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dakels

Platinum Member
Nov 20, 2002
2,809
2
0
blarg
Now I'm not sure whether I want to open this box up. My initial use was going to be on a 2nd LCD screen. Then I was going to get a 28" HannsG as my main computer monitor and double as a bedroom TV (I have a cable box for it). So it looks like that will not work unless my card is one of the ones that receives QAM...?

The Comcast HD cable box has S-video and composite out. Can't I use those and just get the video signal and let my cable box decide what channel to show. As in like the cable box decodes it all and just sends a video feed to my monitor?
 
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Crucial

Diamond Member
Dec 21, 2000
5,026
0
71
If your card does support QAM there's no gaurantee that your cable company is broadcasting the local channels in unencrypted form. Thats all your likely to get too. Don't expect to get any premium HD channels.

Also It won't support QAM in windows media center if thats what you're using to tune and record stuff. If you are using media center edition You need the HD HomeRun which will tune Unencrypted QAM and will work with Windows MCE. It is a nice unit. I love mine. It's not $60 though.
 
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Crucial

Diamond Member
Dec 21, 2000
5,026
0
71
Originally posted by: dakels
blarg
Now I'm not sure whether I want to open this box up. My initial use was going to be on a 2nd LCD screen. Then I was going to get a 28" HannsG as my main computer monitor and double as a bedroom TV (I have a cable box for it). So it looks like that will not work unless my card is one of the ones that receives QAM...?

The Comcast HD cable box has S-video and composite out. Can't I use those and just get the video signal and let my cable box decide what channel to show. As in like the cable box decodes it all and just sends a video feed to my monitor?
Click to expand...

You can use those outputs but it won't be in HD. You will be taking an HD channel and outputting it on an SD output into another SD input which won't look very good. IMHO.
 
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deadken

Diamond Member
Aug 8, 2004
3,199
6
81
Originally posted by: TwiceOver
Does anyone have that link that showed HD Broadcasts in your area? I've been trying to google for it with no luck so far.
Click to expand...

I posted a link to it in my reply to dakels on page 1.

Here it is: WWW.AntennaWeb.org.

Originally posted by: accguy9009
Picked it up today at CC B & M. As previously stated it was listed on the shelf at $ 99.99 but at the register it scanned $ 59.99. I am considering this over the HDTVa Amplified Directional Indoor HDTV Antenna for over the air HDTV.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16882145017
Click to expand...

I believe that I used that same antenna with my HDTV Wonder (it came with it, what a $200 mistake, I'm glad I returned it), the difference being that the one that came with the HDTV Wonder did not include an amplifier. Personally, I'd suggest taking a plain piece of coax cable and stripping off 2 or 3 feet of shielding on one end. Connect it to your card and move the bare end around and you might very well be surprised at how good your reception is. Then go to Radio Shack and pick-up a $20 antenna to play around with and see if you get any better signal. I swear, I was simply amazed at how well a bare piece of coax worked.

 
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bradley

Diamond Member
Jan 9, 2000
3,671
2
81
Originally posted by: Crucial
Originally posted by: typhoid
Originally posted by: bradley
I only wish this had dual tuners. Believe the WinTV-HVR 1800 is the one I want.
Click to expand...

I'm not certain what you mean by dual tuners. I believe that the 1600 and 1800 are both dual-tuner cards (one NTSC and one ATSC). From what I can tell, the primary difference is that the 1600 is PCI whereas the 1800 is PCIe.

What I would really like is dual ATSC tuners on a single card. I get a good HD signal from all of my local stations, so I don't need NTSC any more.
Click to expand...

HD Homerun
Click to expand...

Thanks for the clarification on the WinTV-HVR 1600. The HD Homerun also looks really awesome. I'm fairly new to PVR and want to setup one for my mom. I see there's a lot of reading ahead of me. Besides networking, are there any benefits of using the HD Homerun vs. WinTV-HVR 1600 tuner? I'm looking for something that once installed would be as foolproof as possible to operate.

 
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HardWired

Senior member
May 10, 2000
598
0
76
I've had the 1600 for a year or so and it works great with Windows Media Center in both XP and Vista. Mine was $120 back then as they had just come out so this is a steal.

If you've never really played with Media Center other than opening the app and clicking around a little bit because you've never had a tuner card, you'll dig it. All sorts of real-time guides sorted by moveis, sports, entertainment, etc.. and the recording of shows couldn't be easier. I think your mom would dig it. I don't have any experience with the other popular tuner apps out there but I do know Windows Media Center works extremely well with the 1600. The full screen OTA HD on my 24" wide screen looks absolutely superb.



 
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imported_typhoid

Member
Nov 26, 2006
33
0
0
Originally posted by: bradley

Thanks for the clarification on the WinTV-HVR 1600. The HD Homerun also looks really awesome. I'm fairly new to PVR and want to setup one for my mom. I see there's a lot of reading ahead of me. Besides networking, are there any benefits of using the HD Homerun vs. WinTV-HVR 1600 tuner? I'm looking for something that once installed would be as foolproof as possible to operate.
Click to expand...

The HD Homerun does look interesting, but I'm sticking with internal cards because of the flexibility. I have 3 computers with HD TV capture cards, and they can all independently watch/record without impacting each other or the home network. I don't know how well you can stream HD content over 802.11g wireless.

Unfortunately, I can't speak directly to "as foolproof as possible to operate" because the meaning of that varies from person to person. That said, my family doesn't have any problem with either Windows MCE or SnapStream BeyondTV. Of the two, I kind of prefer the SnapStream user interface and feature set over MCE. I tried an earlier version of the Hauppauge bundled software, but didn't like it much. I didn't even load the current version that comes with the 1600 or the optional version that you can download from the Hauppauge web site, so I have no idea if it has improved.

If you're building your own media center box, keep in mind that there are some issues that can trip you up. For instance, I think that the remote that comes with the 1600 is not compatible with Windows MCE.
 
videopho

videopho

Diamond Member
Apr 8, 2005
4,185
29
91
I have this running great even with Vista64 Beta driver.
Tempting to pick this up another for my son's rig?
 
Kaido

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
51,925
7,404
136
I picked up a couple of these for my Vista Media Center, thanks for the tip-off! The picture quality is fabulous on my 32" SD television. I mean, it looks better than the internal tuner on the TV does, lol. All I did was install the driver and setup the zip code in Vista MCE and it was all set!
 
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deadken

Diamond Member
Aug 8, 2004
3,199
6
81
Originally posted by: accguy9009
...... I am considering this over the HDTVa Amplified Directional Indoor HDTV Antenna for over the air HDTV.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16882145017
Click to expand...

An update to my previous reply:

I called my Brother-in-law today. He works for Time Warner Cable in Manhattan and used to work in the 'Head End' where all the feeds come in and go out. He knows a LOT about cable. He verified what I had thought: THE AMPLIFIER ON THOSE ANTENNAS WILL NOT GIVE YOU A BETTER SIGNAL. All they will do is give you MORE of whatever signal you have (if you have a crap signal, you will have a lot of crap signal). The purpose of the amplifier is if your antenna is very far from your tuner. If you have a 100 ft or more of coax between the antenna and your tuner then perhaps you would benifit from an amplifier. Most of us don't set up our antenna over 100' away (perhaps if you live in an apartment building you would).


Ohh Yeah! I forgot to mention, in my local Circuit City store they had a bunch of $15 off $100 coupons (each had a code on the back that only works once). I picked up a bunch of games for %50 (see this Hot Deals thread) so my total came out to $105 - $15 + Tax. Pretty sweet!!!!
 
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BuckNaked

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
4,211
0
76
This is still going on if you find one in stock... I found one tonight in Portland and got it at the $59.99 price.

 
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deadken

Diamond Member
Aug 8, 2004
3,199
6
81
I'm still looking for some good free tv tuner software. I might end up returning my HVR-1600. I am still undecided.

PLEASE BE SURE TO READ THIS NEXT PART!

I will say my local cable company offers QAM. If you have this board be sure to try inputting your cable into the 'Digital' tuner and then going to the 'Sources' tab of the WinTV program and select 'Clear QAM Source' from the 'Source' list, then hit the 'Scan' button. Here is a PICTURE.

I was very happy that I got my local stations in HD on QAM and I was able to return the Antenna I bought from Radio Shack. Now I don't have to run another cable (this one going up into the Attic) to an Antenna.

If anyone has found an easy to use reasonably priced TV Tuner program PLEASE PM me or post a response in this thread. The included software is reasonable and it does work, but it occasionally gives a black screen when changing from the Analog Tuner to the Digital Tuner or vice-versa. The program still responds and you just have to close it and re-open it to fix it. The Hauppauge tech told me to check back in about a month for the next update to the WinTV software program, perhaps that problem will be fixed.
 
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imported_typhoid

Member
Nov 26, 2006
33
0
0
Originally posted by: Jenova314
Can this card do real-time hardware MPEG2 encoding for the digital HD channels?
Click to expand...

The HD channels are already in digital form, so the I'm fairly sure that no encoding is needed. I believe that the card just saves the data to hard drive as a transport stream.
 
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BuckNaked

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
4,211
0
76
I guess I got in last night just in time...

If anyone is interested, this card is available at newegg for $79.99 - $20 MIR for a final cost of $59.99.

Link
 
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StayPuff

Golden Member
Apr 20, 2001
1,115
0
76
Originally posted by: deadken
I'm still looking for some good free tv tuner software. I might end up returning my HVR-1600. I am still undecided.

PLEASE BE SURE TO READ THIS NEXT PART!

I will say my local cable company offers QAM. If you have this board be sure to try inputting your cable into the 'Digital' tuner and then going to the 'Sources' tab of the WinTV program and select 'Clear QAM Source' from the 'Source' list, then hit the 'Scan' button. Here is a PICTURE.

I was very happy that I got my local stations in HD on QAM and I was able to return the Antenna I bought from Radio Shack. Now I don't have to run another cable (this one going up into the Attic) to an Antenna.

If anyone has found an easy to use reasonably priced TV Tuner program PLEASE PM me or post a response in this thread. The included software is reasonable and it does work, but it occasionally gives a black screen when changing from the Analog Tuner to the Digital Tuner or vice-versa. The program still responds and you just have to close it and re-open it to fix it. The Hauppauge tech told me to check back in about a month for the next update to the WinTV software program, perhaps that problem will be fixed.
Click to expand...

gbpvr is free tuner software and works well (google for it). I used it for 2, 2.5 years before I switched over to sagetv 6 months ago.
 
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QuixoticOne

Golden Member
Nov 4, 2005
1,855
0
0
The SiliconDust unit is HIGHLY praised by everyone I've seen mention it, and it is a dual ATSC tuner. Even better (in my opinion), it is NOT a card, it is a standalone box that communicates over wired ethernet, so you can receive its data on any computer in your network.
http://www.silicondust.com/wiki/products/hdhomerun

Thanks for mentioning vbox, I wasn't aware of the company, I'll compare their products.

Originally posted by: bearxor
Originally posted by: typhoid
What I would really like is dual ATSC tuners on a single card. I get a good HD signal from all of my local stations, so I don't need NTSC any more.
Click to expand...
VBox Cat's Eye 164ehttp://www.vboxcomm.com/vbox/C...0164%20_ltr_%20v09.pdf
http://www.vboxcomm.com/vbox/Cats Eye 164 _ltr_ v09.pdf
Click to expand...

 
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