Tag: TV Tuner card

July 11, 2024 – Got Caught Again

July 11, 2024 /

Just like yesterday’s praise of internet shopping, today is my kryptonite. I have a penchant missing details or not getting what I expected. I recently purchased another PCIe tuner card that I was going to install in my Linux/Ubuntu machine. I don’t need it and I was toying with the idea taking the one out of my Windows machine as I mount my new ‘cheap tv’. But, I found one on eBay for $18.

When I looked at the description, it said for parts/not working. The seller description said, ‘untested’ but also said ‘looks great’. When the card arrived, I found that someone had snipped off the ends of the mounting bracket. I was expecting to gamble on whether the card worked or not, not if I could actually install the card.

If the card did not work, I would have nobody to blame, I gambled and I lost. It was stated for parts as well as untested. I went back a looked at the pictures. It was clear what I was looking at after I knew what I got. The thought never occurred to me that somebody would modify the mount. I never expected that I would need to scrutinize the photo with a seller provided description.

Giving my transaction rating, I was a little softer than I felt like. Because the modification was pictured and it was listed as for parts I didn’t do enough due diligence. I do feel slightly mislead however.

I was able to fabricate a mounting plate with careful measuring and drilling. Now I am on to thrashing with Ubuntu again. The literature claims that the driver is in the kernel so that eliminates the blacklisting problem that I encountered with my SDR. The program I chose to try out is called ‘MythTV’. This is a DVR program and requires me learning about MySQL and Linux. This is my next hill.

I have done a little research about eBay’s ‘for parts/not working’ disposition. Apparently, this means that there are no guarantees. Some people claim that people buy things, harvest parts and then resell the rest. You need to be very careful in these situations unless you are a true expert. Learn from me. By paying an extra $20, I could have gotten one with everything including remote control.

I don’t regret my lesson. I guess it just frustrates me when I get another thing that I wasn’t really expecting. I feel like this is one of those places that I really do learn by making every mistake in the book. I am sure it won’t be the last item I buy off of eBay.

End Your Programming Routine: All the way back to the Romans… Caveat emptor. Translated it means, buyer beware. No doubt that I could have done more due diligence. There is no way that I would have made the same mistake if I was looking at the card in person. I just need to keep learning the same lesson on buying on the internet.

October 19, 2023 – Review: Hauppage 1196 PCIe Tuner Card

October 19, 2023 /

Here is something that I haven’t done in a while and that is an honest to goodness product review. I have had on my list to try out a tuner card for several years, since I built my office. A large part of that is that I want to have live TV in the basement when I was doing the things I do down there. It is particularly true when football season is on.

To be fair, it is hard to review something without comparing the item to something else. This is a pretty niche market, computer hardware that broadcast TV. From my research, there are several variations, but let’s start with the two basic categories. There is an expansion card option and a USB option. I chose the expansion card because I had an empty PCIe slot and all of my USB ports are full.

I will say that if you are shy about getting into computer hardware or don’t even know what a PCIe slot looks like, it is probably best to stick to the USB model unless you are going to get some help. It is a more invasive and permanent installation. But, I think that you can find a lot of deals on used or old hardware, like I did.

These things were really intended to build ‘media computers’ that managed your live TV, recorded TV, movies, music, etc. That idea has become passé with the takeover of mobile devices and cloud services. No longer is absolute quality of picture and sound the driver of media but portability.

I haven’t spent a lot of time with the software, but I like the concept. I turn on the morning news with the sound off and the Closed Captioning on. That way it is not really disturbing me but is on in the background. I catch the weather and traffic while I go about my work.

I mention it briefly below but the programming guide seems to be the driver of functionality. This does cause some problems when it doesn’t have data or update like it should. But, it also nice to see the spectrum of what is on, I rarely watch TV just to watch it. I really miss the old days of TV guide because now I just don’t turn on the TV.

One of the reasons I drug my feet on this was because I was going to add a TV as a second monitor. In that case, I could take my antenna connection and plug it into the TV instead of adding another card. But, that is really not a priority. It will happen, but I am going to buy it used and cheap and I wanted the capability to watch football now if I happened to be in the basement.

It is also hard to argue with the price. New, these things are around $70-80 on Amazon. I paid $19 off of e-Bay. Sure, I didn’t get the remote control or the software included in purchase. I had to buy the software separately which cost me $13. But, I don’t really need the remote and so all in it was $32. A serviceable, used TV is going to cost $25-50 likely. But now, I won’t have to mess with input switching.

I call this technojunk because it gives new life an purpose to old hardware. Yes, it is a computer that I use every day but it is supposedly supported on Windows 7, 8 and Linux as well. I debated setting it up on my Linux computer but that is going to be my Software Defined Radio and other things machine. Plus, I prefer the main interface to the remote one and I am in my office five days a week.

ScoreAdvantagesDisadvantages
Value4/5I paid less than half of the list price by buying usedBe aware that if you buy used that you will also need to buy a software license
Other devices on your network can access live TV through the softwareI did not get a remote control that comes with the full package
Works with ATSC (antenna) and NTSC signals (cable)Requires some computer knowledge to install card. Installation instructions can be cryptic and dated
Quality3/5 A lot of flexibility to record to specific directory or NASThe software relies highly on the electronic programming guide. Not all stations provide data.
Channels can be configured in the order you would like to viewIn full screen mode, controls disappear, requires remote to operate properly
Full screen mode has a fuzzy picture
Performance 4/5Extends TV to all devices connected to the same network as computer This is a single tuner, it means that you can only record one program at a time
You can finally record live broadcast TV again without paying a serviceThis is old technology without modern inputs/outputs
Runs all day without impacting internet bandwidthWatching TV on extended devices has less control than the base software

End Your Programming Routine: This wasn’t necessary, just fun. I spend very little time watching TV, but when I see Walker, Texas Ranger on it brings back memories. I used to record and watch This Old House before digital TV, but now I can stream it if I really want to follow along. I do like the ability to see the local news while I am going about my day. So, why not?