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[aaronsama]

Hello everyone.

My story starts on Monday of this week, when I got my AT&T U-Verse cable bill. Turns out they decided to jack my cable bill up from $100 to $180 without any advance warning. I know, I know, they probably told me that this would happen when I signed up, but they were counting on me not to remember, and it worked. I decided to call them and threaten to switch providers, expecting them to keep my promo rate for another 6 months or something; instead, they said they could drop it down somewhere in the middle, so I told them to go ahead and cancel. Like clockwork, I got a letter the next day from Time Warner (their only non-satellite competitor where I live, and my previous provider) offering me a special "reactivate" low rate of $49.99 "plus taxes, equipment, broadcast, & other fees". So, about $100 I'd guess after it's all figured in, assuming I want a decent internet speed and some TV shows. It's almost as if the two cable companies have some kind of unofficial collusion going on.

I've been thinking about cutting the cord for a while, and my wife has finally gotten on board after years of my "educating" her on the benefits. Now that it comes down to it, I'm researching what my best options are for over-the-air HD. For me, JRiver is a no-brainer as my media center of choice, but it appears I will have to get:
- An antenna - I live in a "red" zone for most channels, so probably a medium-size one up on my roof (house is 2-story)
- A tuner with USB plugin
- A PC
- An external hard drive
- Lots of coaxial cable
- A couple of nice Saturdays to install everything and get the setup working

I'd like to run the Media Center on my Toshiba Satellite A665 with an Intel Core i3 @ 2.40 GHz, 4 GB of RAM, and Win 7. I'll probably run out and by a 3TB external USB drive as well. What I'm really looking for recommendations on is the tuner, antenna, and video capture device.

Here's what I'm thinking of, and I'd love to get feedback from people who have done this before and have gotten great setups (e.g. ones that your girlfriend or wife doesn't hate -- I know that's a high bar)

Tuner: Hauppauge 1191 WinTV-HVR-955Q USB TV Tuner For Notebook (http://www.amazon.com/Hauppauge-1191-WinTV-HVR-955Q-Tuner-Notebook/dp/B001DEYVXO/)
Antenna: Channel Master CM2016 (http://www.amazon.com/Channel-Master-CM2016-HDTV-Antenna/dp/B0018BZJNS/)

My understanding based on a couple hours of research is that all I need to do is mount the antenna, run some cable from the antenna to the room where the PC is, plug the cable into the USB tuner and the tuner into the PC. Then as long as the external hard drive is also plugged in, I should be able to configure JRiver to act as my TV, record shows to the hard drive, etc. Is that correct? Am I missing something? Will my equipment be powerful enough to handle? Should I instead opt for something like the Hauppauge 1512 HD-PVR 2 (http://www.amazon.com/Hauppauge-1512-Definition-Personal-Technology/dp/B00BA4ILX8/) to capture my video rather than my PC?

Any and all advice appreciated!

Thanks,
Aaron

[RoderickGI]

I can't advise on the tuner/video capture, as I'm in Australia and I'm sure your tuner requirements will be different, but everything else looks fine, except...

I would seriously consider getting an antenna installer to advise, supply, and install an antenna for you.

Those guys just know their stuff for the local area, and local reception conditions. I used an installer when I upgraded antenna to improve digital reception. They had the right tools for the job including a signal strength analyser, did a great job, weren't too expensive, used a professional splitter instead of one of those cheap hardware store ones, and were flexible about positioning of the splitter and outlet. Usually I do that sort of stuff myself, but I don't have a signal strength analyser, and I would have taken a bunch of time to mount the antenna pole through the tiles and seal it properly.

[JimH]

I would seriously consider getting an antenna installer to advise, supply, and install an antenna for you.

Those guys just know their stuff for the local area, and local reception conditions. I used an installer when I upgraded antenna to improve digital reception. They had the right tools for the job including a signal strength analyser, did a great job, weren't too expensive, used a professional splitter instead of one of those cheap hardware store ones, and were flexible about positioning of the splitter and outlet. Usually I do that sort of stuff myself, but I don't have a signal strength analyser, and I would have taken a bunch of time to mount the antenna pole through the tiles and seal it properly.

I had a similar experience.

For a tuner, consider one of the network devices that have multiple tuners.  Cetoncorp.com and silicondust.com.

[kstuart]

If you are very "DIY" you can do the antenna yourself, if not you can get an installer to do it.

However, which antenna is much more variable than which tuner.  Anyone in the same country can use the same tuner, and you can just compare Amazon reviews.

But as far as antenna, you should go to one of those sites where you post your "TV Fool" link and the enthusiasts tell you which one you need.

The one you linked is good quality, but a very old design - after 2009, you don't need VHF at all.

I use an "Antennas Direct" antenna and in fact, they also do recommendations (but of course, only from within their own products).

The factors are:

* Distant channels that need high gain
* Close channels that need gain suppression
* Multiple directions that need a compromise direction

and others.  And, of course, it depends on which channels are most important to you.

The 955Q is a good product, but you only get one channel at a time.  As Jim mentioned, the networked products have more than one tuner, but require that your home network is reliable and has good throughput.