Hardware to Buy?

[MensaMan]

I am interested in building a PVR and this SW appears to be what I need. Now I need to pick the right HW.

I currently have my OTA antenna feed and three (3) DirecTV HD Receivers in a media closet. They are connected to a distribution amplifier so that I can watch any receiver on any TV in the house (DTV tuned to channels 52, 54, or 58 or OTA tuned directly on TV tuner). Is there a solution for recording and viewing two programs simultaneously on a PC?

I have looked at info on the SiliconeDust HDHomeRun network device, but the tuners are terminated and don't have an output, so I would have to have two feeds from the distribution amp in one location.

Does anyone out there do this today? Could I simply take a splitter and split a single feed from the wall between the two tuners? Is there a better solution? Maybe the Hauppauge 1600?

I've been thinking about doing this for sometime and am ready to go, but don't know what is best.

BTW, I live in the US, so currently I get NTSC & ATSC OTA, but will get ATSC only OTA beginning next February. I am in the boondocks, so don't have cable capability, just DirecTV, so QAM isn't much interest to me. Finally since I use a media closet, all DTV HD Receivers are dual RF/IR, but I use the RF and as far as I can tell I can not have both active at the same time, so an IR blaster might not be an option for me, but not sure. Also, all my wiring is RG-6 and ethernet in preparation for HD.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

[whurlston]

The 1600 or the HDHomeRun are both good options. The HDHomeRun is a dual ATSC tuner whereas the 1600 only has one ATSC tuner so this may affect your decision. You would need two 1600s to record two ATSC programs simultaneously. You could also wait for the HVR-2250 if you wanted an internal dual ATSC tuner.

With regards to the HDHomeRun, you can use a splitter near the HDHomeRun as long as your signal is strong enough. That is the normal setup used. The output is over ethernet which you have already stated that you have in your closet so the HDHomeRun could be located there.

[MensaMan]

I may have to go with the HDHomeRun or wait for a USB version of the Hauppauge device since my mobo isn't PCIe. It is an older one, even though it is an AMD 2X 64bit chipset.

It would be too expensive to upgrade everything right now, since I usually build my own and get more expensive components. That's a project for around next Christmas.

Does the HDHomeRun support full 1080i or 1080p resolutions? It looks like the HTV-2250 will when it finally hits the stores.