Best TV tuner card?

Looking to buy a TV Tuner card so that my HTPC would act as a PVR along with watching channels (some HD).

Wondering which models I should be looking for, and if there are any differences between the US and Canadian signals that I need to pay particular attention to when shopping for a card, please let me know!

My current set-up is through Bell, non-HD box (no pvr either) that uses a coax cable from the dish as an input, and RCA (video + 2 audio) as an output.

jokers_greg said:

Looking to buy a TV Tuner card so that my HTPC would act as a PVR along with watching channels (some HD).

Wondering which models I should be looking for, and if there are any differences between the US and Canadian signals that I need to pay particular attention to when shopping for a card, please let me know!

My current set-up is through Bell, non-HD box (no pvr either) that uses a coax cable from the dish as an input, and RCA (video + 2 audio) as an output.

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If they aren't encrypted you can use a Hauppauge hvr-2250 to record digital and analog channels. Or you can get an Avermedia HDTV Duet to record digital only (IIRC). Both are dual tuner so you can record 2 at once. If you want to record from your cable box using the output then there are cheaper options to do that, but it isn't as easy to set up.

If all you want to record is standard def and your cable company doesn't lock down the SD shows you may not need your cable box any more.

Would those cards also be suitable for an antenna solution? As in, no cable provider, just public broadcast channels?

johan851 said:

Would those cards also be suitable for an antenna solution? As in, no cable provider, just public broadcast channels?

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We dont have OTA signals in my area, but afaik tuner cards have been able to pull in those signals for quite some time now. I would love to know how the quality is. For analoge use, as long as it isnt for serious viewing, they are ok. I am going back a couple of years now, maybe things have progressed somewhat. I have owned a couple of different hauppauge cards, and a sapphire theater 650 pro. The sapphire died (what else is new) but I still use the remote for my pc

johan851 said:

Would those cards also be suitable for an antenna solution? As in, no cable provider, just public broadcast channels?

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Yes. They have both QAM (cable) or ATSC (OTA) tuners so work with either. There is also a SiliconDust HDHomeRun external network model, that also can do 2 digital (cable or OTA) stations simultaneously but connects directly into a switch on your network instead of being an in-case PCIe card. The 2 tuners can be shared by as many PCs as you have on the network.

From what I understand, some of the public channels in my area are a digital 720p signal. So the quality must be alright.

I'm moving out of my current place soon and planning to give up cable TV, so I'm going to be working on an HTPC setup.

Do you guys use Windows then? Is there an easy way to setup recording of certain channels at certain times, etc?

johan851 said:

Do you guys use Windows then? Is there an easy way to setup recording of certain channels at certain times, etc?

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Windows 7. Windows Media Center. Has full TV support including EPG (Electronic Program Guide) for scheduling/recording/playback PVR needs. There are other solutions too both Windows and non-Windows. Google MythTV, e.g.

I have a Hauppauge HVR-1600 that I use for broadcast TV and I input my sat box into it.
With my antenna at 100 ft I get 49 channels.
It records very well and I am happy with it.
I don't use WMC, I use the WinTV software that came with it.
I'm using Windows 7 if that helps you.

Well my issue is, I was hoping to use it with a cable box but what from I've been gathering, none of the providers here (specifically the big guys: Rogers, Bell) allow multiple tuners, unless you buy multiple boxes... which kind of ruins things.

Any canadians out there that know anything related to this?

Also, the antenna option could be pretty cool, especially if I could pick up some HD channels in the area. What sort of antenna would I be looking at though?

Also since it's come up a couple of times, yes I'm running WMC and Windows 7 on this machine.

I'm using a Wineguard like the one in the pic.
You are going to want one that has a preamp that is built in with the antenna head.
Usually the higher it is the better.
I use an omnidirectional so I don't need a rotor.
Info can be had at this site: http://www.dennysantennaservice.com/index.html

I use OTA for my local channes and Directv for everything else. I'm using a hauppauge 2250, 1600, and an older avermedia 180 for a total of 4 OTA (antenna) tuners. The 1600 has an s-video input for the few SD directv channels I record. I have a hauppage colossus for hdmi input from my directv box to record all the HD channels. Works great.

However, I use SageTV which has all but died since google purchased the company. WMC will do almost everything I can, but the colossus takes some extra work to get everything working. WMC does a great job with anything unencrypted you can get with any qam, atsc, and analog capable tuner card.

The ones I mentioned in my post are both internal dual tuner. The silicon dust HD Home Run line is fantastic. If your cable company uses cablecard (which in Canada I don't think is available) there are options for WMC as well.

There are other HTPC front ends out there, but they are not quite as easy as WMC.

so basically my tunercard could only pickup local SD or HD channels.. well that kind of sucks

Cable channels are mostly encrypted. In the US the FCC has mandated that companies have to accomodate consumer-owned CableCARD devices which allow recording of their signals and the companies must carry local channels in the "clear" (no encryption so they can be recorded by anyone who has basic service). In Canada, not so much I think. You need a CableCARD tuner to handle the decoding of encrypted channels but the companies have no reason to support the devices or provide you what you need to do it. QAM/ATSC tuners will only be able to get unencrypted channels when connected to cable or local OTA broadcasts when connected to an antenna and they also can pick up whatever your cable co will allow out from their set top box as long as you have a STB in-between the wall and the tuner and set up an interface from the tuner/media center to it. Usually just SD stuff but most of their lineup in that case.