USB dual tuner w/hardware compression-39$US - Fry's

[pBS]

Well i finally saw some ATI USB TVWonder 650's at Fry's and picked one up for 39$...!
and guess what, it's a full blown dual tuner!!!
of course you have to use a specific driver to enable the dual functionality, but hey, usb dual tuner with hardware encoder for 40$? can't beat it with a stick...
it's the diamond "ati tv wonder usb hd 650 dual tuner"
driver cd that came with it says "180-V01126-100" which only works in "either-or" tuner mode..[single]
but i loaded my cd from pcie-650, "180-V01128-100" which enables dual tuner on pcie card[cat 8.11], and it works with this one too!
the drivers on that cd work well in either xp, vista or win7..
6.14.10.250 is good driver version in win7 for "ati unified av stream driver"..

so grab one if you can...they won't last..pcieX1 also still available..same price..
the video quality is top notch and adjustable filters too..
reception is excellent, i've got a 4-inch antenna on it and it's picking up everything!

pair one with a fit2pc[245$] or Revo[199$] and you have a silent tiny multi-tuner setup for less than 350$!
or an excellent addition to any laptop..
out of slots? add 2, for 4 independent tuners using only 2 usb ports! [2 analog + 2 digital,all usable same time]
[i'll be grabbing another tomorrow and test dual use, 2 units, same time]

only bad thing is no remote and they are the white ones...not black....wooo...lol

[pBS]

well bummer, dual mode only works well in xp...
using same drivers it works in 7, but only if you are already using digital tuner, and start analog recording..
and when you stop, it won't allow access to analog anymore..but it does record both until stopped..then only digital tuner works..
that's what fooled me before, i tried by starting digital first..

in xp it works like a charm...both always available and no problems...using 6.14.10.274 driver..not the .250 driver as stated above..
the .250 is the one that came on it's own cd...the .274 is from pcie disc..
looks like they don't plan on fixing it anytime soon either..[at least for win7]
dual in vista may work, i haven't tried...
but i do know the pcie 650 works well as dual in all os's tho..

[pBS]

Sub, what's the procedure to telling it that a tuner is a shared with another tuner on same device? [single hybrid mode using sharedname]
do i just give them both the same shared name in ini?
[so it will think the device is busy when either tuner is in use, and not try to use it]

[-stattik-]

Hi PBS,

I've been trying to sort out the technical specs so please correct me if I'm wrong. There seems to be a coax input for NTSC and another for ATSC/QAM. Assuming you've got both connected, GBPVR should be able to record either two NTSC, two ATSC/QAM, or one of each, correct? I would be using XP for this.

[sub]

Sub, what's the procedure to telling it that a tuner is a shared with another tuner on same device? [single hybrid mode using sharedname]
do i just give them both the same shared name in ini?
[so it will think the device is busy when either tuner is in use, and not try to use it]

Yes, you need to specify the same SHARED_NAME in the respective .ini files.

[pBS]

it can only record one of each..digital and analog...they're not like a 2250, each a hybrid tuner,they are like a 1600 with 1 digital tuner and one analog..
the tuners are the same so it is *possible* they could both tune digital same time but i don't think the board was made to do it..at least no drives exist that can..and definitely no second analog encoder on it..so dual analog is out...
and in win7 i can't even use both same time...[driver issue] but can use either one or the other, just not at same time..
in XP you can use both same time...1 analog,1 digital...

thanx for the confirm Sub...still not a bad deal at 40$ for a usb hardware encoder card...

[ATHiker]

Thanks for the heads up, got my unit from Fry's a few days ago. Installed no problems, finds all my QAM stations. Replaced an old failing WinTV USB2 unit. NTSC / ATSC for $40. Outstanding.