[u-u] What's a good digital capture card?

[Doug Lee]

Having found it and being curious, I have spent far too much time reading 
the HD HomeRun thread :-)
  I found this posting:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/2381849-post148.html
I have an HDHR4, a Hauppauge 2250, a Hauppauge 950Q, a Pinnacle 800i, and 
a Hauppauge 1265. Out of these, the HDHR4 is the least sensitive tuner. 
Because of this, I only use it (at this time) to initially aim antennas, 
since it has an Android app for this purpose, so I don't need to be near a 
laptop/TV to view results.

There's a few threads on ranking the most sensitive ATSC tuners over on 
AVSForum, but the gist of it seems to come down to this:

Ranked by most sensitive:

Hauppauge 1265 (new product, no Linux drivers yet, no signal strength 
monitor)
Hauppauge 950Q (there is a 955Q now, not sure of Linux drivers for it or 
not)
Hauppauge Areo (only one Aero can be used per PC/server because of driver 
limitations)
Hauppauge 2250 (discontinued dual tuner, has linux drivers)
Pinnacle 800i (discontinued, but can be found on eBay)
HDHR4 (and other models)

Bad tuner cards to stay away (unless you know what you're in for):
Hauppauge 1600 - I believe this is discontinued, but has very poor 
sensitivity (I own one)
Hauppauge 1800 - same deal as 1600
Hauppauge 2255 - This is a NEW tuner, but due to HW issues in it's build, 
it loses about 6db of signal in the built-in splitter, making it sub-par. 
No Linux drivers yet. (The Hauppauge 1265 is the single tuner version and 
is a very good tuner.)

That being said, the HDHR is the only network-based tuner I am aware of. 
If your signal strengths are strong, you should have no issues. But if you 
are in a deep fringe like I am, you might not have the best luck here. 
Just make sure that if you purchase an HDHR, that you can return it if it 
does not perform well in your location.


On Thu, 19 May 2016, Doug Lee wrote:

> On Tue, 17 May 2016, Andrew Cagney wrote:
>
>>> It's an Ubuntu MythTV machine, not a Rogers, and I want to use it for 
>>> O-T-A
>>> digital because Blodgers has stopped providing unencrypted analog.
>>> 
>>> Any suggestions about a good digital card?
>> 
>> HD HomeRun.
>> 
>> Yes, technically, it isn't a "digital card"; otoh, if you're looking
>> at Doug Lee's e-mail with dread, then you'll likely see that as a
>> distinct advantage :-)
>
> Maybe I should offer an executive summary. All of my PCI cards work perfectly 
> in digital mode using MythTV.
>
> Signal sensitivity varies.
> Air2pc best
> ATI HDTV Wonder very good
> Hauppauge HVR-1600 poor but prefectly fine on stronger signals.
>
> I forgot to mention the HVR-1600 has a built in Mpeg2 encoder in case anyone 
> still wants analogue with very low CPU usage.
>
>> The only disadvantages I found weren't exactly technical: it was
>> always on (used ~2w), took up an ethernet port and power point, and,
>> critically, the cables made an already messy video cupboard worse.
>
> I don't have one but have read reports online that it is not very sensitive 
> for weak signals. Your thoughts on this Andrew?
> If this is false, I might want one myself someday :-)
>
> I THINK I read this from "Commander Tom" a technically literate radio geek 
> who chases after DX (distant) signals on the "digital home" website. I 
> couldn't find the post quickly but the site has a whole thread on the HD 
> HomeRun. The whole site is very Toronto/Buffalo centric. Lots of other OTA 
> threads.
> http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/81-over-air-ota-digital-television/191274-hdhomerun-ota-discussion.html
> http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/81-over-air-ota-digital-television/
>
> While on the topic, another one with a map and list of available stations in 
> southern Ontario.
> http://www.remotecentral.com/hdtv/
> and a forum
> http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/mboard/rc-sat/list.cgi
>
>> 
>> (I say "weren't" as my mhthbox died earlier this year - I switched it
>> off and its disk never came back - and I've yet to resurrect a
>> replacement)
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>> 
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