Good USB Hub

Hi,

I have the following plugged into my iMac

2 x USB TV tuners
Elgato Turbo.264
Keyboard
2 external hard drives
printer

I have a 7 port uUSB hub but it doesnt allow me to plug the TV tuners into it as I think the iMac has trouble seeing them on the hub, they drop out

Does anyone know of a really powerful 7 port USB hub that might let me move some things off the back of my iMac?

Dave

any 7 port, with it's own power adapter should work fine. There are a ton on ebay that you can look at to fit your desired look. They can also be found at the Apple store, but I don't think their high price is justifiable when compared to ebay...sadly!

I'm not sure of any outstanding USB hubs, but some food for thought from back when I actually researched USB (don't quote me on this)

1 USB port can run at 100Mb/s, however that is split between all of those devices.. That means if you're using a single USB port to run all 7 devices, you're probably robbing the bandwidth needed for the TV tuners. I'm not exactly sure what's needed to run a USB TV tuner, but I would assume it's quite the bandwidth hog as it's streaming video.

7 devices on a single USB port would drop the bandwidth to about 14Mb/sec (per device) at it's PEAK which is rarely achieved anyway. From a data standpoint, that's really not much at all (it's only 14% of the speed your tuners were designed to run at), you may want to try simply plugging everything but your TV tuners into one port, and leaving them their own USB port.

I assume the TV tuners work fine when directly plugged into the iMac?

It's been a while since I brushed up on my USB info.. I may just be crazy

I have had the best luck with this one from Belkin. So far everything I have ever used with it works. I have owned it for years now.


Newegg.com - BELKIN F5U237v1 Hi-Speed USB 2.0 7-Port Hub - Hubs

I bought this baby a long time ago:

Ultra Stackable All-In-One Card Reader & 6 Port USB 2.0 Hub ULT33054 at TigerDirect.com

It's made by Ultra, and it's the superman of USB hubs!

nZa said:

you may want to try simply plugging everything but your TV tuners into one port, and leaving them their own USB port.

I assume the TV tuners work fine when directly plugged into the iMac?

Click to expand...

Your probably right on the TV tuner front, I have them connected directly to the iMac at present and its the only way to keep them going.

I usually get cheap USB hubs and i've been disappointed, so I thought a well built one might overcome these issues.

With regard to splitting the signal from 7 devices and slowing down the speed, the printer, turbo.264 and hard drives arent all accessing the hub all the time, would this help?

I have seen this item from Belkin, 7 ports over Wifi or ethernet (would use ethernet), anyone have any opinions?

Belkin : Network USB Hub

Dave

Belkins are awesome, I have never had a problem with them!

I ad the stackable one from tigerdirect but it somehow just dies on me a couple of months after i got it, and it wasnt cheap back then.

i am using the belkin that dtravis7 mentioned. I picked it up on ebay for less than 14 bucks shipped on ebay. I have never had a better one yet!

dtravis7 said:

I have had the best luck with this one from Belkin. So far everything I have ever used with it works. I have owned it for years now.


Newegg.com - BELKIN F5U237v1 Hi-Speed USB 2.0 7-Port Hub - Hubs

Click to expand...

Looks like a great hub, I guess having 2 stacked would give you 12 ports (you lose 2) but do you need to have power to both or can one be powered and it run both?

Dave