I'm putting together a MythTV box and I have some questions that I can't seem to find clear answers to:

1) TV Tuner cards
I'd like to use the Hauppauge cards, as the onboard encoding makes it so I need a less powerful computer. However, I can't figure out what the practical difference is between the 150, 250 and 350 cards and why one would use one over the other. Even the Hauppauge website makes the three cards sound essentially the same. (The 350 card seems to have on-board audio output, but why would you need that when you could just use the sound card on the computer? Does it obviate the need for a sound card?)

2) Cable TV boxes & tuner cards
I can't seem to find a concise description of how to wire the cable box and the TV tuner cards. I found one description that seems to indicate that you split the cable wire for to the cable box and all three tuner cards, and then wire the cable box back to the tuner cards again. That doesn't make any sense.

Let's say you have two tuner cards and one cable box. Do you split the cable from the wall to each device? Do you wire the wall to the cable box and then split the output of the cable box to each card? Wire the cable box into one card and then daisy chain it to the next card? My cable box does not have a firewire port, and I'm looking for the simplest solution.

3) If you have two tuner cards and each tuner card comes with a remote control, and you also have a remote control for your cable box, can you consolidate the remotes to one remote to control your entire DVR system, and if so, how?

Thank you all for your time and patience.

1) All three have a single TV tuner. The 250 and 350 are older cards and therefore will probably work a little better "out of the box" with the latest KnoppMyth. Check the forum to see how well the 150 is supported--I think it might work out of the box nowadays but I'm not sure. If not you'll have to fiddle with ivtv to get it working.

The 350 also includes a TV out with an MPEG2 hardware decoder. This used to be a bigger deal as it required less hardware for correct MPEG2 playback. But nowadays it's less of a big deal and may be more hassle than it's worth (MPEG2 recordings play back OK but playback of other things like Divx or Xvid require more work.)

2) The cards have tuners in them, so unless you NEED the cable box, it's irrelevant... just split your cable feed as many times as you need to and cable the card right in. (You will probably need a cable amp to split it multiple times for multiple tuners.)

You only need the cable box if (a) you want to record scrambled channels or (b) you've got digital cable. At that point the tuners in the cards become irrelevant... you use the cable box to tune and run the composite or S-video out of the cable box (and the audio) to the video and audio in of the Hauppauge cards. The problem then becomes getting MythTV to change the channel on the cable box at the right time. You have to do this with either an IR blaster to change the channel, or a serial cable. Again, searches here, on the wiki, and the MythTV docs will talk about how to do this.

3) Yes, you only need one card's remote setup to drive the entire box. KnoppMyth sets it up for you; you just have to determine which card's remote is driving. Easiest way is to just plug in the sensor and see if the remote works.

Hope this helps, and happy holidays.

By scrambled channels, you mean pay channels like HBO and so forth?

Thanks

Yep, HBO and so forth. I don't have any pay channels so don't have to worry about recording them.

But does that mean if you want to tune into two scrambled channels at once, you need two cable boxes?

Yes it does: you'd need two boxes to descramble both scrambled channels separately so you can record them separately.

It also means that if you are using that method of recording, you better hope that no one comes and uses that cable box and changes the channel, as that will mess up your recording.

Yeah, what he said. If you're recording analog cable, and get all the channels you want (1-125) straight out of the wall without the cable box, then a pair of tuner cards will be setup like this.

[]----wall jack {---=tuner card one
| |
------ { ---=tuner card two
|
{ ----=cable box

Standard 3 way splitter from your friendly cable guy will work. Keep in mind that if you have a weak signal and split it 3 ways, you cut each signal down by 30%.

Now, in the unlucky event that you have digital cable that goes over 100 channels (which is where all the good stuff is), you'll have to do this.

[]-----wall jack {-=cable box one
| | |
| | ---=tuner card one
----------{-=cable box two
|
----=tuner card two

That's a big hassle, requires a 2-way splitter, a pair of cable boxes and a pair of IRBlasters plus a bunch of your time. It may be worth it though, and if you have satellite you have no choice but to go this route.