[mythtv-users] HDHomeRun Prime vs Hauppauge DCR-2650

[Robert McNamara]

On Thu, Dec 8, 2011 at 6:09 PM, Dale Pontius <DEPontius at edgehp.net> wrote:

> This past week Comcast moved several channels from analog to digital.
> Four of those channels combined carry probably 80% of what I record.
>
> So I'm thinking about one or two CableCards and new hardware.  At this
> point that most likely means either the HDHomeRun Prime or the Hauppauge
> DCR-2650.  The former is $100 more than the latter, and since I'm only
> thinking of one or two CableCards, the third tuner doesn't really
> matter.  Besides, my dual hvr-1600's are still working just fine, it's
> just that the channels have moved.
>
> Assuming I have ClearQAM capacity to spare, and only plan one or two
> CableCards, is there any reason not to go for the DCR-2650?  From what I
> can tell, the instructions make it sound essentially like the HDHomeRun
> Prime in terms of setup.
>
>
Whether you get a DCR-2650, or a Prime, you only use a single Cablecard--
The Prime supports three tuners with a single cablecard, the Hauppauge
supports two with a single cablecard.

There are a number of advantages to the Prime over the Hauppauge in my
mind-- the Prime has the obvious extra tuner, the Prime supports tuning
adapters for areas that need them with no additional drivers (the Hauppuage
does not support TAs in Linux), you can update the firmware in the Prime in
Linux, and you cannot in the Hauppauge, and the Hauppauge firmware, even
when you install it via Windows, always lags substantially behind the
SiliconDust firmware.  Also, since the Hauppauge device is literally Prime
hardware without the third tuner and using the spot which would otherwise
control a tuning adapter to drive the USB interface instead, you're dealing
directly with the manufacturer of the hardware with SiliconDust versus with
a reseller/repackager with Hauppauge.

If you don't care about those differences (I quickly found myself using all
three tuners concurrently even though I was sure I would never need them--
Myth found more optimal ways to schedule and get me programming sooner),
then it's basically a matter of how much you want to spend, and the
DCR-2650 will work fine.

Robert
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