Suggestions for starter USB tuner?

[JosephB]

I'm looking to get started in FTA both cheap, quick, and easy. I'm thinking of getting one of the 'redhead' LNBs for a primestar dish that I already have (see my 'max distance' thread in the main FTA forum). It's fairly far out from the house, so I was thinking of picking up a cheap USB FTA tuner. I don't have a desktop so a card is out of the question. I'd like to use the USB tuner to both assist in aiming (take the laptop out to the dish, no extension cord required), to capture images/video, and just because it'll be cheaper than a receiver to get started. Any suggestions on tuners? I saw some last night on ebay in the $50-75 range. I'll try to look them up and link them. I'm open to ideas!

 

[pendragon]

I'm sure there are many other fine USB devices, but I've settled on the DVB World DVB-S2 HD 2104 for the time being (I bought four). I had it running within ten minutes of unpacking it with the supplied software, which is decent. Since then I've made it function with DVBViewer, MyTheatre and DVBDream. Those are generally better choices, however finding the right codecs and drivers can be more hassle than configuring the box itself. As your system grows, these units can be integrated into simple to complex home theater systems very effectively.

Performance seems as good or better than my dedicated STB, but of course none of these USB/PCI/PCIe devices offers true blind-scanning. I reboot my STB more than I do the software for the USB box. Computer boxes are the only way to handle DVB-S2 and 4:2:2 with the same solution and are therefore more future-proof. None of the software options is ideal, but at least you have choices and can always change.

Every one of the USB DVB-S boxes I looked over requires a power wart. This would mitigate the advantages of a laptop because you would have to drag a power cable all the way out to your dish. I'm sure one could rig up a battery pack, however. The DVB World's power wart is rated at 9 VDC at 2A. I haven't measured what it actually draws.