Thread: 2 tuner cards 1 aerial

I'm thinking about getting a second tuner for my Myth box but I'm not sure about how to plug 1 aerial into 2 cards.



I have played with splitters before now (pre media centre days) and ended up with lousy reception on both receivers. Any ideas?

It depends how strong your signal is in the end.

I've used (and still use now) both an active amp/splitter close to the aerial itself and a passive splitter behind the media centre to serve 2 Hauppauge tuners (well 3 actually as one is a Nova-T 500). The signal is only just strong enough, and can occasionally get ovewhelmed by the noise produced by a neighbour's cheap petrol mower, but that's also because I'm 20 miles from the transmitter and not quite line of sight (small hill in the way) and we have not yet switched to full power here.

Unless you're in a very poor signal area, you should be alright provided you have a good wideband aerial mounted high up, accurately aligned and the cabling from it is good quality (i.e. not the stuff that they used to fit 20 years ago!).

Thx for the update

My signal is pretty weak, glitches out every 1/2 hour, just a stutter, but I know the signal is not great! What about a tuner card with a pass through socket or something, do such things exist?

Sure, but that just means they have an internal, potentially unpowered, splitter. You still likely need to provide just the same amplification, or just get a better antenna.

Makes sense. I think my primary problem is the wall outlet is too far from the aerial, but I don't have the wherewithal to add a signal booster up in the roof

I thought you couldn't boost a signal once it had already degraded, because you boost the noise as much as the signal itself?

It's a complex subject and I'm no expert, but things have changed over the years - particularly with higher-spec cables and very low noise amps.

I'd just try a variable gain amp and see if it helps - my Hauppage effectively has two amps and one passive splitter between it and the aerial and the reception is still acceptable.

BTW - if your mains comes in on a long overhead run, don't rule that out as a significant source of noise.