HTPC Sound and TV Tuner

[olds]

I need to get a tv tuner and a sound card. I have a PCI-E and a PCI slot open.

The tuner needs to be dual and accept OTA as well as a cable signal and display HD. It also needs a remote.

The sound card only needs to be 5.1 and will replace the onboard sound I use now.

How should I use my PCI-E slot, for the tuner or sound card?

OS is Vista Home, mobo is ASUS P5A Deluxe WiFi.
TIA

 

[sdifox]

I am assuming you are talking about PCI-E 1x card?

Tuner doesn't really need anything beyond PCI. You will be able to get a sound card with hdmi video passthrough that fits pci-e 1x though.

 

[kalrith]

I would think that a dual-HD tuner would use more bandwidth than a sound card. I'm planning to go with the HVR2250, but that won't work for you if you're using QAM. If you need an NTSC tuner for your cable, then it should work great. One connection is for ATSC/QAM, and the other is for NTSC. One big selling point for me is that I can connect one cable from my antenna to the card, and it will pull two signals from that one cable. My original choice was the HDHomeRun. It gets great reviews, but I'm going with the 2250 because it's internal, only needs one cable, and is quite a bit cheaper. The HDHomeRun would work better for you if you need to be able to connect one cable for ATSC OTA and one for QAM cable.

Edit: I'd like to clarify my first statement in reponse to sdifox's post. I don't think the tuner itself will require more than PCI. However, it will probably use a decent chunk of the PCI bandwidth, so if you have other PCI cards in conjunction with the tuner, then it might be too much for the PCI bus. Also keep in mind that many TV tuners will pull all of the subchannel information as well. For example, you might record something from channel 3-1, but the tuner will be processing the information from channels 3-2 and 3-3 as well. If you're recording two HD shows at once and processing information for 6 channels, then that might be pushing the PCI limits.

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: kalrith
I would think that a dual-HD tuner would use more bandwidth than a sound card. I'm planning to go with the HVR2250, but that won't work for you if you're using QAM. If you need an NTSC tuner for your cable, then it should work great. One connection is for ATSC/QAM, and the other is for NTSC. One big selling point for me is that I can connect one cable from my antenna to the card, and it will pull two signals from that one cable. My original choice was the HDHomeRun. It gets great reviews, but I'm going with the 2250 because it's internal, only needs one cable, and is quite a bit cheaper. The HDHomeRun would work better for you if you need to be able to connect one cable for ATSC OTA and one for QAM cable.

Edit: I'd like to clarify my first statement in reponse to sdifox's post. I don't think the tuner itself will require more than PCI. However, it will probably use a decent chunk of the PCI bandwidth, so if you have other PCI cards in conjunction with the tuner, then it might be too much for the PCI bus. Also keep in mind that many TV tuners will pull all of the subchannel information as well. For example, you might record something from channel 3-1, but the tuner will be processing the information from channels 3-2 and 3-3 as well. If you're recording two HD shows at once and processing information for 6 channels, then that might be pushing the PCI limits.

I did not think he meant dual hd tuner. I thought he was talking about HD/SD tuner cards. I have one of those based on Phillips hybrid chip. It works fine, just make sure the hdd you use for recording is not tasked to something else at the same time.

 

[olds]

Dual tuner TV card so I can watch one channel and record another.
The PCIE slot is labeled PCIEX16_2. So I assume it's actually a 16X slot for SLI.
Mobo

 

[sdifox]

don't know if this is any good
http://www.engadget.com/2008/0...-dual-hdtv-tuner-card/

but it only needs the pcie 1x slot

 

[kalrith]

Originally posted by: sdifox
don't know if this is any good
http://www.engadget.com/2008/0...-dual-hdtv-tuner-card/

but it only needs the pcie 1x slot

I looked that one up, and supposedly Dvico has absolutely terrible drivers and driver support.

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: kalrith

Originally posted by: sdifox
don't know if this is any good
http://www.engadget.com/2008/0...-dual-hdtv-tuner-card/

but it only needs the pcie 1x slot

I looked that one up, and supposedly Dvico has absolutely terrible drivers and driver support.

I don't think they are the only ones... very poor support on all tuner cards. Especially if you are on vista.

That network one might be the safest

 

[BornStar]

Originally posted by: kalrith
One connection is for ATSC/QAM, and the other is for NTSC.

Can you further explain that thought? On the 2250 one of the coax connections is for TV and the other is for FM. You can only connect one device to the TV port, either antenna or cable and both tuners will tune from that one source. It is not possible to have one tuner pull from an antenna and another pull from cable on the 2250. The only thing I can think of is that you're referring to the 1600 or the 1800.

 

[kalrith]

Originally posted by: BornStar

Originally posted by: kalrith
One connection is for ATSC/QAM, and the other is for NTSC.

Can you further explain that thought? On the 2250 one of the coax connections is for TV and the other is for FM. You can only connect one device to the TV port, either antenna or cable and both tuners will tune from that one source. It is not possible to have one tuner pull from an antenna and another pull from cable on the 2250. The only thing I can think of is that you're referring to the 1600 or the 1800.

I guess my thought was wrong. I just saw the two coax connection and assumed that one was for ATSC/QAM and one for NTSC, and that there's an interal splitter allowing either of those signals to be split. That doesn't seem to be the case, so the OP would have the problem of connecting both OTA and cable.