Dumping Comcrap, looking for OTA tuner recommendations

[baj1]

I'm tired of getting *ss-raped by Comcrap, so looking to replace our HDHR Prime with a dual (or more) OTA tuner card. We have one Hauppauge WinTV PVR-2250-MC Dual Tuner already, any suggestions for another card to add to the system?

Thanks,
-Brad

[Graham]

We have one Hauppauge WinTV PVR-2250-MC Dual Tuner already, any suggestions for another card to add to the system?

Nobody ever got fired for buying Hauppauge. I have recently stopped using two Hauppauge PCI cards that had been working without incident for 15 years (because I needed a smaller mainboard that had no PCI slots). I am currently using the DVB version of ... http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/...uadhd.html ... and loving it.

[mulletback]

I retired my 2250 and now use a WinTV-Quad (01609) as the preferred tuner for OTA channels.

[drmargarit]

I've been using SageTV/NextPVR with SiliconDust tuners for going on ten years now. I would recommend the quad tuner version because of less wiring. I use two dual tuners currently with an antenna that could have been stolen from my parents house in the seventies. Sixty miles to the transmitters for me. Luckily, they are all the same direction from my house. When I was a kid we needed the box that went "Chunka-chunka-chunka" to aim the antenna because some stations were 60 miles east and some were 60 miles south. If you have a similar situation and need two antennas, then two tuner boxes might be the ticket.

Another advantage of the SiliconDust tuners is that they are networked tuners. My antenna and tuners are on the second floor, the old laptop that records the video and plays it back is on the first floor. Don't need PCI slots, don't need to have the antenna close to the computer.

Jim

[martint123]

I am currently using the DVB version of ... http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/...uadhd.html ... and loving it.

Graham, do you happen to know if that tuner fits in the HP microservers?

[Graham]

Graham, do you happen to know if that tuner fits in the HP microservers?

Not from my own experience ... but it's a small card. Mine are in a machine in a cupboard blah ... and I'm too lazy to open it all up, but ... You can see in the pic at ... http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/site/products...uadhd.html ... that it's about 10 cm - 15 cm and the blurb says that it will fit a full height or half height case ... it comes with a choice of end plates ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gkdkh4NleVA

[baj1]

I've been using SageTV/NextPVR with SiliconDust tuners for going on ten years now. I would recommend the quad tuner version because of less wiring. I use two dual tuners currently with an antenna that could have been stolen from my parents house in the seventies. Sixty miles to the transmitters for me. Luckily, they are all the same direction from my house. When I was a kid we needed the box that went "Chunka-chunka-chunka" to aim the antenna because some stations were 60 miles east and some were 60 miles south. If you have a similar situation and need two antennas, then two tuner boxes might be the ticket.

Another advantage of the SiliconDust tuners is that they are networked tuners. My antenna and tuners are on the second floor, the old laptop that records the video and plays it back is on the first floor. Don't need PCI slots, don't need to have the antenna close to the computer.

Jim

Thanks Jim and all who responded!

I was looking at this HDHR dual tuner:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GY0...KMFW&psc=1

With my 2250 already functional, I don't know if we need to spend another $70 to get to 6 tuners. :-) The only reason I could see going to the quad was to be better prepared for what may come if we move.

I put a huge antenna in our attic more than 20 years ago (I guess we aren't much for moving) which works better with digital signals than it ever did with analog. I ran RG6 QS throughout the house, so location isn't an issue for me. But the HDHR would be nice because I could put it in the basement where my HDHR cable card unit currently resides and just hook it into the antenna cable that's already there with effectively no cabling changes.

[mikeh49]

I think network tuners like HDHR have some desirable features beyond cabling including the ability to grab a quick view of a channel with the HDHR view app on any computer on the network, viewing with fairly simple setup of IPTV on Kodi and remote diagnostics, maintenance, etc over the network. That said, my Prime has not needed any attention over several years.

[mulletback]

Thanks Jim and all who responded!

I was looking at this HDHR dual tuner:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GY0...KMFW&psc=1

With my 2250 already functional, I don't know if we need to spend another $70 to get to 6 tuners. :-) The only reason I could see going to the quad was to be better prepared for what may come if we move.

I put a huge antenna in our attic more than 20 years ago (I guess we aren't much for moving) which works better with digital signals than it ever did with analog. I ran RG6 QS throughout the house, so location isn't an issue for me. But the HDHR would be nice because I could put it in the basement where my HDHR cable card unit currently resides and just hook it into the antenna cable that's already there with effectively no cabling changes.

I had been running a 2250 and an HDHR dual - the HDHR would regularly drop the signal from the one VHF station I have (digital 10), whereas the 2250 was rock solid. The signal from the VHF station was too strong for the dual; I tried all kinds of attentuators with no joy. The Hauppauge tuners seem to be more tolerant of signal variation. Eventually I retired both tuners and went with the quad.