[mythtv-users] Tuner opinions?

[Brian Wood]

On Sunday 21 February 2010 04:28:00 pm Dan Armbrust wrote:

> 
> I'm sure I have multi-path issues, but it's also one of the first TV's
> that had an integrated tuner... early generation.  I recently had the
> chance to use a new DVD/VCR with a digital tuner, and it worked much
> better than my TV tuner.  So I'm blaming the tuner.

Makes sense, unless you changed something when you switched from the TV to the 
DVD/VCR. You might even have had a bad connection that got "fixed" when you 
touched it. Unlikely, but I've seen stranger things.

> 
> >> HD-5500 - only one connection, though....
> >
> > Requires you to use software encoding for analog capture, this means a
> > lot of CPU, and limited codecs available (RTjpeg and mpeg4). Can't do
> > analog and digital at the same time.
> 
> Well, I will have a lot of horsepower... but no need to be wasteful.

True, not just the CPU required to do the encoding, but RTjpeg files tend to be 
large, and thus take up space, unless you transcode after recording, though 
disk space is getting cheap.

> 
> >> wintv-hvr-1600 - two connections - nice - and it appears that the
> >> linux drivers support digital and analog?
> >
> > Maybe, but I'm not sure if they can both at the same time, or might
> > require a reboot to change modes. I'm not familiar with the 1600 though.
> 
> Hmm.... I'll need to do a lot more research on that then - I know it
> only has one tuner, so it would only do one at a time, but a reboot to
> change modes would suck.

That would be a worst case, and it's unlikely, but I wanted to give the worst-
case scenario just in case. At the very least I would hope that changing modes 
could be done without any manual intervention, but as I said I don't know. 
Just check into how the mode change is accomplished, and if Myth can tolerate 
it.

> 
> What I gather about the HDHR is that they pick up a DHCP address,
> which MythTV finds... and from then on, MythTV can control everything
> (change channel, channel scan, start/stop record) over the network
> connection?

Yup, that's how it works, which is why I and others love the HDHRs so much. 
It does get an address from DHCP, but there's a little more to it, especially 
with multiple HDHRs, but that's it in essence.

The HDHR also has an IR receiver, I haven't played with mine yet, so I'm not 
sure how useful it is to Myth.

Keep an eye out for channel change options on your cable box.

Be aware that the HDHR can receive ant OTA channels, but only unencrypted QAM 
from a cable system, and those offerings are disappearing fast, usually only 
local stations and a few shopping channels and perhaps C-SPAN.