OTA HDTV Tuner card recommendations

[Tr00per]

I hope this doesn't open up a can of worms - but I'm trying to decide on a Tuner card to capture OTA HDTV with Beyond TV.

My PC shouldn't be a concern as it has Windows XP Pro, 2GB of Ram, and has a 3.20GHz processor and my video card, a ATI X1600 Pro, supports HDTV.

IT seems the price difference can be as much as 80 - 90 bucks on different capture cards. I already have a firefly remote (I'm a beyond media user) - and I'm not interested in anything more than OTA HDTV. My only real criteria is that I want the BEST quality picture I can get from my 6 network local OTA HDTV channels.

Will the lower end cards get me the same pic quality? Suggestions please?

[Killer Bob]

I am using two ATI 650 Cards. I need to update my signature because my system specs are not up to date. The ATI cards blow away anything that Hauppauge has to offer. They have 2 75 ohm inputs per card and you can use OTA HD and Cable on the same card. Good vid quality at 1080 as well as the lower res.

[nrf]

I have 3 kinds of OTA HD tuners: KWorld ATSC-110, VBOX USB, and Fusion HDTV5 gold USB. I have found the Fusions to be significantly more sensitive on marginal and indirect signals, but the software/drivers have been only slowly getting up to a good level of reliability and they have been fussy about usb configurations. With a proper signal, they all seem to work 'fine' with BTV.

Since you are only interested in OTA HD, the advantages of the new hauppauge tuners in that area are probably not going to be worth the extra money. I don't know how far out you are, but I am 30 miles from my providers and get very good digital recordings even though the analog signals are pretty snowy.

[Zogg]

Same experience as nrt, my Fusion Gold card is much more sensitive than my Kworld. Stay away from the low-end cards IMO.

But, I would recommend you get an HDHomeRun unit instead. Yes it's more money up front, but it's the same cost or less than two GOOD OTA cards (I paid as much for my Fusion and Kworld combined as I did for the HDHR), and you have the option of capturing QAM channels if you ever decide or have to change to cable at a later date. While it is possible to record from QAM channels with a Dvico card, it's simpler and supported with the HDHR.

Cheers, Z

[stoked]

Does the HDHomeRun support BTV for both ATSC tuners?

[Zogg]

Originally Posted by stoked

Does the HDHomeRun support BTV for both ATSC tuners?

It should. I'm actually expecting my 2nd HDHR to come in today and was planning to try it with OTA. I'll let you know how it goes.

Z

[nanook105]

Originally Posted by Zogg

It should. I'm actually expecting my 2nd HDHR to come in today and was planning to try it with OTA. I'll let you know how it goes.

Z

I only tested the HDHR with OTA for a short time during the initial beta cycles and I found that it seemed more sensitive to weak signals. Although, I had to split an already weak signal again to test it, so I'm sure that didn't help.