PCI dual tuner card that can get cable channels

[sub]

QAM refers to the way the digital channel data is modulated on the physical cable. "QAM channels" are effectively any of the digital cable channels, whether they're HD or SD.

[Wakalaka]

I realized that I have a PCIe x1 slot that is available. I can get a TV tuner card from NewEgg, which one would you suggest?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLis...rchInDesc=

[sub]

I'd probably go the Hauppauge HVR1800. Its got a much better chance of working with QAM than some of the others.

[blizard]

This wiki might explain what QAM tuner are and how they differ from other type of digital tuner. IT will depend if you are in Europe or USA as there are different standard for broadcasting.

QAM Tuner

[JavaWiz]

I realized that I have a PCIe x1 slot that is available. I can get a TV tuner card from NewEgg, which one would you suggest?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLis...rchInDesc=

I believe the 1800 (pci-e) is basically the same as the 1600 (pci). I didn't have any trouble configuring, other than the pain it is to map the channels because Comcast does not broadcast the channel info for all the channels.

[Anthony]

> I'd like to have dual tuner for all of my cable channels, but according to
> my research the only option is a Hauppauge PVR500MCE. There is the
> Hauppauge HVR-1600, but it can only get cable channels on 1 tuner, and
> HD OTA channels on the other, so if there are 2 shows to record and both
> are on cable, then I'm out of luck.

I used to have the PVR500MCE dual tuner card and it worked great for recording two analog cable channels at the same time. It was a nice card, and I highly recommend it if you're just wanting to record analog stations.

I later switched to an HVR-1600 card. It has one analog tuner and one digital tuner (can be over-the-air ATSC, or via cable using QAM). If your cable provider supplies the same channels via digital (mine does) you can still record two stations at the same time. However, you'll only be able to tune free QAM stations (usually the local networks), not encrypted digital channels.

If you want to get into High Definition material, you'll need a digital tuner as HD material is only sent digitally (at least around here). However, most digital channels are still standard definition material. But, without the noise of analog, even those tend to look a lot better.

I personally have two HVR-1600 cards. I can record two analog channels and two digital channels at the same time (four shows total). Unfortunately, there's something odd with my cable company or the HVR-1600 tuner that prevents the QAM tuning from working reliably here. So, I have the analog side of my tuners connected to cable, and the digital side of my tuners connected to an antenna. Works great, best of both worlds.

Anthony