Capture Card Recommendation for QAM/Analog

[crashbowman]

Okay I already have a HVR-1600 bringing in 5 QAM HD channels and my box connected via composite for the SD content. I am wanting to add another card mainly for the QAM channels, but would like it to be able to bring in the SD content as well probably through analog coax.

I was thinking of another HVR-1600, but it seems other cards are doing better at QAM and the price has went up a little. I also would have to run two sets of coax to the card and would prefer to only have to run one set of coax.

I also thought about a Fusionhdtv 5 Lite, but have read mixed opions on the forum.

Any suggestions or better ideas.

Thanks,
John

[sub]

I'd probably recommend another HVR-1600. Given it seems to be widely used, and this device has digital ATSC & QAM and the hardware encoder on the analog side, its a good choice.

I also thought about a Fusionhdtv 5 Lite, but have read mixed opions on the forum.

This device lacks the hardware encoder on the analog side, so is only usable for digital. I'm fairly sure GB-PVR also cant use the QAM tuning on this device, so its only useful for OTA ATSC.

[crashbowman]

Sub,

Thanks very much for the help. What is the best way to find out if GBPVR can use the QAM of a card?

Thanks,
John

[sub]

Someone that owns one would have to confirm it for you.

Officially only the OnAir GT, HDHomeRun and HVR1600 work with QAM with GB-PVR. Another use had indicated he got the Aver M780 working by copying the HVR1600 settings in BDA.ini, but it sounds like there is some problems with that device.

[whurlston]

This device lacks the hardware encoder on the analog side, so is only usable for digital. I'm fairly sure GB-PVR also cant use the QAM tuning on this device, so its only useful for OTA ATSC.

ssussler got it working for QAM using TUNING_SPECIAL=2. http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?p=219947

But the 1600 is probably a better option if you want analog as sub suggested.

[sub]

Yeah, I vaguely remember that being mentioned aswell, but I still think the HVR1600 is a better choice.

[tjb]

Does anyone have both the HVR-1600 and Fusion cards installed in the same system? I'm curious how they compare with regards to signal strength. I have previously read that the Fusion cards were generally the best available for reception, and that they were much better in this regard then the 1600. Right now I have a single FusionHDTV Gold and I need to purchase a 2nd tuner card. My current plans are only OTA ATSC, but I guess it would be a good idea to leave open the possibility of QAM in the future. Does the 1600 support the digital QAM stations including unencrypted HS channels?

[JimF]

If you are only interested in digital, get an HDHomeRun. It has two independent coax inputs, so you can put one on ATSC and the other on QAM (or both the same). It communicates via Ethernet, so you don't install any hardware in your PC. Once set up, it works great. I think the people who have compared the sensitivity and resistance to multipath of its tuners rate it highly.

[sslusser]

Does anyone have both the HVR-1600 and Fusion cards installed in the same system? I'm curious how they compare with regards to signal strength. I have previously read that the Fusion cards were generally the best available for reception, and that they were much better in this regard then the 1600. Right now I have a single FusionHDTV Gold and I need to purchase a 2nd tuner card. My current plans are only OTA ATSC, but I guess it would be a good idea to leave open the possibility of QAM in the future. Does the 1600 support the digital QAM stations including unencrypted HS channels?

I don't have the HVR-1600 in my system right now, but I did have one for awhile. The HVR-1600 and HVR-1800 both tune Clear QAM in WinTV6. I also have a FusionHDTV RT Express card. The Fusion card is better at reception than the Hauppauge cards. The Fusion card is better at tuning in lower quality signals and finding Clear QAM channels. I other words, the Fusion card was finding channels the HVR cards could not see.

I think part of it had to do with Hauppauge's WinTV only scanning up to channel 125. Many of my local channels are at 131, 132. Dvico's software scans up to channel 135 by default. Also, part of it had to do with tuning in sub-channels correctly. Dvico overall handled subchannels better.

Dvico has been shipping QAM capable cards longer than Happauge, so it makes sense their drivers, hardware, and applications are more mature, stable, robust, etc.

I got the HVR-1600 to work fine in GBPVR with QAM. I pulled it because I liked the analog quality of the ATI 650 card I was using better. I have not been able to get the HVR-1800 to tune any ClearQAM channels in GBPVR.

I think the HVR-1600 is the simpliest way to go if you want analog support and QAM through GBPVR in one card. Although the Dvico cards have some advantages, I suspect the Hauppauge cards will only get better with newer drivers. But, to be honest, IMHO there really is no silver bullet tv tuner card with QAM support right now.

[elbryyan]

Does anybody know how the Dvico Fusion HDTV5 RT Gold tuner and the Vbox Cat's eye 150 compare? I'm looking to add a new ATSC tuner to my machine but have had issues with weaker signals in the past as it seems there is a lot of interference in the cable line dropped in my living room. The Dvico may be out of my price range now but I may be able to save up for it if it just does alot better than the Vbox 150.