Any top-of-the-line tuners released in the past 4 years?

Dew itt right

2[H]4U
Joined
Oct 28, 2005
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The Hauppauge HVR-2250 in my HTPC is stating to stutter so I'm looking to replace it and I'd like to upgrade but it doesn't seem like anything new has been released that would be a worthy upgrade. I don't really want to do a network tuner because I don't want to have to rely on a router and WIFI card for my HTPC to function. Any thoughts on better tuners or am I just going to be buying another 2250? The model is somewhere around 3-4 years old now so you would think something better has to be out there...

EDIT: after working on it for a couple days, I found that it was a codec issue in my HTPC that was causing the stuttering. Now all of the previously recorded TV shows play flawlessly and the tuner was never faulty to begin with. I already bought and installed the HDHR3 so I guess I'm selling the 2250...
 
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That type of HW has hit full commodity status. Secondarily, that style of TV is for the most part "dead". This is why you are having a difficult time finding something new. The 2250 is still a great card and meets 100% of requirements for unencrypted analog and digital TV. If I lived in a good OTA area or analog cable was still unencrypted..I would be all over it.
 
Yeah, that's kinda what I figured. I only use the ClearQAM functionality and don't live clsoe enough to a metropolis to benefit from OTA channels. And yes, my HTPC is on a network but nobody watches TV anywhere else in the house or on any mobile devices so I don't see the benefit of a network tuner. Just the risk of a pissed off wife when the router goes does down and The Bachelor doesn't record! :eek:
 
I use 2x HDHomeRuns. Having them on the network is great. If one of the tuners need to be rebooted, i can just reboot the tuner and not have to restart the entire PC. Also, i can move my HTPC to another room and it can still record headless.
 
Thanks for the input guys! For the record, Ive never had to reboot my tuner either. Not sure what that's about.

I did end up going tikiman's route and buying an HDHomeRun 3 and a switch. This way I figure if the router goes down I can still record cable as long as the HTPC and tuner have a wired connection to the switch. Or if the switch goes down then I can just hardwire them to the router. Plus if the HTPC ever goes down the I'll have the capability of recording the shows on the laptop in the office while I work on the HTPC. If everything works as described, then I'll probably be buying a second tuner to attach to the network too. You can never have too much redundancy, right? :D
 
You can also just plug the tuner right into the HTPC lan port. I tested that out before & it works just fine too.

For the record, the only reason that I have the HDHomeRun is so that the other HTPC's & computers can watch live tv. My main HTPC has 3 tuners & all the media on it, so no need for the HDHomerun. But I did download TunerSalad back when it was free so if I wanted I could use the homerun with the main HTPC, but there really is no need. I don't need 5 tuners on one machine.
 
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