FTA w/OTA & clear QAM

[willie8605]

Does anyone know of a PCI card that allows you plug in both an OTA and clear QAM source so that you can tune them simultaneously? I want to be able to tune and integrate my FTA/OTA/clearQAM channels all at the same time and have them appear in my channel guide without having to physically alternate between sources. Seems like the cards I have been looking at only let you tune one or the other at the time. I already have my FTA card, so don't need info on those.

Also, what happened to the PC DVB section of the forum? Haven't been here in a while and it seems to have dissappeared

My setup is going to look like this: FTA/OTA/clear QAM input into PC (running mythTV backend). Live TV and locally saved media will be streamed to mythTV frontend sources throughout the house. As of right now, I can only figure out how to tune OTA or clearQAM individually, not at the same time.

Thanks!

 

[Magic Static]

The DVB forum was merged into the FTA main forum. I use a pair of Hauppauge tuners for ATSC and DVBS-2/DVBS but I don't need QAM. I use MyTheatre and it supports multiple tuner types seemlessly. I could add a DVBC card for QAM if needed.

 

[willie8605]

I did some research, and it looks like most cards that tune ATSC also tune QAM, but I am confused on how they work. I am interested in the Hauppauge WinTV HVR 2250, but not sure if it allows for both cable and antenna to be plugged in and tuned simultaneously.

Here are the free channels I want: http://www.silicondust.com/hdhomerun/lineup_web/US:73020#sidebyside

Is there a dual input card (one antenna, one cable) that will tune all those channels at once? I am trying to avoid buying one card that only tunes clear QAM.

 

[whatchel1]

I don't know of any single card that can do both at the same time. I have a card for OTA & 1 for QAM. The QAM card I'm using is Pinnacle PCTV PCI card.Home. The OTA is an older version of this card:MyHD MDP-120 HDTV PCI Decoder Card for PCIt's a MDP 100.

 

[empiretc]

there are several. make sure to get on that has an input for each.

had the USB Dell UW121 in service for a long time in the manner you seek. it was flawless. they can be found for cheap these days.

 

[willie8605]

I looked up those Dell tuners and found some info saying they are only compatible with certain Dell computers??? What's the deal with that?

Also, I need one compatible with Linux, too. I already have a Pinnacle Pro 800e USB stick for ATSC, so I may just keep using that and buy a cheap, well supported in Linux, QAM tuner. I hate having the big Pinnacle USB stick hanging out of the PC, especially with the coax pulling down on it, but it would probably be the cheapest route to go since I already have it.

So, I will have a new QAM tuner, Pinnacle Pro USB OTA tuner, and DVBWorld 2006 DVB-S2 FTA tuner. I bet this is going to be a nightmare getting it all working properly in mythTV. Hopefully when I am done I will have all 3 sources in one nice program guide that I can stream over my local network!

:EDIT:

Forgot to mention I also have a Twinhan 1020 (DVB-S) tuner, so I may end up having another tuner card in use someday Mainly got that DVBworld 2006 card for DVB-S2 support

 

[Larry1]

I have an HDHomeRun dual tuner and it has separate inputs for each tuner. One tuner can be configured OTA and the other Clear QAM. (I currently have both tuners configured for OTA and using Beyond TV, you need to check to see if your application supports the tuner) It connects via the ethernet port so any computer on your network can access the tuners, or you can install a dedicated network card in the server for the tuners if you are worried about network congestion. The tuners are fair sensitivity, but my DVICO Fusion tuner has a more sensitive tuner. (slightly more sensitive) I use Beyound TV for my OTA scheduled recordings and Mytheatre with my satellite cards.

 

[Larry1]

I hate having the big Pinnacle USB stick hanging out of the PC, especially with the coax pulling down on it,

A USB extention cable will make it a little more managable and reduce the strain on the USB port from the cables pulling on it. (less likely of bumping the stick and breaking the port off in the computer)
The HDHomeRun can aslo be placed near the entry point of your OTA antenna cable to get maximum signal strength and then a network cable run to the computer.

 

[osu1991]

http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/264804-hdhomerun-dvbviewer-clear-qam-ota.html

Linuxman did the OTA and QAM part with 2 of the HD Homeruns.

 

[dotbatman]

The only way to get what you want is an HDhomerun, or one tuner per connection. I use an Avermedia Duet, and I'm quite happy with it-- but it only has one input, so you can choose either OTA or ClearQAM for both tuners. I've used a 2250 and it's the same story, only one TV input. The HDHomerun is the only OTA/QAM dual tuner I can think of that has two inputs. If you decide to go with an internal solution, I find the 2250 has a much less sensitive tuner than the Avermedia for OTA, and the Avermedia card is quite a bit cheaper. I recommend it without reservation.

 

[empiretc]

I looked up those Dell tuners and found some info saying they are only compatible with certain Dell computers??? What's the deal with that?

That is for the less tech savy, since machines ship with different operating systems.

That dell tuner would surely work for you, if you were on a windows machine. Used it + dvb card and it all worked great. even had it working in windows media center!

Since you are running linux, that is going to limit your options some. However, there is no reason you couldn't install 3 pci cards. Hope you have a beefy system.

 

[whatchel1]

That is for the less tech savy, since machines ship with different operating systems.

That dell tuner would surely work for you, if you were on a windows machine. Used it + dvb card and it all worked great. even had it working in windows media center!

Since you are running linux, that is going to limit your options some. However, there is no reason you couldn't install 3 pci cards. Hope you have a beefy system.

I have 2 cards running now the OTA & QAM one. I will be adding an FTA card before long. Have a feeling it can handle it though. Have an ASUS mobo w/AMD quad core 2.2 G processor w/ 4Gb of mem. Only thing I haven't cared for is the fact that I have to have the apps running for a sch record. I wish there was some way that the schedule would turn on the app and then it start running and rec then shut off after it finished.

 

[willie8605]

I think I have decided to just get a separate tuner for clearQAM. I like the looks of the Hauppauge cards. The 2250 has an FM input and can tune 2 TV channels at once (for simultaneous recording and watching different channels), so that would be nice, but then again not sure how often I would really use those features. I may just get the 1250 model for $50. The PC all this is going in is a dual core AMD 64 2.4 GHz, 6GB DDR2 RAM, Nvidia GeForce 9500 w/ 1GB GDDR2, so it should be beefy enough. With Ubuntu it should use even fewer system resources than Windows.

 

[SatelliteAV]

I have had a GREAT OTA / QAM experience since buying the Silicon Dust two tuner solution. I had tried several PCI models and had many issues with driver conflicts, and set-ups that almost made me drop the whole Home Theater concept combining satellite, OTA and QAM. Can't say enought good things about Silicon Dust!

 

[whatchel1]

What's a bummer here is that with the exception of the Locals the cable co carries all is in SD. The only way that you can get the HD stations is to sub thru them and use either their box or a Tivo premiere for a DVR. I can see the addresses of the HD QAM channels but they are blocked w/o a sub thru Suckenlink.

 

[Larry1]

I wish there was some way that the schedule would turn on the app and then it start running and rec then shut off after it finished.

I have my PC (Win XP PRO) running Mytheatre for satellite and Beyond TV for OTA. I use the Windows Power Options to put the PC in standby mode (hibernate mode also works) after a preset time of inactivity. Both Mytheatre and Beyond TV will wake the PC and record the scheduled program. After recoding the main application then shuts down leaving only a small schedular program running and after the inactivity period of the Windows Power Option setting, the PC then enters standby mode. When it is time for the next recording, the PC wakes up again.
The Windows Scheduled Task manager may do what you are trying to setup if the application does not.
Capturing ATSC OTA and QAM takes very little computer power, as it is only sending the digital stream to the hard disk. No re-encoding involved. It is the higher bitrate streams that start to tax the hard disk capabilities, not the computer processor power.

 

[Larry1]

The only way that you can get the HD stations is to sub thru them and use either their box or a Tivo premiere for a DVR. I can see the addresses of the HD QAM channels but they are blocked w/o a sub thru Suckenlink.

The HDHomeRun tuners are available with cable card versions for capture of subscription channels. You need a cable card from the cable company and plug it into a card slot in the tuner.

 

[whatchel1]

The HDHomeRun tuners are available with cable card versions for capture of subscription channels. You need a cable card from the cable company and plug it into a card slot in the tuner.

That won't happen I really hate this cable co. I had them for net a while back. They accused me of downloading something that was reported as a pirate download. Then couldn't prove it and so I told them where they could take their cable as soon as I got DSL put in. Will never get anything from them again (unless L freezes over). I get their services due to their never bothering to disconnect.