Well, if you buy their product despite them showing zero interest in Linux drivers, then that's not exactly encouraging things to change. Doing so would make it even less likely that they'll ever work with Linux/MythTV.

Cheers

Does anyone have any experience with the hvr 1250 under linux ?

Does anyone have any experience with the hvr 1250 under linux ?
From a quick google for "linux hvr-1250":

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Hauppauge_HVR-1250
http://linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Hauppauge_WinTV-HVR-1250

So, requires a very recent Mythbuntu distro (9.04 should be okay), and only works for ATSC (DTV) reception, not analog NTSC.

-ml

I'm wanting to build a dual-tuner HTPC. If I have 2 antennas (one for Toronto, one for Buffalo) joined and plugged into a one-input, dual-tuner card (ex. Hauppauge HVR-2250), will I be able to record 2 different channels from the same antenna, or would I only be able to record 1 show from each antenna?

Alternately, if I were to have each antenna plugged into a different tuner (ex. Hauppauge HVR-950Q), could I record 2 shows from the same antenna? That might be a stupid question, but I don't want to assume that this isn't possible.

You can record one show per tuner the number of antennas don't matter. Since the 2250 has two tuners you can record two shows. If you had a 2250 and two 950Q then you could record four shows at once.

That's great to hear. If I understand correctly, the signals coming into 950Q #1 can be recorded using 950Q #2, simply by virtue of them both being in the same computer?

That's great to hear. If I understand correctly, the signals coming into 950Q #1 can be recorded using 950Q #2? Either tuner could record a show from the other, by virtue of them both being in the same computer?YNo - the tuners do not talk to each other so you would need to split the signal to feed both 950s - that way you could record two shows from Buffalo at once or two shows from Toronto at once. Alternatively you could forget about combining the signals and use one 950 for Buffalo and one from Toronto. But then you would not be able to record two shows from the same city at once so I would not recommend this route.

Wonderful; thank you for explaining that for me, Wayne. Because I do want the flexibility to record two shows from the same city at once, it sounds like a 2250 with a merged line would meet my needs.

Wonderful; thank you for explaining that for me, Wayne. Because I do want the flexibility to record two shows from the same city at once, it sounds like a 2250 with a merged line would meet my needs.
It simply has a built-in 1:2 splitter, that prevents you from ever using one tuner with your first antenna at the same time as the other tuner with your second antenna. This is the least flexible solution.

A pair of 950Qs can be configured that way by addition of a simple 1:2 coax splitter ($1.50 from Active Surplus). But they can also be set up to allow independent recording from both antennas at once, for better flexibility. The easy way to do that, is with *two* 1:2 splitters in combination with two A-B coax switches.

Cheers

I'm thoroughly confused. You can see why I'll be hiring someone to install everything for me. ;) So the 2250 won't do what I want? But two 950Qs can, by way of multiple splitters? I know that using a splitter will have a negative impact on signal; will using several have an even worse impact?

I'm thoroughly confused. You can see why I'll be hiring someone to install everything for me. ;) So the 2250 won't do what I want? But two 950Qs can, by way of multiple splitters? I know that using a splitter will have a negative impact on signal; will using several have an even worse impact?
The HVR-2250 will work just fine in your case. Stacking the antenna (as long as it works properly) is the best way to bring the line into your house.

All we're talking here is OTA ONLY.

The HVR-2250 will work just fine in your case. Stacking the antenna (as long as it works properly) is the best way to bring the line into your house.

All we're talking here is OTA ONLY.

Just to clarify, I'm not actually planning on stacking; the antennas will be targeting two different areas. Does that change your response at all?

Just to clarify, I'm not actually planning on stacking; the antennas will be targeting two different areas. Does that change your response at all?
Sorry, I used the term stacking loosely. I meant combining...

HVR-2250 is the easiest way. For an OTA ONLY contraption, you're not losing anything.
Different RG6 leads into different tuner cards actually lessen flexibility as each tuner is restricted to the respective towers.

If $ doesn't matter, I prefer 2250 on any mATX rig as two HVR-1250s would mean the PCI-Ex16 slot has to be used.

Excellent. I'm going OTA-only, so that'll work great. I prefer the 2250 option over the 950Qs, as it's a bit neater (no external tuners), and it has hardware encoding for analog, just in case.

I'm not trying to hijack the current discussion, but I'm having very similar issues and concerns as Xax is, so maybe it can help both of us?

Current setup is a 2250 with Win7 MC and 1 antenna.
I am trying to add an additional analog tuner (ATI 550Pro) with it's own respective antenna.
the 2250 antenna is rooftop (inaccessible), and the analog antenna is in the attic (accessible). There is no easy way for me to combine the signal unless it's very close to the tv, so i figured I would keep them separate and maximize signal strength.

Now, the issue seems to be Windows (?), everything apparently installed correctly and media center tells me that it recognizes the card, but does not list it as a usable tuner when I run through the signal setup. I forget the exact error message, but it tells me to verify that the signal is good and connected properly. I have plugged the signal into my tv and verified that all the connections are in fact good, but media center still seems to be having trouble finding a signal with it.

Am I creating the problem with multiple sources in Media center? or am i having some driver issues, or a bad card?
please help, i'm pulling what's left of my hair out...

thanks,
kls.

The HVR-2250 allows NTSC Analogue and ATSC Digital on Windows-based systems.

The open source HVR-2250 drivers for Linux do not allow Analogue yet, so only Digital reception is possible at present.

If analogue is important to MythTV users then separate Digital and Analogue tuner devices are recommended instead.

I'm not trying to hijack the current discussion, but I'm having very similar issues and concerns as Xax is, so maybe it can help both of us?
Make sure you run through the setup completely. Windows does the analog tuners first at which point it tells you the digital tuners don't work. After you've finished those it starts with the digital ones.

Hi Stampeder!

The open source HVR-2250 drivers for Linux do not allow Analogue yet, so only Digital reception is possible at present.

Steven Toth (author of that driver) is promising on KernelLabs.com some great news soon (and apparently they do concern Analog support)...

He also also submitted his patches to LinuxTV.org recently so HVR-2250 support without having to compile it yourself should eventually be available...

If analogue is important to MythTV users then separate Digital and Analogue tuner devices are recommended instead.

And they would be available at the same time which is not the case for an HVR-2250 I believe... AFAIK, the card can only record two programs at the same time, not four as some people might think as I think the tuner hardware is shared between the Analog and Digital part...

There's one think I wonder though, can it record more than one subchannel (.1, .2, etc...) at the same time like the Hd Homerun can do with MythTV's trunk using only one tuner?

Have a nice day!

Nick

The 2250 only has one input for either ota or analoge. So if you want to record one digital OTA channel and one analoge channel you better be looking at the 1600/1800 card instead.

Hi!

The 2250 only has one input for either ota or analoge. So if you want to record one digital OTA channel and one analoge channel you better be looking at the 1600/1800 card instead.

I assume you mean analog CABLE channel? AFAIK you can record digital and analog OTA without problems... What you can't do is use one tuner for OTA and one for cable...

(Though you could probably use its analog inputs to get the analog signal that comes out of an STB...)

Have a nice day!

Nick