alternative to HVR-1600

[johnsonx42]

I'm considering adding a PCI tuner to my GB-PVR box, strictly for digital. Primarily for OTA ATSC; I really have no plans to get cable. I'm quite happy with my HVR-1250, but only have the one PCIe slot (yes, I am kicking myself for not just buying a HVR-2250 in the first place).

It seems to me a LOT of people have all kinds of weird problems with the HVR-1600 for digital. So I'm wondering what other PCI digital tuners people are using?

[mvallevand]

I'm very happy with my HVR 1600. OTA ATSC has been flawless using a cheap UHF antenna. If you are worried, why not buy from a box store and take it back if it doesn't work?

Martin

[johnsonx42]

thanks, that's what I forgot to ask for - input from the people who ARE happy with the HVR-1600.

[dalabera]

My opinion is that the hvr 1600 is a hit and run... You can get video, but don't get picky about the quality. I thought hauppage had the best tuners, but on my experience it's proving me wrong....
Again you can buy and it will do the job.

[pBS]

i've got a kworld pci-120 that picks up channels neither my aver780 nor my 1600 pick up..
[and it's real cheap]
it only does single tuner digital tho...

the 1600's had so many different tuners, it was all Gump'd up...
["ya never know what you're gonna get"]
some worked for qam, some didn't...some sucked at reception, some didn't..

[johnsonx42]

I've been tempted by the K-World PCI-120, but I'm not too happy with my K-World USB tuners. My ATSC-340u works pretty well, but but won't tune a couple of stations that my HVR-1250 and regular TV have no problems at all with. I had an ATSC-315u sitting on the shelf for awhile that I had bought open-box with missing accessories for $15... I finally got around to hooking it up yesterday, and it only tunes about half of the channels and of those, half are unwatchable.

I realize of course the PCI-120 is a completely different card from either of those... I think my local Fry's does have those, so maybe I'll give it a try.

[pBS]

i have a kworld usb tuner also [340u] and i got same results with it as far as channels, but i had it as 4th tuner and when all were busy, apparently my usb was affected and had dropouts...
[tho it was probably hard drive choking]
by itself it worked flawlessly, but none of these problems with the pci card..

for qam it needs to have reg file run for frequencies..there's also a atsc one so maybe that's what you need...[it's in arcsoft dir on cd]

i'm running on a homemade coathanger antenna and get excellent signal..

oh and the pci120 looks like the reference design board from conexant and even worked with my haupp. drivers, tho the kworld ones worked better..

[teookie]

My 1600's work well for clear QAM. Have not tried OTA ATSC yet although I would like to someday.

[Daldana]

I have a PC that barely meets minimum specs, AMD Athlon 2000+ (overclocked to 1.75 Ghz), 1 GB RAM, ATI Radeon 9500 videocard and I use the 1600 for OTA ATSC; it works very nicely! In GBPVR, I am using VMR9 fse and the dvr-ms mux. Before I upgraded the RAM, I would get a stutter while watching basketball on CBS (1080i), but now it is smooth.

Dave

[mulletback]

I bought a 1600 when the first QAM models became available, but it could only tune 2 of 12 available clear QAM channels - and one of the two was QVC :-P Newer drivers helped some, but channels would drop out a lot.

I recently added a 2250 which is a fine card that tunes all available clear QAM. I only use the 1600 for analog - never tried ATSC.