Myth(HD)TV, part 3

Geek said:

One of the most difficult choices in building a MythTV box is choosing an appropriate tuner. Granted there are functions of MythTV that don't require a tuner, but it's hard to be a DVR without one.

There are a lot of options in TV tuners and selecting one that works with Linux/MythTV can be a challenge, especially when you consider all the recording sources. One thing is certain, the Hauppauge brand is popular and is generally supported. I have used the PVR-500 NTSC cards for a long time without any problem. The built-in MPEG2 encoder comes in handy when recording analog sources because it offloads the digital conversion from the processor.

If I were to recommend a tuner right now to somebody I would go with the Hauppauge HVR-2250 and here's why.

• Supported in Linux/MythTV and Windows Media Center if you give up on MythTV
  
• Dual ATSC/ClearQAM/NTSC tuners
• MPEG2 Encoder Chips for NTSC/Analog capture

This particular card should setup easily in Mythbuntu (probably the easiest method to build a Mythbox) and allow for recording two shows (either analog or digital) simultaneously without much CPU usage. This card also has analog inputs for connections from set top boxes for satellite subscribers.

Personally I went with the HDHomeRun from Silicon dust for my digital recording because of the fantastic reviews, but mostly because of the compatibility. All the DVR packages I've looked at are compatible with it from MythTV (Linux and Mac), Windows Media Center, and EyeTV (Mac). That will allow me to evaluate every one of them without disrupting my production Mythbox. Another reason I picked the HDHomeRun was that I already had 3 PVR-500 cards which have 6 analog tuners between them so my ClearQAM tuner didn't need to be a hybrid.

The last thing I can say and probably the most important regarding tuners. Avoid the ATI All-In-Wonder card like the black plague. That particular card looks like the holy grail but will give you nothing but heart ache. It just doesn't work.

Geek out...