Recommend a TV tuner for my HTPC

[jbbrown]

I am looking at getting a TV tuner for my HTPC, which one would you recommend? I will be using it to record HD OTA channels. I am currently looking at Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250.

Are there any other better/cheaper options? Do I want one that comes with a remote? Anything else I need to consider?

Thanks!

 

[assassin24]

Consider looking at the HD Homerun. Its a network based tuner and you can access it on any machine on your network.

I have one and like it a lot. Just plug it into your router or gigabit switch, add an antenna and install the program on your HTPC. Done.

Pretty easy and flexible.

 

[jbbrown]

Consider looking at the HD Homerun. Its a network based tuner and you can access it on any machine on your network.

I have one and like it a lot. Just plug it into your router or gigabit switch, add an antenna and install the program on your HTPC. Done.

Pretty easy and flexible.

Very cool, I have not heard of anything like this. If I have a wireless G router, will it stream the content ok, or will I need to upgrade to an N router?

 

[assassin24]

Very cool, I have not heard of anything like this. If I have a wireless G router, will it stream the content ok, or will I need to upgrade to an N router?

Sure. Here is their flyer explaining it a little better: http://www.silicondust.com/images/hdhomerun/HDHomeRun_US__WEB_flyer.pdf

The other thing you can do is consider using a Powerline adapter between your router and your HTPC which turns your electrical line into a wired internet connection. People have intermittent success with these but most I have talked to are happy with the Powerline solution for more reliable wired internet (assuming you don't have wired internet/network already to your HTPC). The main issue with this is that some circuits in some houses aren't compatible or have interference.

Of course plopping a PCI/PCI-e card in your machine is an option as well.

 

[Crono]

Sure. Here is their flyer explaining it a little better: http://www.silicondust.com/images/hdhomerun/HDHomeRun_US__WEB_flyer.pdf

The other thing you can do is consider using a Powerline adapter between your router and your HTPC which turns your electrical line into a wired internet connection. People have intermitted success with these but most I have talked to are happy with the Powerline solution for more reliable wired internet (assuming you don't have wired internet/network already to your HTPC). The main issue with this is that some circuits in some houses aren't compatible or have interference.

Of course plopping a PCI/PCI-e card in your machine is an option as well.

I was looking at Powerline the other day, saw this on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Powerl...ords=POWERLINE

Looks like a good bet? Reviews are fairly positive, I'm thinking about buying it this weekend.

 

[assassin24]

I was looking at Powerline the other day, saw this on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Powerl...ords=POWERLINE

Looks like a good bet? Reviews are fairly positive, I'm thinking about buying it this weekend.

Was that the one that was like $40 or so a few days ago on sale? I think it would work fine but I might also look for a 500Mbps option (note that none of them actually can reach the speeds they claim). I tested the Logitech 200 which I got in a dented box for a really good deal and it worked well for HTPC.

 

[Crono]

Was that the one that was like $40 or so a few days ago on sale? I think it would work fine but I might also look for a 500Mbps option (note that none of them actually can reach the speeds they claim). I tested the Logitech 200 which I got in a dented box for a really good deal and it worked well for HTPC.

Yup, that's how it caught my attention.

I'll look for the higher speed one, thanks

 

[MajorMullet]

Another vote for the HD Homerun for the tuner. I have it hooked up to a Mohu Leaf antenna for recording OTA and it works perfectly. It's really convenient being able to bring up the TV channels on my desktop occasionally if I want to watch something too.

 

[assassin24]

Another thing that's great is that if you want to add another 2 tuners (for a total of 4) you just buy another HD Homerun.

Oh and these things are pretty small (maybe about the size of a compact disc). I was shocked when I received the box the first time.

 

[brywisco]

I too am going to use the HD Homerun for my OTA into my HTPC (which is at this stage a pile of parts on my workbench). I went with it because it seemed more flexible to use on a network and I am trying to keep my HTPC case size and power requirements to a minimum.

 

[ccbadd]

Two things:
1st, You will get much better reliability with MoCa adapters than Powerline stuff.
2nd, if you are considering the HD Homerun Prime, be sure you take extenders into account as the will tax your network bandwidth along with the incoming streams from the Primes whereas a PCIe card (Ceton) will not. I personally would, and do, use the Ceton card as it does not take away network performance and you get a 4th turner.

 

[jbbrown]

Two things:
2nd, if you are considering the HD Homerun Prime, be sure you take extenders into account as the will tax your network bandwidth along with the incoming streams from the Primes whereas a PCIe card (Ceton) will not. I personally would, and do, use the Ceton card as it does not take away network performance and you get a 4th turner.

I really like the fact that with the HD Homerun, I can stream OTA channels at any computer in the house. My biggest concern is having enough network bandwidth (I am considering getting the HD Homerun Dual). I only have a wireless G router, though I could upgrade to an N if needed.

For those of you with HD Homerun, do any of you use a wireless G router and if so, how is the streaming? I am assuming a wireless N router handles this with no problem, right?

 

[kalrith]

I don't think I'd use an HD Homerun with a wireless network. Wireless N might do it, but it depends. Let's say you have a show set to record on one computer. While that show's recording, you want to watch it on another computer. On your network, you now have HD Homerun --> recording PC --> watching PC. That wouldn't be a problem on a wired network, but it will likely saturate a wireless network if it's HD programming. This might be a moot point that would never affect you, but it's the reason I didn't go with an HD Homerun.

FWIW, I used to have a wireless G card in my gaming PC. When I would stream HD across the network, it was choppy. I ran a 50' Cat6 cable through my crawlspace and that fixed the jitters completely. OTA HD shows can be as much as 10GB/hour. In a perfect world, that should be able to stream across wireless G, but wireless is usually not a perfect world.

I've been using the HVR 2250 for 3-4 years with no problems whatsoever. On my other computers, I usually want to watch recorded shows. If I want to watch live TV, then I do have to go through the extra step of recording the show on my HTPC, but I've only had to do that about 5 times in the past 4 years, so it's a non-issue for me.

 

[assassin24]

Its not about the speed of the network but the quality of the network.

1080p (and especially high bit rate 1080p) can cause havoc with some networks with interference and dropped packets.

And sure the Moca option is more reliable but its also much more expensive.

Also some people may have their HTPCs hooked up directly to their wireless routers bia Cat5e/6 and for that purpose that setup the Homerun is a good option for sure. Ceton is too of course as an internal.

 

[ecosmartpc]

With wireless networking, YMMV.

I wasn't able to watch HD from my HDHomeRun Prime via the wireless N network without macroblocking. It wouldn't happen all the time but enough that it was annoying. If my wife opened her laptop sometimes that would freeze the picture altogether. It's wired now (our phone jacks were all wired with Cat5e so I converted them to ethernet jacks) and I've had no issues since.

But then, some people have no issues. You can't know until you try it in your home with your equipment.

 

[wirednuts]

yeah, wireless works AMAZING out in the country or in a poor part of town... but in a normal city, good luck... and you better have 5ghz

i use wireless for my laptop and my droid landline phone... but every stationary computer is connected via gigabit ethernet. it makes a huge difference, even just pulling files off my server to watch on my htpc. no delay with cable!

 

[jbbrown]

Thanks for all replies and suggestions. I just order the HD Homerun Dual, so I will give that a try. It was on sale for $70 with free shipping on Amazon. I will let you know how everything turns out!

 

[wirednuts]

its a shame all of these awesome cable tuners come out right after i ditched cable. i almost want to get it back just so i can have a killer htpc setup again, but if i do that i have to watch more tv and i dont want to.

 

[marcplante]

For those of you considering Powerline adapters, think about the wiring in your house. If you try to traverse too many wiring nodes, connections, etc. the signal strength can suffer pretty significantly. Even subtle moves to specific outlets can change signal strength consiiderably. When you hook up your plugs, run a quick speedcheck to see how bad your losses are, and try a plug on another side of the room if they have problems.

 

[TXHokie]

Thanks for all replies and suggestions. I just order the HD Homerun Dual, so I will give that a try. It was on sale for $70 with free shipping on Amazon. I will let you know how everything turns out!

I've used the Homerun Dual since cutting the cord with DirecTV almost a year now. It's been rock solid. The nice thing too is not having to deal with driver issues comparing with a plug in card. It was immediately recognized by MCE and started pulling in channels for recording. Setup and updates couldn't be simpler.

 

[Zorba]

I am looking at getting a TV tuner for my HTPC, which one would you recommend? I will be using it to record HD OTA channels. I am currently looking at Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250.

Are there any other better/cheaper options? Do I want one that comes with a remote? Anything else I need to consider?

Thanks!

I tried the 2250 when I first built my HTPC and had a really weird problem with it. It tuned channel 11 just fine for about a week, then stopped. I tried everything but couldn't fix it. Finally, I returned it and got a new one, it did the exact same thing. Fine for a week, then nothing. I found a couple of forum posts where people were having the same issue, only with channel 11 (physical channel 11, which may or may not be the channel number that shows on your TV).

I switched to ATi Diamonds and they worked, but I hate they are only single tuners.

 

[tivo1]

ota best way to go is hdhomerun... i got 4

and ive gone through about a dozen other types of cards...

 

[jbbrown]

I just received the HD Homerun Dual and so far it has been great! I have one computer wired to the router and it performs very well (very little pixelation). I also have a laptop that does pretty good with wireless, but there is definitely more pixelation so I will probably upgrade to a wireless N router and I think that will take care of the issue. Overall, the picture quality is awesome and it was very easy to setup.

Thanks again for all the suggestions, it was a great buy!

 

[assassin24]

I just received the HD Homerun Dual and so far it has been great! I have one computer wired to the router and it performs very well (very little pixelation). I also have a laptop that does pretty good with wireless, but there is definitely more pixelation so I will probably upgrade to a wireless N router and I think that will take care of the issue. Overall, the picture quality is awesome and it was very easy to setup.

Thanks again for all the suggestions, it was a great buy!

You're welcome!

 

[screecwe]

I was gonna say you should check out the Ceton InfiniTV 4 channel HD tuner, but it's too late ;(