[mythtv-users] HDHomeRun Vs. PCIe tuner card?

[Brian Wood]

On Tuesday 11 August 2009 16:49:24 Tom wrote:
> Perhaps this question has been done to death, but I'm really torn about the
> question of whether to build a Myth box with a pair of tuner cards in the
> PCIe slots, or plug it into a HDHomeRun box.
>
> I haven't picked the motherboard or processor yet, so I'm somewhat neutral
> there. I might use a second NIC and put the HDHomeRun on its own private
> network, if that would help. Pity it has only the 100mb interface; perhaps
> there would have been some small performance gain if it were gigabit. I
> will be using the same box as a back end and front end in one box.

I doubt a GiB interafce would make any difference, since the HDHR has a 10/100 
interface. You can only run as fast as the slowest side :-)

>
> Does the HDHomeRun box limit me in some way? I would like to record one or
> two ATSC OTR programs at once, perhaps while playing back a prior
> recording. I have no cable or satellite. I'd be recording in SD for now,
> looking to moving to HD down the road.
>
>  From what SiliconDust says on their website, their box does it all. Had
> that been the experience of those of you that have used it with MythTV?
>
> Does the HDHomeRun box take commands for setting a tuner to a specific
> channel, or does one have to fool around with an infrared solution?

You can tune a channel without any IR, by sending commands to the HDHR over 
the network.

>
> I kinda like the idea of being bus independent, seeing as I got an analog
> capture card some years ago (PCI) and now looking at a future where there
> aren't that many PCI bus slots in most new PCs. Maybe I should have got the
> box next to it on the shelf, the one that speaks USB. Who knows.
>
> Anything that a PCIe card (or two) really brings to the party that I won't
> get with the HDHr?

Not that I can think of.

I own an HDHR and I think they are great.

-- 
Brian Wood
beww at beww.org