STB or HTPC tuner?

[Riktar]

Does anybody have any input on wether one is better than the other at pulling in stations?

 I have a HTPC setup for everything else that runs through the PJ. At present I have to use a switchbox to change over when I want to watch HDTV. While this isn't the most difficult thing to deal with I would like to simplify the whole affair.

 Right now I can get get all the MIlwaukee Stations except  Fox. CBS comes in just barely so I must have a tuner that is just as good as my Samsung.

Any ideas?

[tazman]

I'm about a mile from the Washington County Fair grounds, considerably closer than you are in Neosho.  I have I Winegard HD7084P antenna up about 35' on a tower.  I am also using at present a dedicated PC for all my Home Theater needs except the VCR.  I am able to receiver all channels most of the time except for FOX 6, 33 digital, which I do not receive at all.  UPN 25 digital I get about 50% of the time,  46.1,46.2,46.3 come in most all of the time except during heavy rain.  You wouldn't think it, but I get rain faid with that channel.  I have just ordered a set top box to try and get away from some of the hassel's of using the PC and also to free up the PC for recording to the hard drive.  There are also times around 5:00PM and 6:00PM nearly every evening where I will get some pixalizing on WTMJ 28 and WISN 34.  You could swear I had satellite and not OTA.  As far as one being better than the other, there really shouldn't be, but I have noticed that on the analog side, the built in tuner of my Sony HDTV is better than the analog side of my Hauppauge card.  I will better be able to make a comparison when I get the STB that I ordered.  If you insist upon getting a PC HD tuner card, at all possible steer clear of the Hauppauge WINTV-HD card.  When I bought it I thought it would be a good card, based on expirience with previous Hauppauge cards.  Well that didn't follow suit.  Their hardware may be good,  but their software falls flat on it's face.

Gregg and a few others may shine in on this, as there are others besides myself who have both setups.

Good Luck:)

[Riktar]

I was thinking about using the FusionHDTV. My other thought was the ATI HDTV Wonder. But I want to get a few more people to weigh in on this.

 Thanks for the input Tazman.

[tazman]

Here is one review I found for the ATI card that you can read.  

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1615327,00.asp

[tazman]

I can now definately tell you that my set top box is head over heals better than my Hauppauge WINTV-HD card.  THEY ARE NOT EVEN CLOSE!:mad:

[mrmike]

The latest MyHD card (120) has a pretty sensitive tuner in it.  It's easily the equal of the Samsung 165 and the MIT MDR-200 I've had, and a little better with multipath than the Samsung.

[Riktar]

Great info guys. Tazman I think the Hauppage card is officially off the consideration list now that you verified it's P-Poor reception abilities.

 The MyHD card is on the list but due to it's pricing will remain 3rd on the list of considerations.

 Then again if I can score another SIR-T165 for a good price I might just scrap the whole HTPC idea and feed everything through that.