DVR options for an over the air signal strength that is not very strong.

[columbus]

Hello all. Thanks in advance for the advice.
My TV fool report is http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...cc4954f21bdfc6
I have been using just OTA broadcasting for about a year now, and love it. The picture looks great on my 50” LG HD TV. I use a Winegard YA-1713 VHF antenna, an Antenna Direct 91XG, and a Channel Master CM7777 amplifier. I can pick up all the channels I want (NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, and PBS) out of Indianapolis, so I just use the rotor to occasional fine tune the reception after a storm. The antennas are mounted on the roof and I’m surrounded by trees. It is rare that I have any issues with reception. My LG TV says I have signal quality of 100% on all of these channels and signal strength of 66 to 83 depending on the channel. The cable run from the antenna is long. There’s 100’ cable from the antenna to the cable box on the outside of the house and I estimate another 75’ from the box to the outlet behind the TV. There is one cable that runs from each outlet to the cable box so I know that there is only one outlet per cable. The electrician explained this to me when the house was built. There are no splitters connected. Just a straight run to my television with the power unit for the amp in the circuit.
The one thing I do miss about cable is the DVR. I went out and bought a Hauppauge tuner card. Installed it in my desktop and thought I could use media player as a DVR. It kind of worked. I could pick up some of the channels some of the time, but this was not an acceptable solution. So I bought the SiliconDust HDHomeRun Dual. This had a little better reception, but again it could not pick up all of the channels I wanted and would freeze and stop. So that didn’t work either. I thought it must be that the cable run was too long, so I ran the 100’ quad shield RG6 cable from the antenna, though the back door, and plugged that into the HDHomerun device. There was no improvement in reception. I tested a second television and that TV could pick up all the channels I wanted, just like the LG. I’m not sure what the issue is. Is the signal strength just too low for these devices but ok for the television? Can I increase the signal strength? Is there a better computer tuner? Do I need a different antenna? Would a TIVO tuner perform more like the television tuners? Or, am I just out of luck?
Thanks again!

Here are Digital Tuners and DVR's that have the newest IC chips for better reception.

And require no computer.

http://www.epvision.com.

http://www.channelmasterstore.com.

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Do you have the FM trap engaged on the pre amp? Tuner cards generally overload more easily than most televisions. The blistering FM stations near you may be compromising the ability of the tuner card to receive the desired television signals reliably.

[columbus]

Thanks so much! I was not using the FM trap on my amplifier. I climbed up on the roof and engaged the FM trap. The television reported that the signal strength improved on the weaker channels. Now all the channels I wanted to watch are at full strength according Windows Media Center. Thanks again for the advice.

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Glad to hear that it helped!! I was disappointed with my first tuner card, but after adding a 2nd FM trap, it brought in the weaker channels much better.

[columbus]

Should I use a second FM trap? You said that you used two. I did not know that I had “blistering” FM transmitters in my area.

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Originally Posted by columbus

Should I use a second FM trap? You said that you used two. I did not know that I had “blistering” FM transmitters in my area.

Additional trapping shouldn't be needed unless the station(s) are less than 1 mile away. I have 2 full power stations only 1/2 mile away, so the signals are over the top strong.