Spectrum with CC is no more. How do I get OTA on my WMCE?

[LeonMc]

Spectrum finally pulled my cable card plug. I held out as long as I could. I hate the streaming Spectrum interface!!!! I was so spoiled by WMCE. Soooo.... It has been a loooong time since I had an OTA card on Windows XP. I currently have Windows 7. Can anyone recommend an OTA card (preferably 2+ channels) that will work in the W7 environment with WMCE? Anything I should know before investing in that? I can't wait to crawl up on the roof and put up an antenna! -not. About 75% of what I record is local anyway. At least that would still be on the Media Center.

Thanks for the input!

[Kevin Chalet]

Ten years ago, we had lots of options... but it's sadly no longer true

For OTA, a PCIe Hauppauge WinTV QuadHD or an Ethernet HDHomeRun Flex Duo or Flex 4K are probably your best options in 2023/2024 (I bought 3 QuadHD cards in 2018 and they're fantastic).
Note: both have DVB-T2 and ATSC versions, so make sure to pick the right one

[dkm]

With ASTC 3.0 / "NextGen TV" coming, tuner types are going to get more complicated due to their associated DRM. SiliconDust has a product but it hasn't been certified for DVR of DRM content yet.

[LeonMc]

Ten years ago, we had lots of options... but it's sadly no longer true

For OTA, a PCIe Hauppauge WinTV QuadHD or an Ethernet HDHomeRun Flex Duo or Flex 4K are probably your best options in 2023/2024 (I bought 3 QuadHD cards in 2018 and they're fantastic).
Note: both have DVB-T2 and ATSC versions, so make sure to pick the right one

Thanks for the input. It seems ATSC 3 is the way to go, but may not bring much if any benefit at first. Big question is some of the tuner brands you mention come in a USB version or ethernet version. Does it much matter external tuner vs internal as far as working with MCSE and Windows 7? I'm not sure my current media PC will handle W10 or 11 and I really don't want to upgrade and hassle with that.

Thanks.

[StinkyImp]

Big question is some of the tuner brands you mention come in a USB version or ethernet version. Does it much matter external tuner vs internal as far as working with MCSE and Windows 7?

Win 7 Pro x64 on OTA here...

I've been using two of these USB tuners for years and they're FANTASTIC!

https://www.hauppauge.com/pages/product ... ualhd.html

[Kevin Chalet]

Big question is some of the tuner brands you mention come in a USB version or ethernet version. Does it much matter external tuner vs internal as far as working with MCSE and Windows 7?

Win 7 Pro x64 on OTA here...

I've been using two of these USB tuners for years and they're FANTASTIC!

https://www.hauppauge.com/pages/product ... ualhd.html

Yeah, those are excellent tuners. They even make a quad-tuner version (ATSC-only, not DVB-T): https://www.hauppauge.com/pages/product ... d-usb.html
Sadly, I was recently told they'll stop manufacturing them very soon as they struggle sourcing some of the internal components used in the QuadHD USB version.

[LeonMc]

Big question is some of the tuner brands you mention come in a USB version or ethernet version. Does it much matter external tuner vs internal as far as working with MCSE and Windows 7?

Win 7 Pro x64 on OTA here...

I've been using two of these USB tuners for years and they're FANTASTIC!

https://www.hauppauge.com/pages/product ... ualhd.html

Yeah, those are excellent tuners. They even make a quad-tuner version (ATSC-only, not DVB-T): https://www.hauppauge.com/pages/product ... d-usb.html
Sadly, I was recently told they'll stop manufacturing them very soon as they struggle sourcing some of the internal components used in the QuadHD USB version.

Thanks for the suggestion and info. Sounds like a good idea if I don't care about ATSC 3.

I assume you use EPG123 for OTA like I did for cable also?

[Kevin Chalet]

I assume you use EPG123 for OTA like I did for cable also?

I don't: I live in France and the lineups offered by Schedules Direct here are sadly not as good as what you get in the USA. That said, for the US market, EPG123+SD is definitely your best option

[StinkyImp]

Thanks for the suggestion and info. Sounds like a good idea if I don't care about ATSC 3. I assume you use EPG123 for OTA like I did for cable also?

A couple of things...

1. I'm in the USA using an antenna to capture over the air (OTA) signals.
2. Yeah... We will never receive ATSC 3.0 with our WMC setups unless the tuner manufacturer supplies appropriate drivers for our version of Windows. This is highly unlikely BUT with WMC being ported to Win 10 and 11, who knows?
3. I use EPG123 for my OTA WMC guide. In your case all you'd need to do is choose your OTA guide in EPG123, disable your cable lineup, and then start scheduling recordings. Easy peasy!

[Kevin Chalet]

Yeah... We will never receive ATSC 3.0 with our WMC setups unless the tuner manufacturer supplies appropriate drivers for our version of Windows. This is highly unlikely BUT with WMC being ported to Win 10 and 11, who knows?

Note: ATSC 3.0 itself is not the only issue for WMC compatibility: both HEVC and AC4 are also completely unsupported (and for HEVC, installing a DirectShow codec is sadly not enough: something in the pipeline prevents that from working).

That said, you can work around all these issues using DVBLink or HDHRProxyIPTV with a source that does live transcoding to codecs that are supported by WMC (e.g Tvheadend with a ffmpeg version that supports Dolby AC4). It's the approach I'll personally use once terrestrial TV moves to HEVC/AC4 here. Of course, it won't solve the main issue with ATSC 3.0: the fact many channels are encrypted/DRMed...

[jachin99]

Kevin, for those in the U.S. it seems like channels DVR might do a good job of feeding hdhrproxy a cable lineup. Bim surprised no one has brought this up yet but it seems like a drop in replacement for cable cards as long as channels DVR can provide reliable streams

[Kevin Chalet]

Yeah, definitely worth giving it a try, Jachin. If you don't want to set up the whole Channels/HDHRProxyIPTV/WMC thing just to test it, you can use VLC to check if the MPEG-TS stream provided by Channels is reliable enough before going for the full monty

[LeonMc]

I just want to thank everyone who contributed to my journey from cable card back to OTA. It was very successful! I got the dual channel Hauppauge USB device and hooked it up to an old Philips DTV omnidirectional antenna I used 17 or more years ago. I had to put it outside on a tree and it picked up about 80 channels in the area. I am about ready to give Spectrum the heave ho. Now I can choose a different Internet provider if I want also.

Again, thanks for the suggestions which allowed me to breathe additional life into my MCE.

[Kevin Chalet]

I had to put it outside on a tree and it picked up about 80 channels in the area.

Great to hear, Leon!

(you guys are very lucky to have so many channels... here, we only have 25 free OTA channels )