Good Tuner

[Jokabomo]

I'm building a pvr with a laptop. I'm about 45 miles from towers. I bought a cheap USB tuner but it only gets about half the channels my tv gets (they are on the same splitter). So that's going back. Looking for something with a strong tuner. I'm thinking about:

HAUPPAUGE 1595
Pro - Well known name brand
Con - USB. Does tuner get enough power to pull in weak stations?

Or

HDHomerun Extend
Pro - I assume it plugs in to wall. More power for tuner?
Con - Expensive.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

[dgeezer]

The HDhomerun is what I use. The advantages, especially if you are using a laptop, is that the tuner can be anywhere on your wired network. Also, it will give you 2 tuners in one box so that you can record two shows at once or record one show while watching aother. The latest model extend has a better tuner than the earlier models. It works fine for me and some of my stations are about 40 to 45 miles away.

Have you tried the tuner you have without the splitter? Antenna reception is a tricky matter and even the best splitter will reduce the signal somewhat. My hdhomerun is up in the attic with my antenna and has a cat5 run to the main switch.

[martint123]

I think it is generally accepted that computer tuners are not as good as TV tuners. No idea why, but over the years on here this seems to be recognised.

[dgeezer]

I agree with that. It's been a struggle to get all the stations working on my hdhomeruns that work on my TV. However, once I got everything sorted with my antennas it has been a solid solution.

By the way, if you don't need the transcoding ability, the regular Dual tuner is cheaper HDHR4 on Amazon

[Jokabomo]

Thanks for the input. I think I'll try the HDHomeRun CONNECT FREE. I think that's the latest generation.

[mvallevand]

Thanks for the input. I think I'll try the HDHomeRun CONNECT FREE. I think that's the latest generation.

I have two HDHR's transcoding is good if you want h264 transcoding. For OTA ATSC the tuners are more expensive and aren't as good as my older ATI or Hauppauge tuners but it was easier to network from the HDHR hen to make a long run coax run.

Martin

[Jokabomo]

Just a follow up: Got the HDHomerun and am very pleased with it. It gets all the channels my TV gets. Easy setup. No problems.