Looking for a card/USB 2.0 option for OTA ATSC for HTPC. Was is the best one out there at a reasonable cost and may also have dual tuners?

Thanks.

almost any card supported here: http://www.linuxtv.org/.

But many mythtv users (myself included) have the HDHomeRun by SiliconDust. This is not a pci card, nor USB but rather connects onto your network via RJ45. It's also dual-ATSC tuner which is nice for recording two DTV shows at once (or record one and surf channels at the same time).

It's a little pricey (170ish?), but has native support in myth and thus is easy setup.

I have Hauppauge HVR-1250 PCIe cards and Kworld 115 PCI cards. Both seem to work fine for me, but I needed to download the latest kernel sources (2.6.25) and recompile to get the HVR-1250's working properly.

I like the idea of the HDHomerun, but they're more expensive than some of the cards. I was able to get my four tuners for the same price as a dual tuner Homerun.

I see the HDHomeRun is quite popular and indeed does have a RJ45 interface. My only concern with this was how does it treat your network in terms of traffic when recording one or two shows? Assuming you want to use the MoBo nic card for internet also and therefore need to connect the HDHomeRun to the home network switch?

I see the HDHomeRun is quite popular and indeed does have a RJ45 interface. My only concern with this was how does it treat your network in terms of traffic when recording one or two shows? Assuming you want to use the MoBo nic card for internet also and therefore need to connect the HDHomeRun to the home network switch?

OTA HD is at most 19.2mb/s so two tuners pushing at same time would be 38.4mb/s which isn't much in a 1000mb/s world. Even 100mb/s ethernet (what HDhomerun uses) isn't even 40% utilized. I've never had an issue with HDhomerun on my net but it is all 1000mb/s net. You could also add an additional net card in the server to isolate it. Good switches and no problems at all.

I see the HDHomeRun is quite popular and indeed does have a RJ45 interface. My only concern with this was how does it treat your network in terms of traffic when recording one or two shows? Assuming you want to use the MoBo nic card for internet also and therefore need to connect the HDHomeRun to the home network switch?

I see 2 problems with the HDHR. First and foremost, the cost. One HDHR cost more than all 6 of my current ATSC tuner cards. Second is the network bandwidth they use. Probably not much of an issue unless you have 2 or more of them and a 100Mb network and front end machines.

I have been using the HDHR for about 2 weeks now. And yes, the two concerns stated are relatively valid. I say "relatively" because for easy setup that the HDHR affords may be worth it for some (noobs) to the linux world that don't want to deal w/ firmware installs etc.

The network thing... meh. To saturate even a 100mb network you'd have to be recording 4 FULL HD channels from two HDHRs and trying to stream another FULL HD show off the same box. Not likely (not even possible where I live as there isn't even 4 FULL HD bcast channels).

Where I am, the highest bitrate HD show is 17mb/s with an overall average (accross all channels) of 12mb/s. Basically, what I'm saying, is that the likelyhood of the above scenario occurring will completely depend on actual broadcast bandwidth of the channels you are recording and watching at the same time. Since not all DTV channels broadcast in HD (or even full HD) the scenario gets more like: Record 5-6 DTV channels (at an average bit rage of 12) and stream 2 more off of the same box. Even if you want to call the network "saturated" at 80mb/s (to be conservative) I'm still looking at record 4 and watch 2 (all simultaneously) and still have headroom for more activity.

Granted, I know I live in an area that is likely lagging in HD OTA channels as other parts of the country. But I wouldn't completely discount the HDHR based on a scenario that may or may not be possible where you live. Check the shows you record/watch and see your average bitrate. If you already have a mythtv running then this is easily done in Myth under the System Info section.

Check the HDHR threads on the net including the HTPC (windows) users and you will see it is very robust. I read threads of users here with as many as three HDHR boxes (six tuners) on one server working flawlessly in MCE, sage, etc. If I had some of the available OTA HD networks those guys had I have at least two of them anyway :D I am still running the org. bought firmware with no issues. My Fusion (win/linux) MyHD (win) could not even begin to touch my Myth HDHR combo. Set it, forget it! It's been 99.8% reliable since I've installed it - when it first came out. Makes the WAF very gooooood!

The network thing... meh. To saturate even a 100mb network you'd have to be recording 4 FULL HD channels from two HDHRs and trying to stream another FULL HD show off the same box. Not likely (not even possible where I live as there isn't even 4 FULL HD bcast channels).

Now consider 2 frontend machines fast forwarding recordings at the same time. Here, each one of them takes about 80Mbs. What do you think that's going to do to a 100Mb network? Now if you are never going to use fast forwarding, then it may not be a problem. Although I sometimes record 5 shows at the same time which would load a 100Mb network so much, it either wouldn't work, or I wouldn't be able to watch a recording on another frontend machine. Like I said, it may not be a problem for everyone, but I went to a 1000Mb server just to handle fast forwarding 2 frontend machines at the same time. I've seen rates of about 200Mbs just fast forwarding both at the same time. So with just one HDHR and one frontend machine, a 100Mb network can easily get saturated. Of course with just one machine, it doesn't matter.

Now consider 2 frontend machines fast forwarding recordings at the same time. Here, each one of them takes about 80Mbs.

Wow... so when a remote Myth frontend fast forwards a recording, it doesn't skip video frames to keep the throughput to a constant bitrate??? If so, that seems like a huge inefficiency that could be addressed by the development team.

...Like I said, it may not be a problem for everyone, but I went to a 1000Mb server just to handle fast forwarding 2 frontend machines at the same time...

Right, and all I am saying is - don't dismiss the HDHR simply because of it's *potential* to kill your network. If you (the OP) like the idea of the HDHR because of ease of setup, external device, dual tuner (or whatever) then the limitations that may or may not affect you (ie: network) can be easily overcome by simply adding a gigabit switch to your network. As wnewell has noted, he too has overcome similar issues by going gigabit.

Wow... so when a remote Myth frontend fast forwards a recording, it doesn't skip video frames to keep the throughput to a constant bitrate??? If so, that seems like a huge inefficiency that could be addressed by the development team.

Sure, you can set it to skip frames, but then you miss a lot during fast forward if you set it to skip too many. To each his own. See the fast forward settings. BTW, I actually watch sone programs in FF mode. I don't want it skipping too many. I watch a 2 hour Deal or No deal show in about 15 minutes. My wife won't watch with me when I do this.

Quick question to the myth/hdhomerun fans:

Is the HDHR the best with Myth just b/c it's easy to set up ... or does it actually run better than the internal cards?

I'm interested in the HDHR but not if I can get the same quality experience for less money, even if I have to mess around with firmware and driver issues.

Quick question to the myth/hdhomerun fans:

Is the HDHR the best with Myth just b/c it's easy to set up ... or does it actually run better than the internal cards?

I'm interested in the HDHR but not if I can get the same quality experience for less money, even if I have to mess around with firmware and driver issues.

As much of a fan of the hdhr I am, I wouldn't go that route unless the pros of owning it actually made sense to you. I haven't run internal cards so I can't speak to them, but I know many, many people have. If you're on the fence, save the money and buy two kworld 115's from newegg for 35/each shipped.

I went the hdhr route because: 1. My home media distribution panel is in the basement and I could just make it another device on the network with easy access to coax (antenna) and network switches. 2. My original configuration required a half-height tuner card, which none existed that wouldn't have been any cheaper than the hdhr in price (after buying two). 3. streaming hd tv to multiple computers was somewhat appealing, something only the hdhr can do. 4. I had heard good things about reception with the HDHR, something I was somewhat concerned about and wanted a product that had good reception (not to say other cards don't).

Easy setup was something I discovered afterwards, once I owned it.