The Best and Easy to install tuner card.

[dolony]

I'm new to Linuxmce. I just installed the software. What would be the best Tuner card for CATV (U.S.) that linux detects automatically I've tried the PVR-150 and the picture quality sucks. I have the HVR-1600 but there is no driver for it.

[tschak909]

For SD, we support plug and play:

* PVR-150
* PVR-250
* PVR-500
* PVR-USB2

For HD, we support:

* HDHomeRun

Other tuners can be supported, if yo manually configure in MythTV, but you lose some of LinuxMCE's integration, such as the non-myth A/V mode so that you can control A/V devices directly, and broadcast them throughout the house. Please stick with the tuner cards above, unless you are willing to help us write driver templates for other cards. All the tools you need to do so, are part of your LinuxMCE installation.

-Thom

[dolony]

I have PVR-150. and the picture quality is bad. I called the reps for HD homerun and they said HD homerun is for ATSC. I need a tuner card for Time Warner analog cable.

[tschak909]

*hmm* I love it when people argue with me. (I do happen to know _EXACTLY_ what I'm talking about.)

I'm using an HDHomerun on both ATSC and QAM-256 (which is the modulation used by cable.) It works on both just fine. And yes, you can use it too. With the HDHomeRun I can only get the unencrypted channels. This is the situation across the board, no matter what tuner you use.

We are also in the process of working with a few different teams to provide support for the Hauppauge HD-PVR component capture device.

-Thom

[dolony]

unencrypted channels? Is the all the basic channels (TBS, TNT, HBO, ESPN, CNN, MTV, AMC etc....)?

[tschak909]

as per US law, digital TV carriers are required BY LAW to provide channels they call the "common carriers" over unencrypted transport:

These include:

* ABC
* NBC
* CBS
* FOX
* Public Broadcasting
* Publically Syndicated Channels (UPN, WB, CW, etc.)

That's pretty much it. And it's the same story no matter which platform you choose, or which operating system you install.

-Thom

[Zaerc]

Also because of US law, we can't even discuss how to legally access encrypted content that you've payed for either.  Funny world isn't it? 

[dolony]

Ok, now I'm lost. I connected PVR-150 to my cable line and I got TNT, TBS, CNN, ESPN, etc.... Is there another tuner that will do that with a better picture?

[tschak909]

Notice I said "Digital" TV.

Analogue signals are also carried over the cable line, and will continue to be carried over the line until January 1, 2009. At which point, the analogue signals will completely disappear, and hooking it up directly to your tuner will no longer work. You will have to:

a. hook up a cable box to the S-Video input on your PVR-150, much better video reception, there.
b. hook up an HDHomeRun to the cable, to recieve the digital channels. Of which, what I said above, applies.

-Thom

[dolony]

I don't have a cable box. It's coming straight from the wall. I tried S-video, it was not that clear too. Which tuner would show a better picture, the PVR-250, PVR 350 or PVR-500?

[tschak909]

you should upgrade to a digital cable box. in fact, you'll need to pretty quick. the analogue signal is going to disappear.

-Thom

[dolony]

Analog Cable is not going away. Which tuner would show a better picture, the PVR-250, PVR 350 or PVR-500?

[tschak909]

Dude, are you fucking dense?

http://hometheater.about.com/od/televisions/qt/feb172009date.htm

read point 3, and re-read your options again. I'm getting tired of you arguing with me.

Cable companies are also killing their analogue bandwidth to make more room for the digital transmissions... THIS MEANS, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO USE THE TUNER CAN, AND THAT YOU WILL NEED TO USE A CABLE BOX.

-Thom

p.s. do not use the PVR-350, notice it wasn't in my list. It only provides MPEG-2 accelleration for output, and is otherwise nothing more than a slow frame buffer.

[rwilson131]

There are plenty of ways to improve the quality of your tuners recordings, but here are two quick ones.

1.  Make sure that you have a good signal to begin with
2.  adjust the settings from MythTV to increase the bitrate and resolution of the recording.  MythTV by default records at: 480x480 with bitrate of 4800 kbps.  This can be changed to a higher setting.  This will change the recording quality tremendously.

Take a look at the following for a more detailed information:

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Recording_Parameters
http://www.mediachance.com/dvdlab/tutorial/bitrate.html

[jland67]

Thanks for the info  on the HDHomeRun. I just starting searching this topic. Now time to find the site that has the best price.



Jeremy