Dual pc tuner connection question

[infernoman29]

I'm looking to buy either a dual or tri tv tuner card for my computer. For the past 6 months, I've been doing the OTA thing with my HD tv.
What I was hoping to do, is be able to record 2-3 HD (depending on the card I get) shows at the same time, using Vistas Media Center. If I do OTA with it, does that mean I'll have to have an antenna for each connection, or can i use a splitter?
And is there anything special I should be looking for in a tv tuner card?

[bspvette86]

infernoman29,
I have a Hauppauge 950Q usb tuner and an ATI 650 pro PCI tuner. Both support clear QAM (unencrypted digital cable). I use Snapstream's Beyond TV as my main DVR software. The Hauppauge tuner stick is a newer design and pulls in signals from rabbit ears that the older ATI card wont without some fiddling and/or an amp. I also like the ability to grab the USB tuner and plug it into the laptop on the go. A splitter will be needed if you want to run multiple tuners off the same feed. Most cards have multiple inputs to allow recording from different feeds. I run XP pro so I can not comment on Vista MCE.

[MeleeDave]

Vista Media Center works good. I split my antenna 4 ways, which resulted in not enough signal strength to reliably record shows. My main OTA dual-tuner is an HDHomreRun, which has a configuration screen that showed that the signal strength was too weak. After getting a splitter with a built-in amplifier, things work great.

The great thing about the HDHomeRun is that it is a networked device. It can be located anywhere on your network. It then streams the data from the 2 tuners to your computer. It also supports clear QAM as well as ATSC OTA.

--Dave

[infernoman29]

Here is an issue I'm having right now. My computer only as one more pci-e slot available for a card. Is there a card that'll let me record 2 tv shows at the same time OTA with using only 1 antenna? If I got this right ATSC is for HD and QAM is for Digital. If I get a card that has those, that should let me record 2 shows with 1 antenna at the same time. Is that correct?

[bspvette86]

Sounds like you might be interested in this http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hvr2250.html

[zelig2]

I also vote for the HDHomeRun. It's easy and you don't have to install anything inside your computer to get it working.