Re: Nice! - Pipedot

Nice! (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-09-22 22:57 (#2SSQ)

Damn I'm glad I was bored and scrolled down to the blog section. :-)

Couple of questions...

Why no mention of other tuner options? Last time I looked the only reasonable choice were the HDHomeRuns, and they were pretty expensive for handling only two tuners. They pretty much had a monopoly on network attached tuners, and all the PCI cards were iffy. Then of course you get into MythTV v. XBMC v. WMCE v. MediaPortal, so I guess I see why you stuck to antennas.

Second, regarding mounting forces, my house's original antenna was on a vent pipe and caused leaks when it ripped off in a storm. Do I screw into my poor old roof to mount a base/mast, or hope my old metal faux chimney can take the stress?

Re: Nice! (Score: 1)

by evilviper@pipedot.org on 2014-09-23 11:46 (#2STV)

Why no mention of other tuner options?

This journal is more than long enough as-is...

all the PCI cards were iffy

Not sure where you got that idea from. Cards from Hauppauge, Twinhan, and others work just fine.

Do I screw into my poor old roof to mount a base/mast, or hope my old metal faux chimney can take the stress?

I would only try a chimney mount to a heavy object, not a stove pipe vent, if that's what you mean. Even if you don't have a catastrophic failure, the added stress and movement is likely to shorten the life of your roof and cause leaks. If lacking large rooftop candidates, I most often prefer one bracket as high on the eves as possible, and a mast going down into the ground. Two brackets on the wall is even more-secure. Most other methods won't support a large antenna jutting up 10ft above the top of your roof.

A J-pipe dish mount works fine up to just a couple feet,... A tripod will let you go a bit higher, but still not nearly 10ft without supporting guy wires.

If you're concerned about making holes, there are "non-penetrating roof mounts" available, which set on top of your roof and just get anchored with bricks. You could compliment it with guy-wires anchored down at ground level, for taller masts... All without any holes in the building...

Re: Nice! (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-09-23 16:35 (#2SV5)

The Hauppauges rate decently well, but I read very mixed reviews of the AverMedia products as well as all the various lesser known brands. (Seriously, from the reviews many of them are complete garbage.) I don't think I've heard of Twinhan, so thanks. But even with the Hauppauges I read enough sob stories about incompatibilities (or upgrade issues) that it seemed the general recommendation was to go with an Ethernet attached tuner, and again it seemed Silicon Dust HDHomeRun was the only game in town.

My chimney is weird. It's a very wide square metal enclosure with fake bricks painted on it. I tried to find a chimney cap for it but none of them would quite fit. (Don't have the dimensions handy but somewhere around 2 feet.) It seems sturdy enough but I don't want a repeat leak performance. I'm not so much concerned about making holes in the shingles as I am about making sure they're secure enough.

I don't need a particularly high mast. If it weren't for the leak I'd think about re-using the vent pipe, which is no more than a couple of feet high.

I recently had a new sat dish put up (still trying to cut this crap out) so I suppose I could piggyback a small UHF on it, but I already purchased a decent conventional antenna (HBU22 I believe).

Would a "non-penetrating" mount actually work on a sloped shingle roof?

Thanks for the advice...

Re: Nice! (Score: 1)

by evilviper@pipedot.org on 2014-09-23 22:22 (#2SVD)

Yes, there are non-penetrating roof mounts that are bent at close to 90 degrees, specifically to fit right on top of the peak of a sloped roof.

But since you have a dish mount, as you said, I'd suggest putting both on that. You can buy a longer J-pipe to make more room if necessary.

Twinhan is a much bigger name in Europe, with DVB tuners. Hauppauge cards are the most consistently supported under Linux and Windows (Media Center), so I don't know what upgrade issues you refer to.

Yes, HDHomeRun is less trouble, can be used by laptops and tablets and such, and has a smartphone app to make antenna aiming easier, but the other (cheaper) options work fine, too.

Journal

Preview

Nice! (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-09-22 22:57 (#2SSQ)

Re: Nice! (Score: 1)

by evilviper@pipedot.org on 2014-09-23 11:46 (#2STV)

Re: Nice! (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-09-23 16:35 (#2SV5)

Re: Nice! (Score: 1)

by evilviper@pipedot.org on 2014-09-23 22:22 (#2SVD)

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