Fusion HDTV Cards, HDHomerun, or OnAir GT?

[Anthony]

I want to be able to record two over the air HDTV channels, and save them to the hard drive on my computer. At the same time this is occurring, I want to be able to stream another HDTV show over my wired ethernet to a DSM-520 I have setup in my living room.

In other words, record two HDTV shows, and watch a third HDTV show at the same time.

The HDHomerun seems like a quick and easy solution, but I wonder how a standard 10/100 ethernet network would cope with two incoming HDTV data streams, and a third HDTV steam going to the media server? That's THREE HDTV streams going over the network at once. It would get even worse if I'm surfing the net on my laptop while I watch TV (don't laugh, I do it all the time. ).

That's where internal cards like the Fusion HDTV seem to make more sense, as they wouldn't be using any of the ethernet bandwidth. The only stream going over the net would be the show I'm watching.

Unfortunately, it would take two cards and two PCI slots to use the Fusion cards, which makes the USB connection of the OnAir GT sound inviting.

Of course, the cost seems to increase for each step up.

I never watch live TV, only shows we have recorded earlier.

Which device would you choose (preferably something you have experience with), or is there another device that would be better suited to this?

I have NO interest in devices that require a subscription (i.e. Tivo).

At some point, I'd like to stream different shows on my drive to different TV's in the house. So a little future planning is needed also.

Thanks!

Anthony

[whurlston]

Regarding the HDHomeRun: you can add a nic to your machine and dedicate it to the HDHomeRun (a popular configuration). This would keep all the recording traffic off of your regular network. If you make it a Gigabit nic, you can later add more HDHomeRuns with a small switch. A 5 port switch would give you the ability to have 4 HDHomeRuns (or the server, 2 HDHRs and 2 clients).

[Anthony]

> Regarding the HDHomeRun: you can add a nic to your
> machine and dedicate it to the HDHomeRun (a popular configuration).

Hmm... I hadn't thought of that. It sounds like a good option. The HDHomeRunand a nic would be less expensive than the other two options.

Thanks for the tip!

Anthony

[-stattik-]

A HD stream maxes out at 19.2Mbps so three streams would only take up <60Mbps (most are less). Assuming that you're internet connection is less than 40Mbps, you should be fine (theoretically).

[whurlston]

A HD stream maxes out at 19.2Mbps so three streams would only take up <60Mbps (most are less). Assuming that you're internet connection is less than 40Mbps, you should be fine (theoretically).

True. I just suggested the second nic because they are pretty inexpensive anyway.

[-stattik-]

True. I just suggested the second nic because they are pretty inexpensive anyway.

You're right, that's a good suggestion. It would also make troubleshooting easier.

[Anthony]

OK, I bought the HDHomeRun and have had nothing but trouble with it. One of the tuners won't lock onto any channel, and the tuner that does work with VLC isn't recognized by GB-PVR, Sage, or BeyondTV. After battling with this thing for a few days and getting nowhere, I've decided to return it and get a different HDTV tuner.

My requirements are simple, to record unencrypted digital channels from my local cable company. I have about 12 unencrypted channels available, the basic networks, plus a few others. So, I assume I need a tuner with QAM capability.

To my knowledge, the FusionHDTV and OnAirGT devices are the only two options with QAM support?

I'd like to continue using GB-PVR, so which of these options is the easiest to get working with GBPVR? I don't mind a little tinkering, but the HDHomeRun has left me more than a little frustrated and I don't want to repeat that experience.

If I choose the Fusion card, will the "Lite" version work with GBPVR?

Are there any other QAM compatible cards that will work well with GBPVR?

Thanks,

Anthony

[sub]

You'll definitely not be able to record unencrypted QAM with a Fusion device in GB-PVR. There is no support for their proprietary QAM tuning.

The only two other options are the OnAirGT, or some models of the Hauppauge HVR1600. I'm just recently added support for this, so you'll need to wait a couple of weeks for the next release to be able to use it for this in GB-PVR, but it does have some advantages over the OnAirGT (two tuners - one for analog, one for digital, both can record at the same time. analog tuner has hardware encoder).

[Anthony]

> You'll definitely not be able to record unencrypted QAM with a
> Fusion device in GB-PVR. There is no support for their
> proprietary QAM tuning.

Good to know! Thanks. That was the next card on my list, so I appreciate you clarifying that.

I think I'll focus my attention to the HVR-1600 for now and read up on it a bit.

Thanks,

Anthony

[carpeVideo]

Since you mention QAM I assume you have an HD stb, most have firewire and you can capture video that way as well.

Theoretically DVICO will have QAM support soon (ok they keep telling me this) so that could be an option if you found one cheap, however the 1600 seems a better option with hardware encoding for encrypted channels and two tuners (does anyone know if can tune 2 QAM channels at once or one analog and one digital) BTW?

CV