TV Tuners

[who117]

so i cant wait till the windows version is coming out :cool:. im running vista64 ultimate and im wandering what would be the best for a tv tuner card to use boxee with. im a comcrap err meant comcast customer and i dont want to spend more than a 100 bucks.


regards

[Gamester17]

Please search before posting, Boxee does not support TV Tuners (nor does it have any built-in PVR functions) yet.

[grndslm]

Yes, Boxee doesn't support TV tuners.... but it supports mythbackend, which supports TV tuners. I think you'll still have to use mythfrontend to set recordings... but once they're recorded, you can watch them from within Boxee by adding a "localhost://mythtv" source. And of course, you won't get the auto-commercial skip feature from mythtv either, but oh well.

[agentlame]

the epic 'tv tuner' thread: http://forum.boxee.tv/showthread.php?t=178

[who117]

so what is the easyest way wo switch back and fort betwean boxee and a DVR solution ?? any blugins or hax for media center planed ??

[agentlame]

so what is the easyest way wo switch back and fort betwean boxee and a DVR solution ?? any blugins or hax for media center planed ??

please read the thread i posted.

there are many plans, and a few working plugins.
also, search the forums for: eyetv, beyondtv, or mythtv depending on your platform.

[CF_Pro]

I like the way the new Boxee Beta looks and feels, but I think not having Tuner Card support is a major turn off. Is Boxee even have plans of supporting a Turner Card? Anybody know a good comparison chart of media centers?

[NomadDNA]

Anybody know a good comparison chart of media centers?

No, but your right: a visual comparative chart needs to be made. Interest in HTPC's has really hit fever pitch recently, with the release of some great small computers (eg., Dell Zino), and the up-and-coming Boxee Beta.

Good websites covering this kind of news include Gizmodo.com and Lifehacker.com.

Check this article out, "Why it's finally time to get a home theater PC" for some good comparisons.....
http://gizmodo.com/5420853/why-its-finally-time-to-get-a-home-theater-pc

[judgeschambers]

I like the way the new Boxee Beta looks and feels, but I think not having Tuner Card support is a major turn off. Is Boxee even have plans of supporting a Turner Card? Anybody know a good comparison chart of media centers?

I can tell you that Boxee is not planing a TV Tuner option. The focus is on Internet Streaming of content. That is the wave of the future of all content really.

If you want a TV tuner, you'd have to install it on your HTPC and use its own UI. Or just hook up a TV antenna or cable box to the TV and use the alternate Inputs. Yes,TV tuners will give you recording options, but they take a fair amount of CPU process power to run them. But this again contradicts the way things are moving to On Demand Internet streaming of all content.

[judgeschambers]

No, but your right: a visual comparative chart to be made. Interest in HTPC's has really hit fever pitch recently, with the release of some great small computers (eg., Dell Zino), and the up-and-coming Boxee Beta.

Good websites covering this kind of news include Gizmodo.com and Lifehacker.com.

Check this article out, "Why it's finally time to get a home theater PC" for some good comparisons.....
http://gizmodo.com/5420853/why-its-finally-time-to-get-a-home-theater-pc

If you want a "Real World" review of one of these Revo HTPC's in action, and there are very few, check my blog links in my sig. Sorry, shameless advertisement. :o

The best Zino "real world" reviews are here:
Part 1 - http://blogs.amd.com/home/2009/11/12/the-dell-inspiron-zinohd/

Part 2- http://blogs.amd.com/home/2009/11/30/it-came-it-saw-it-command-conquered-an-update-on-the-dell-inspiron-zino-hd/

[beaglebc]

If this was a vote, I would say no tuner for would rather see the programmers focus on internet streaming content. I prefer simple and direct.

[judgeschambers]

Well, the other thing to consider is that Boxee, or any software, cannot be everything to everyone. There have to be cut off's. Otherwise, the program gets too bloated and loses sight of it's real objective.

Also, TV tuner integration really lags a lower power PC. Just look at MCE. Man, that thing chugs if you add TV tuners to it. Especially software encoded types. Boxee would do the same. ;)

[NomadDNA]

Anybody know a good comparison chart of media centers?

So, this quote got me thinking. Say if someone WERE to make a comparison chart for potential HTPC's, what would you guys think would deserve to be in the top 10?

Here's a few options:

1) Boxee Box (obviously).
2) Dell Zino
3) Acer AspireRevo R3610
4) Asus EeeBox EB1012
5) ATV

What else? Keep in mind, this is for potential shoppers looking for *new* products. Suggesting a modded X-box, while perhaps practical and affordable, wouldn't be useful...


-------note -----
How is it that this thread, with only 12 posts, already has nearly 1,500 views? Are people really that curious about TV Tuners and Boxee?

[darcilicious]

Yes,TV tuners will give you recording options, but they take a fair amount of CPU process power to run them.While I'm not advocating TV tuners for Boxee I would like to point out that the above is a narrow view of tuners. There are extneral tuners (e.g. Hauppauge's HD-PVR) that use almost zero CPU and just write to disk.

[judgeschambers]

Yes,TV tuners will give you recording options, but they take a fair amount of CPU process power to run them.



While I'm not advocating TV tuners for Boxee I would like to point out that the above is a narrow view of tuners. There are extneral tuners (e.g. Hauppauge's HD-PVR) that use almost zero CPU and just write to disk.

Narrow view? Sure, If taken out of context with the rest of the paragraph. :rolleyes:

Most of them are USB and most peeps inquire about them as the cost and connection is easier, so I ran with it. Plus, I was answering CF_Pro's question about integration into Boxee, which would typically involve USB or PCI type tuners. Much like WMC does as such with PCI or USB tuners. So, I thought my answer was...spot on. :D

I looked at the external tuners a few weeks ago and they're do not have HDMI out (unless I missed something on the Hauppauge site). So that nix's externals right there for me. Also, my Revo does not have vid inputs, so an External Tuner would have to have HDMI to go to my HDTV. BTJMHO.:cool:

[luke911]

TV Tuners generally don't have an output so i'm not sure why you would be looking for an HDMI output on one of them. Their job is to accept a video signal via cable and deliver to the to PC. It's the computers job to deliver the output via whatever connection you have to the monitor.

[darcilicious]

HD-PVR has component out, which works for me -- gets me around any DMR issues typically present on any digital outputs :)

[Automate]

Probably the easiest way to add tuner support would be the HDHomeRun http://www.silicondust.com/products/hdhomerun_home_atsc, an external Ethernet tuner that you make an IP connection to like any other live streaming video source on the Internet. But right now Boxee's support for live streaming video content is somewhat lacking.