Hardware recommendation requested (XP+Comcast)

[babyblue]

Currently I have Hauppauge 150 on a Windows XP machine, I'm in the Bay Area with Comcast service, I plug the coax directly to the card, not using their box. Couple months ago, Comcast did some upgrade, and I haven't been able to record anything since, most channels are fuzzy and snowy or nothing at all. Since I can watch everything fine on our HDTV, I figure the card/system is in need of an upgrade.

The machine I have is not a media center, I don't know if this matters. I may upgrade the OS to Windows 7 in the future, so the card need to be forward compatible. I'm also looking to upgrade the rest of the system, as the current one is too old to handle HD.

I looked at the wiki list for supported card. Comparing it to cards and reviews on newegg.com, the list seem a bit dated, so I thought I would ask here to confirm:

It seems Hauppauge 1600 / 1800 may not the the best option? The review for Hauppauge 2250 is better, but it's not on the wiki list, what is your option?

The review for SiliconDust HDHomeRun is really good, but the setup seems strange. Does it mean I can record from any machine on the network (assuming they don't try to record at the same time)? Also does the dual tuner mean, I can split the coax cable and record/watch two channels? Is there any downside to this card not supporting NTSC/Analog?

Any other card you would recommend instead?

What is the minimum system requirement to record two HD channels at the same time?

Thanks in advance!

[imagn]

Currently I have Hauppauge 150 on a Windows XP machine, I'm in the Bay Area with Comcast service, I plug the coax directly to the card, not using their box. Couple months ago, Comcast did some upgrade, and I haven't been able to record anything since, most channels are fuzzy and snowy or nothing at all. Since I can watch everything fine on our HDTV, I figure the card/system is in need of an upgrade.

I have comcast here on the east coast and i have seen them moving more and more channels onto the digital spectrum and discontinuing the analog channels. This would account for why you may not be able to receive all the channels you would have before

The machine I have is not a media center, I don't know if this matters. I may upgrade the OS to Windows 7 in the future, so the card need to be forward compatible. I'm also looking to upgrade the rest of the system, as the current one is too old to handle HD.

Doesnt matter, the only issue you might encounter if you have XP home is with an MCE remote, as the drivers are not present on an XP home system, XPpro and XP MCE have the drivers.

I looked at the wiki list for supported card. Comparing it to cards and reviews on newegg.com, the list seem a bit dated, so I thought I would ask here to confirm:

It seems Hauppauge 1600 / 1800 may not the the best option? The review for Hauppauge 2250 is better, but it's not on the wiki list, what is your option?

The review for SiliconDust HDHomeRun is really good, but the setup seems strange. Does it mean I can record from any machine on the network (assuming they don't try to record at the same time)? Also does the dual tuner mean, I can split the coax cable and record/watch two channels? Is there any downside to this card not supporting NTSC/Analog?

Any other card you would recommend instead?

I would get an HVR 2250. The 1600/1800 is somewhat outdated now that the 2250 is here, as the 2250 is a duel digital and analog tuner, meaning it can record either 2 digital or 2 analog or a combination on one analog and one digital channel at the same time, the 1600/1800 can only do one analog and one digital and it requires 2 inputs to do it. the 2250 is also well supported in GBPVR

There are also people using the HD homerun and seem to like it not sure if you can record on any machine, but with GBPVR you can set up client machines and use one machine as your server, so you can see all your recordings on any machine that is set up as client as well.

The only downside to not supporting NTSC/Analog is you wont be able to tune to those channel, i consider this not such a down side if using QAM cable as QAM is all digital, and with comcasts recent changes there are a fair amount of Free and Clear QAM channels. I would also do a search for multi record and read what its all about, (breifly it allows digital tuners to record multiple channels on the same frequency using one tuner, so you might be lucky and be able to record more than 2 channels at once, i have 4 tuners and can record 12 channels)

What is the minimum system requirement to record two HD channels at the same time?

Thanks in advance!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819103688

This should be sufficient to do HD no problems, you bigger challenge is video Card. I am going to make a recommendation and say that you should consider not going the on board video route, and rather get a better video card with a decent motherboard. Recording HD can be done on a low powered system its playback that is intesive

This might ease some frunstrations early on

[babyblue]

Thank you very much for your reply! I will also snag the setup in your sig for reference.

[mpking]

Thanks. I'm one of the many comcast users that are now getting the "nastygrams" that my analog service will be discontinued in a few months.


Does the HDHomerun support multirecord?

[imagn]

Thanks. I'm one of the many comcast users that are now getting the "nastygrams" that my analog service will be discontinued in a few months.


Does the HDHomerun support multirecord?

Yes i believe this to be the case from what i have seen other post.

[whurlston]

Does the HDHomerun support multirecord?

Yes it does.

[mpking]

So other than ease of use (The HVR2200 wins here as well), and the HVR2200 supporting analog, there's no real difference functionality wise.

[whurlston]

Correct. All digital tuners will simply pass the broadcast signal to GBPVR. No encoding is required since the program is already MPEG-2 encoded. The major benefit of the HDHomeRun is the ability to place it anywhere you have a network connection instead of inside the computer. This also allows the HDHomeRun to be utilized directly by any computer on your network.