from it to any tuner card (using svideo connection if you've got it) and that's all but you are going to need two STBs if you want to tune two channels.
 
I get clearQAM HD (abc, nbc, etc, and I record analog SD cable from basic cable.

I have a HDhomerun and a Haupauge (sp?) HVR-1600

I can watch a HD channel, record a HD channel and record and SD channel
or
I can watch a SD channel and record two HD channels at the same time.

with windows 7 the clearQAM and the HDHR was very easy and i get all of the OTA channels.
 
Adidas4275 said:
I get clearQAM HD (abc, nbc, etc, and I record analog SD cable from basic cable.

I have a HDhomerun and a Haupauge (sp?) HVR-1600

I can watch a HD channel, record a HD channel and record and SD channel
or
I can watch a SD channel and record two HD channels at the same time.

with windows 7 the clearQAM and the HDHR was very easy and i get all of the OTA channels.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the info.

Now this confuses me. The 2250 only has a TV in, while the 1600 has Analog Cable In and QAM Digital TV in. Wouldn't this make the 1600 superior to the 2250 because of the extra input?
 
No, because only one input on the 1600 and 1800 can be used at anytime.
 
TimG said:
Thanks for the info.

Now this confuses me. The 2250 only has a TV in, while the 1600 has Analog Cable In and QAM Digital TV in. Wouldn't this make the 1600 superior to the 2250 because of the extra input?
Click to expand...

While the 2250 only has one input it has two tuners in it....so you could

watch one show, record another

or

record to shows at the same time
 
EndersShadow said:
While the 2250 only has one input it has two tuners in it....so you could

watch one show, record another

or

record to shows at the same time
Click to expand...

OR he could use the analog svideo in with an RCA to 3.5mm adapter and get the exact same "analog" inputs as the 1600... and he could even connect the included "analog inputs" bracket the 2250 has to do the same thing! lol
 
quick newb question:
There are no over the air channels where I live. Will the 2250 still meet my needs if I just want to watch and record all my regular digital TV channels from the cable company?
What do I do if I want to watch the HD channels?
 
okay, i think the 2250 will work with 7MC as a clearQAM HDHR is my clearQAM tuner.

what i dont know is if it will allow you to use it as both a clearQAM and analog tuner at the same time.

what i can gather from the other posts is that it can only be one or the other...

the HVR-1800 or HVR-1600 are hybrid tuner cards that can do both, hence the two inputs.... however it will not record 2 shows at the same time... only one of the 2 tuners on the 1800 or 1600 can be used at a time. hence why it is called a hybrid tuner and not a dual.

what you are looking for is a dual hybrid card, which i do not think exists. the 2250 is close..

I would get a HDHR and a 2250, or two 2250s. Use the HDHR or 1 2250 as a clearQAM tuner and the other 2250 as an analog tuner. (or sub in a 1600 or 1800 for one of the 2250s if you are okay with only 1 analog tuner)
 
Adidas4275 said:
okay, i think the 2250 will work with 7MC as a clearQAM HDHR is my clearQAM tuner.

what i dont know is if it will allow you to use it as both a clearQAM and analog tuner at the same time.

what i can gather from the other posts is that it can only be one or the other...

the HVR-1800 or HVR-1600 are hybrid tuner cards that can do both, hence the two inputs.... however it will not record 2 shows at the same time... only one of the 2 tuners on the 1800 or 1600 can be used at a time. hence why it is called a hybrid tuner and not a dual.

what you are looking for is a dual hybrid card, which i do not think exists. the 2250 is close..

I would get a HDHR and a 2250, or two 2250s. Use the HDHR or 1 2250 as a clearQAM tuner and the other 2250 as an analog tuner. (or sub in a 1600 or 1800 for one of the 2250s if you are okay with only 1 analog tuner)
Click to expand...

The 2250 has dual hybrids, but they are only enabled in Win7. In Vista you have to choose the type for each tuner during setup and you are locked into it.
 
Max-Powers said:
quick newb question:
There are no over the air channels where I live. Will the 2250 still meet my needs if I just want to watch and record all my regular digital TV channels from the cable company?
What do I do if I want to watch the HD channels?
Click to expand...

It depends entirely on your cable provider and the channel lineup they transmit. Do you have any idea what they are running now? Are the regular digital channels in analog or unencrypted QAM. If you have a built in QAM tuner on your HDTV, which channels does it get?
 
I don't know. I know my TV is a LN-46B630. But I want my TV to go through my computer. That is how it usually goes right?
What questions do I need to ask my cable provider? I have not yet gone with one, but am thinking about Fidelity.
 
Max-Powers said:
I don't know. I know my TV is a LN-46B630. But I want my TV to go through my computer. That is how it usually goes right?
What questions do I need to ask my cable provider? I have not yet gone with one, but am thinking about Fidelity.
Click to expand...

No one can recommend a tuner card or answer any of your questions until you pick a cable company and find out what type of channels they are broadcasting. Some companies encrypt everything. Some don't do QAM at all. Some only have 2 or 3 channels in the clear. It all depends. Most people check their channels availability by plugging the cable from their wall directly into their HDTV. Since you can't do that right now, you'll have to do a bit of research first. Plug you zip code into the silicondust database and see what comes up. Or you can go to AVSforum and check the local reception threads there to see if anyone in your area can give you more details on what is available. Here are the links you need:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=453241

http://www.silicondust.com/hdhomerun/channels
 
My cable provider said their extended channels are all analog. If this is all I wanted to watch, would I get the 2250? (I am not worried about OTA because there are none where I live)

They said the HD channels are digital and are encrypted. I will need a cable box. Would I need the HDhomerun if I wanted to watch these?
 
If they are encrypted you need a cable box. Or some sort of cable card tuner. No other way around that.
 
Cable company CSR's aren't exactly known for their truthfulness when it comes to QAM. Their job is to get you to rent a box from them. And while the silicondust site is useful, it is far from definitive. My zip code still lists the qam lineup from last year. It has gone through 2 major channel swaps since that info was current. The bottom line is you probably won't know anything for sure until you actually subscribe and see for yourself.
 
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