Tuner choices

[whitey]

OK, I have in the past built mytv fronend's/backends but have less and less a need for full functionality as I have transitioned over the plex. I do however miss the ability to be able to stream TV to any device/computer in my house. For this purpose of streaming digital over the air tv to various devices would you all go w/ a legit tuner card like a Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 or a HD Homerun?

Devices I see are:
Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 Media Center Kit Dual TV Tuner w/ IR Remote PCI-E x 1 - Newegg.com
SiliconDust HDHomeRun Connect 2-Tuner ATSC DLNA/UPnP Compatible Streaming Media Player HDHR4-2US(CA) - Newegg.com
SiliconDust HDHR3-CC HDHomeRun PRIME 3-Tuner US CableTV with CableCARD Stream Premium Channels and Cut the Cord - Newegg.com

Not gonna get these from newegg due to my new ban on them but just for reference :-D


Some links to devices I am looking at, open to opinions. Planning on putting the Hauppauge 2250 in vt-D mode to my ESXi host and setting up mythtv or just installing ivtv drivers and running a netcat pipe or VLC multicast or DLNA stream of sorts (I know I've done many of these methods in a past life). Been a bit since I have dabbled in the space as you can tell. The HD Homerun looks super simple (set it and forget it) but I'm unsure if the lack of customization/tinkering will piss me off.

Suggestions?

Off to go do more research so I can sound a lil' more intelligent abt this :-D

EDIT: Looks like the third option is out of the mix, doesnt do OTA (no NTSC/ATSC tuner behind it).

The more affordable HD Homerun option (maybe)

SiliconDust HDHR4-2US HDHomeRun CONNECT 2-Tuner ATSC DLNA/UPnP Compatible Streaming Media Player for Cord Cutters - Newegg.com

 

[markarr]

I have the HDHomeRun Connect 2. I use it with nextpvr to my kodi clients, the HD one has the benefit of being able to be used by multiple devices as each tuner is independent of each other. Also you can put the tuner closer to your antenna to be able to put your antenna in a better spot.

Edit: The one thing is I would get the extend model as it has the encoders on it to be able to stream h264 rather than the mpeg2.

 

[RyC]

I would also recommend a HDHomeRun tuner, especially if the "DVR backend" (whatever it ends up being) is going to be virtualized. I have a Ceton infiniTV network tuner (equivalent to the HDHomeRun Prime but with more tuners), and it works perfectly with Windows Media Center in a VM. You don't have to overcomplicate things trying to passthrough a PCIe tuner, they seem to be the type of device that doesn't passthrough well.

Also, there's not much to tinker with on the tuner side, it's primarily on the software side!

 

[PigLover]

I've got the HD Homerun Prime. 2+ years and zero problems. Works great. MythTV knows it out of the box (no drivers or special sauce). 5 minutes to integrate (after spending 2 hours on the phone with your cable company getting the CableCard paired properly - but that will be true whichever tuner you choose...).

 

[CreoleLakerFan]

I had the HDHomerun Prime w/cablecard setup for years with Windows MCE and it worked flawlessly. The only reason I don't have it now is because my house is only wired for AT&T.

 

[whitey]

Thanks for weighing in gents, so if I don't have a TV provider is it best to go w/ a HDHomeRun Connect2 or a HDHomeRun Prime, thought the prime didnt allow OTA digi reception (was missing the tuner for that) am I wrong/mislead in my research? That's what I am after, I know it sounds lame but I may add a provided again in the future, cord cutter to the max here.

How does mythtv integration work, detects it on network via the mythtv tuner setup menu on a custom HDHomeRun network port/protocol?

 

[PigLover]

You are correct - HDR Prime is cablecard only, no OTA.

Myth sees the HDR Prime as three separate tuner devices. Its one of the "standard" tuner types. Simple instructions in the Myth Wiki.

 

[whitey]

Cablecard = smartcard from like dish or directv? Sorry for my ignorance

EDIT: Nope back at PC and read up a lil' on them, looks like a proprietary card I believe you get from provider...still reading.

http://customer.xfinity.com/help-and-support/cable-tv/about-cablecards/

 

[wsuff]

CableCARD is a special-use PC Card device that allows consumers in the United States to view and record digital cable television channels on digital video recorders, personal computers and television sets without the use of other equipment such as a set top box (STB) provided by a cable television company.

Otherwise they don't have a way to lock down content or push crazy set top box rentals. AFAIK Comcast STB also have cable card preinstalled in them. Their digital adapters are more basic but can't do PPV/pay tv.

 

[whitey]

Cool, I get it a bit more now, how do those cablecards communicate/transmit data/hook to provider for delivery/decryption? I see now coax/input/network conn unless I am blind? Internal antenna?

 

[wsuff]

Cable card tuner everything is via Coax. No support for OTA in that case. I believe the cable card is authorized by the cable company and that is how they enforce what you can/can't watch.

 

[RyC]

Yes, a CableCARD is inserted into a compatible tuner, and then you're supposed to get all the "linear" channels you subscribe to, including the premium ones like HBO etc. No On Demand video (normally). It was cooked up by the FCC to allow people to use "third party devices" to watch TV instead of renting a box from the cableco but as always the cablecos managed to make everyone rent their own boxes anyway. TiVos are the most popular "third party device", and even then, they are a tiny fraction when you look at how many total subscribers there are to cable TV.

 

[Blinky 42]

I do a lot of work in this area for home and work - If you are in the USA, go with the HDHR's for OTA or HDHR Prime for Cable/Fios etc.

The simplicity of having it network connected (put it where you want, not where the computer is) is totally worth it. Want to add 2 tuners to the mix? just plug another in the network, bam you are done. No powering off the computer, re-arranging slots to fit another card in, etc.
I have used the HDHR's since the original white dual tuner ones, and they are quite solid. Most frequent problem is the cheap wall-warts go out of spec and the device will lock up or not power on but you grab another standard 5v one and they are happy again (or just swap the bum supply out with SD). It is common to find actual SiliconDust staff in the irc channel during PST hours (#hdhomerun) and they or someone else will help you out with things pretty quick. They are still quite active in supporting hardware and getting around Microsoft dropping WMC by developing their own software DVR solution.

If you are targeting mobile device use, spend the extra $ for the "Extend" that has a MPEG4 transcoder in it. HD OTA channels are MPEG2 and streaming them raw can bog down your wireless connection quickly.
The Connect, Extend and Prime can all pick up unencrypted QAM channels on your cable TV service, but with the FCC rule changes the cable companies can encrypt everything and you are usually out of luck w/o a cable card. Some cable providers require you to have a Tuning Adapter in addition to a cable card for each device - this is to support switched digital video common on older systems where they are trying to free up QAM channels for cable modems instead of deploying mode nodes in their network.

Other options:
- Hauppauge WinTV stuff, it does work well once set up, but max density is only 2 tuners per card and there are a lot of variations out there in HW and FW to match up with the Linux drivers.
- Ceton infiniTV Only for CableCard. Linux support is at your own risk at this point, totally WMC focused. A positive is they do have a 6-tuner version instead of the max of 3 tuners for the HDHR Prime (all the M-Stream cards can support 6 tuners, some even more).

There several are other choices for the EU/UK and DVB areas, let me know if more info needed.

 

[JeffroMart]

Since you mentioned Plex, I would check out this plugin I recently found:

HDHRViewerV2: Initial Setup | HDHR Viewer

We run a HDHR Prime, since we have a cablecard, but it appears that it should work with any of the DLNA compatible HDHR tuners.

It works great for streaming from your Plex server, can pull guides, and you can customize the channel icons inside of plex as well. Awesome for streaming TV to just about any device that you can run Plex on.

 

[whitey]

OK, abt to click buy, on fence for either HDHR Connect or Extend...leaning towards extend version though.

I'm not gonna be sorry right? Solid device sounds like either option.

 

[markarr]

OK, abt to click buy, on fence for either HDHR Connect or Extend...leaning towards extend version though.

I'm not gonna be sorry right? Solid device sounds like either option.

If you want to watch on a mobile device get the extend.

 

[whitey]

Ohh snap, this HDHR extend is dope. Ran down to microcenter this morning and scooped it up. Tested browser (firefox w/ vlc plugin, chrome sh|t the bed and seems to try to download continuous stream never displaying anything), stock vlc network URL/stream (couldn't get UPnP to work yet in vlc, dunno if that's pfsense getting in the way, wouldn't think so since plex works fine), and Kodi so far, android kodi app paints black screens when trying to do add-ons, boo, wanna get plex integration working if that's a possibility on a Linux hosted plex server.

EDIT: Just resolved android kodi issue, app was hung/b|tched up, force stopped and fired again, ran through first setup and all is well now, installing HDHR add-on now. Wooohooo works great!

EDIT2: Got plex HDHR plug-in going as well, VERY NICE, now if i could just get a native netflix plug-in w/in plex as well...I'd be in paradise!