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

[Andrew Cagney]

>>
>> 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 :-)

Perhaps.

I've two antennae in the attic (spliced I guess you call it) one kind
of pointing at the CN tower and one kind of pointing at Buffalo, not
exactly well aimed, and being in the attic having to contend with all
neighbours roofs.  While not true line-of-site, it isn't bad (some
houses in the area still have small towers, ours is gone, sigh).

Since, pre HDHRs, we were more likely to loose a recording due to a
flaky driver (per Doug's comments I suspect the issues are fixed)
reception tended to not be high on the radar (well except in snow
storms and heavy rain :-).

I did notice marginal channels could be marginal: for instance when
the transmitter wasn't on the CN tower and low power and not even
remotely in the antenna's line of fire (CHCH was a good example).
However, since the TV would also struggle at times, I attribute it
more to the transmitter / antenna combination then the receiver.
Moving things to the chimney is a TODO item, somewhere behind
installing solar panels :-)

So focus on the antenna.

Andrew

PS: I wish MythTV was better at handling OTA and bad reception due to
storms; it assumes cable and that the first recording, no matter how
bad, is good enough.