Digital tuner PCI Cards

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ADKM

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#116663 6-May-2013 13:38

Do any exist? Are there special requirements for receiving Freeview? Do any stand out as best for recording Hi Def to hard drive?

Cheers - Kirk

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#812031 6-May-2013 13:46

There are lots and lots and lots of different options out there.

Since the tuner is simply dumping the H.264 file straight to the HDD they are'll pretty much the same performance wise, but lots of people do like Hauppauge cards.

Personally I'd never go back down the path of internal cards though, network tuners such as the HDHomeRun are a vastly superior option.

ADKM

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#812060 6-May-2013 14:17

Thanks for tips - I'll do a bit of Googling. I did have an analogue tuner card but never liked it much so
the network alternative looks interesting.

Cheers - Kirk

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#812062 6-May-2013 14:23

+1 for HDHomeRun. Awesome little device, I'd highly recommend.

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#812250 6-May-2013 20:00

Yes, for PCI I'd recommend Hauppauge HVR1700 DVB-T

http://www.pp.co.nz/products.php?pp_id=AA00158&ref=pricespy

$122 incl P&P

http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_MEDIAPORTAL_1/15_Customization/98_Localization/4_By_Country/New_Zealand/1_Buying_HTPC_Hardware

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ADKM

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#812299 6-May-2013 20:55

Many thanks for the replies. The HDHomeRun is $80 dearer than the HVR1700. (Unless it's less than $205 anywhere)

Any performances advantages, or it just portability? How about the software and editing capability? I've seem some amazing quality mkv files that are less than 1GB for an hour. Seems that'd be the way to go for storage.

Cheers - Kirk

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#812308 6-May-2013 21:09

The choice of hardware makes no difference for storage - every tuner out there dumps recordings direct to the PC in the format they're encoded in which is a H.264 transport stream in NZ. Most TV software simply keeps the files in this format, with the exception of Media Center which uses it's own format.

If you want MKV or anything like this you'll need to run standalone software to transcode the files.

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#812311 6-May-2013 21:15

The differences are:

1. PCI vs Ethernet
2. Some media centres may work better with one over the other, but in general both these options are extremely well + widely supported by most software.

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#812313 6-May-2013 21:17

Don't forget dual tuners on the HDHomerun. and is it PCI or PCI-e the OP is looking for?

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#812324 6-May-2013 21:46

he stated PCI, which limits the options a bit

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#812328 6-May-2013 21:51

I made a mistake HVR1700 is PCI-E if you want PCI you need HVR1110, it costs around $80-$110.

PS. If you were wanting a PCI-E card then I wouldn't recommend HVR1700, I think HVR2200 / HVR2210 is a better card.

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ADKM

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#812332 6-May-2013 21:57

Thanks guys, very useful info. Both my PCIe slots are used. OK on software needed for .mkv. What file extension does H.264 transport stream Save in ?

The HDHomerun seems the winner, esp with Dual tuners. Is is ethernet-only out ?

Cheers - Kirk

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#812336 6-May-2013 22:01

The file extension depends on the recording software, but generally the extension is .ts

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#812338 6-May-2013 22:03

Before you buy a tuner you should post your system specs, in particular cpu / video card for the computer(s) that you want to watch tv on.

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ADKM

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#812350 6-May-2013 22:13

Good point about specs...

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/49222457/Image1.jpg

Does recording software not come with the unit ?

Cheers - Kirk

ADKM

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#812353 6-May-2013 22:16

Also my OS is XP SP3. I've got unopened 64bit Win7 to take advantage of the
RAM but reluctant to do a new install (just yet - and for the last 6 months lol)

Cheers - Kirk

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