Help with digital OTA tuner decision (1 Viewer)

[Coblica427]

I'm stuck in between 3 tuners and I figured you folks would know better than me.

First off, I want a dual tuner (doesn't have to be hybrid), preferably hardware encoding to reduce CPU load when recording. My options I have so far are:

AverMedia A188 HD Duet - can still get these on Amazon but haven't gotten a firm answer whether or not this card is compatible with the current Media Portal - anybody know? Is there an upgrade from AverMedia to this card?
Hauppauge 2250
SiliconDust HDHomeRun

The most important thing I want is a great tuner - don't care about bells and whistles, high sensitivity would be nice to pull in weaker channels.

Thanks!

 

[2BitSculptor]

I've been very happy with the HDHR3-US model... I have 2 of them (very reasonably priced), I've been using HDHR for several years. Just make sure you have an adequate antenna. I'm 50 miles away from my broadcasters and my medium range antenna (rooftop) just barely pulls them in.. It was perfect for analog, but digital is a bit more sketchy. I have 2 stages of amplification on the coax before it gets to the tuners. My next step would be to get a long range antenna installed.

 

[Coblica427]

OK I think I'll end up going with the HDHR, I was sort of leaning that way anyways - wifi on my tablet will be awesome! I've made a coat hanger antenna (DB4) with some modified specs and reflector and it gets all the channels here in Dallas, however just 2 are kind of sketchy every now and then, depends on antenna placement (haven't gotten my mounting hardware in yet) so I ordered a pre-amp that'll hopefully be enough for those two channels. Thanks for your help!

 

[2BitSculptor]

I've looked at a couple DIY coat hangar antenna designs, but haven't tried either yet.

Hope the amp does the job for ya!

 

[Coblica427]

If you're interested in a DIY antenna take a look here: http://m4antenna.eastmasonvilleweather.com/Drawings/PDF Drawings.html . He has a few different designs and also some reflector designs - seems more legit than the youtube one haha