box to cut-the-cable

[snewoce]

I'm sure that this has been covered somewhere, but I'm having trouble finding it. I want a box with multiple tuners to receive and record over the air HD TV, and play it on my TV. I know Windows 7 includes the necessary software, but what hardware is needed? Are there pre-built systems available? Can anyone point me to the shows on this topic?

Thanks.

[mikec]

Watch the show that came out today. Robert talked about a box from Silicon Dust. It connects via network to a machine running Windows Media Center. It is only one tuner however. Never seen a multi tuner for OTA.

[jacksparrow]

Originally Posted by mikec

Watch the show that came out today. Robert talked about a box from Silicon Dust. It connects via network to a machine running Windows Media Center. It is only one tuner however. Never seen a multi tuner for OTA.

The HDHomeRun Dual has one coax input but it has two tuners. Just bought one the other day.

@OP: You can connect it to the main distribution (usually a router). This is the preferred method for allowing multiple computers to access the device, but if the computer connects via WIFI to the router then the signal will be choppy and unreliable if the WIFI signal is not optimal (also no 720p or 1080i signals over WIFI, it is just unreliable).

Alternatively it can be plugged in directly to an available LAN port on the computer to use the tuner, the same cable can be used as the unit can auto MDX (very old "edge devices" (computers, etc) needed different types of cables for this). This will limit the tuner to only be seen by one computer, but will provide a good connection if connecting the computer to the router via Ethernet is not possible.

More HDHomeRun units can be added but multiple HD signals will work well on a 100MB router (or switch or whatever is used) if all 4+ tuners are used simultaneously.

So hardware-wise you need (for this kind of setup): HDHomeRun tuner, wired home network (or connect directly), signal (antenna / QAM channels), computer capable if decoding 720p is desired, software (WMC for DVR functionality) (EyeTV on Mac?).

[mikec]

Originally Posted by jacksparrow

The HDHomeRun Dual has one coax input but it has two tuners. Just bought one the other day.

I stand corrected. Thanks for the added info.