[mythtv-users] HDHomeRun Vs. PCIe tuner card?

[Jarom McDonald]

On 08/13/09 13:05, Philip Nourse wrote:
> On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:31:43 -0600, Jarom McDonald<jlmcdonald at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>    
>>>> Does the HDHomeRun box take commands for setting a tuner to a specific
>>>> channel, or does one have to fool around with an infrared solution?
>>>>          
>>> Yes, it takes commands for tuning channels over the Ethernet port, no
>>> messing with IR for tuning.  It has a built in IR receiver, I think.
>>> I have never used it and don't know if it can be used by Myth.
>>>
>>>        
>> This is actually another benefit that the HDHR has over a PCIe card --
>> especially considering that you're running a combined FE/BE. With any
>>      
> PCIe
>    
>> card doing your recording on a box that's also your FE, you'll have to
>>      
> have
>    
>> a separate device to run the frontend interface, whether that be a
>>      
> serial,
>    
>> PCI/e, or USB infrared receiver. But with the HDHR sitting on your
>>      
> network,
>    
>> if you set it physically in a place where it can receive your remote
>> control
>> input then you can configure your frontend's lirc to listen for UDP data.
>> I've got my HDHR on a little shelf of my entertainment center and can
>>      
> thus
>    
>> put my combined FE/BE back behind the entertainment center, away from the
>> kids, pets, etc.
>>
>> Jarom
>>      
>
> If your HDHR tuner is in a place where you can conveniently use it to
> recieve IR signals, you aren't using it to its full potential.  Mine is
> tucked away in the laundry room with the rest of my networking stuff.  One
> of the great advantages of the HDHR is you don't have to run antenna cables
> to your TV.
> ______________
>    

Not really -- the "full potential" or "great advantages" of the HDHR is 
that it is so _flexible_. As I mentioned in a different reply, I don't 
have an antenna hooked up, but instead use clear QAM signals sent by my 
cable company. Since the TV is already in a place where there's a BNC 
connector, why not stick the HDHR there and use its IR receiver? It 
looks nice on the entertainment center. There's network connectivity 
there because I've got my FE/BE machine (in fact, because I can then put 
my FE/BE and HDHR on one switch, it doesn't even eat up my LAN 
bandwidth). Win/win for me. And for you, too, as it fits your needs in a 
different way.

-- 
Jarom McDonald
Assistant Research Professor, College of Humanities
Brigham Young University
1163-G JFSB
Provo, UT 84602
801.709.1556
jarom_mcdonald at byu.edu