Wootalyzer's Pricing Post! - The price of today's woot item is saved here for future reference
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SiliconDust HDHomeRun Network-Based Dual Digital HDTV Tuner
$84.99 + $5 Shipping
Condition: New

Product List:
- 1 SiliconDust HDHomeRun Network-Based Dual Digital HDTV Tuner - HDHR-US

*DISCLAIMER* Wootalyzer! is in no way affiliated with Woot!, and this post may not always be here!

$142.77 on Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/SiliconDust-HDHomeRun-HDHR-US-Definition-Television/dp/B0010Y414Q

will this work with a mac or do you have to get a jacket for it to work

$142.77 at Amazon.

Seems like a good price.

Also note that this is the dual tuner version, not the single.

I have one. I use it with my MythTV box and I love it.

Lots of technical detail + review can be found here at Geektonic. They do a good job explaining how to use this and what it can do. Link

Great Price.
This thing is flawless to setup and works as advertised. Best tuner out there.

Ummmm...I think Comcast's Inifinty service is encrypted....

This is a great price for the dual tuner version, but will probably only be of interest to people who are getting their entertainment OTA.

Comcast has gone digital most places, but they also got their waiver from the FCC to enable "Privacy Mode" on their cheap DTA boxes, so most expanded basic cable is encrypted now.

Looks quite interesting. Does it allow you to see the basic cable stations as well, or are you limited to only those whom broadcast specifically for it?

To get this out of the way before people start asking, this product will (generally) not work to record anything from your cable provider. Some areas in the US may still be unencrypted, but most providers have encrypted their channels. I do not know if they are required to broadcast local channels unencrypted, however.

Official product page

http://www.silicondust.com/products/hdhomerun/atsc/

Instructions

csimmon1 wrote:will this work with a mac or do you have to get a jacket for it to work

It uses RJ45(100baseT/network) as interface so plug this into your network hub/switch and you are good to go.

Damn woot! I bought one 2 months ago....

Would this work with Verizon FiOS TV?

Note - we do need a FiOS box for each TV, there is no straight TV reception even for basic channels if connected directly to the cable...

I know that the FCC made it legal for cable companies to sell cablecards a few years ago. Does anyone know if this box supports that?

Heck, has anyone actually *seen* a cable-card?
(A card which works like the set-top tuner, and decrypts the digital channels) I'm not sure they ever made it to market, which is why you have to rent your tuner, every month. The newer TiVo's have a slot for one.

erick99 wrote:Lots of technical detail + review can be found here at Geektonic. They do a good job explaining how to use this and what it can do. Link

I was gonna ask what this was and what it did, so thanks a lot for your post.

My router is an Apple Airport Extreme, which has only three Ethernet ports, not the industry standard four, and all three are in use.

But my Mac Pro has two Ethernet ports itself. Can I connect this to the currently unused Ethernet port? Or does that lead to all sorts of configuration nightmares?

Adaeniel wrote:To get this out of the way before people start asking, this product will (generally) not work to record anything from your cable provider. Some areas in the US may still be unencrypted, but most providers have encrypted their channels. I do not know if they are required to broadcast local channels unencrypted, however.

Local HD channels are unencrypted in all places I belive due to FCC mandate. But don't expect anything beyond local, shopping, and a few bonus channels on cable.

Basically if your QAM TV can see it without the box than this can.

Nice woot.

Stumbled onto this by accident and ended up buying one 6 months ago for OTA-HD. I don't regret it for a second. The alternative is inferior USB-based tuners, which necessitate a computer in close proximity to the signal - and only allow one machine to tune channels.

The silicondust, on the other hand, is the only way to stream OTA-HD signals to any computer on your LAN without installing pesky USB drivers. Be advised - it requires 802.11n on wireless (around 25mb sustained) to get a jitter-free signal without wired ethernet.

A friend also purchased and successfully used with his cable service (just make sure it's a clear QAM signal).

Provided you have enough signal, you can split your antenna feed into multiple coax connections and pool these together for a quad- or six-tuner recording solution.

Here's a nice write-up summarizing an OTA-HD setup utilizing the silicon dust tuner with Windows 7 Media Center: link

It also works with other laptops in the home simultaneously. There are drivers for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Okay. Maybe I am an spoon, but I still can't figure out what the heck this thing is and what it does.

What is that slot in the front for? CableCard?

I'm sure people have asked about mac, linux compatibility, but will this run on a SOLARIS machine?

mvsopen wrote:I know that the FCC made it legal for cable companies to sell cablecards a few years ago. Does anyone know if this box supports that?

Heck, has anyone actually *seen* a cable-card?
(A card which works like the set-top tuner, and decrypts the digital channels) I'm not sure they ever made it to market, which is why you have to rent your tuner, every month. The newer TiVo's have a slot for one.

I've seen a cable card...my dad had one for awhile in his TV....he didn't like the slow channel changing and the lack of on screen tvguide so he went back to the cable box. He also didn't like that the card wouldn't allow the on demand service b/c it's just 1 way.

It's a shame that they have not gotten the 2 way cards to work.

I also think it's 'funny' that cable companies were required to allow their signal to not need a cable box. Now that it's digital, that requirement is somehow out the window. What gives?

Price comparisons

http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&q=SiliconDust%20HDHomeRun%20Network-Based%20Dual%20Digital%20HDTV%20Tuner&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wf

I've had one for two years; if I could buy this now I'd save some nice pocket change over what I paid (and it was a GOOD price at the time). It's everything it's advertised to be. Not that there aren't limitations to this approach: you might not wanna perform a system backup over the network or download music and pr0n torrents to a NAS while trying to record two simultaneous shows, for instance. There's only so much you can do with a 1000base-T network at the same time. Of course the same limitations apply to the very popular USB tuners, which will compete with all other USB devices for bandwidth. Like Dirty Harry said, "a man's gotta know his limitations." As long as you know the limits of your network, you'll have a lotta fun with this.

YouTube video

and an Unboxing and Media Center Setup

mvsopen wrote:I know that the FCC made it legal for cable companies to sell cablecards a few years ago. Does anyone know if this box supports that?

Heck, has anyone actually *seen* a cable-card?
(A card which works like the set-top tuner, and decrypts the digital channels) I'm not sure they ever made it to market, which is why you have to rent your tuner, every month. The newer TiVo's have a slot for one.

huh? Cable companies have been renting cable cards for years. I had one 3 years ago for my TiVo HD.

CaptainWes wrote:What is that slot in the front for? CableCard?

I'm sure people have asked about mac, linux compatibility, but will this run on a SOLARIS machine?

No, it doesn't support cablecard, they have a new model in the works that will tho.

CaptainWes wrote:What is that slot in the front for? CableCard?

I'm sure people have asked about mac, linux compatibility, but will this run on a SOLARIS machine?

There is no slot in the front, just the black area for lights.

This connects with ethernet. No drivers. Any computer should be able to use it.

Sorry, but I am not a techno-nerd...matter of fact....I am techno spoon.

I am having ATT U-Verse installed this week but I do not have TV or cable hook up in my office. Would like to watch sports on my computer while I work at night.

Will this work? What questions do I need to ask?

Would much appreciate any help!

MickWeeze wrote:Okay. Maybe I am an spoon, but I still can't figure out what the heck this thing is and what it does.

In short: it's a network-attached TV tuner for your computer.

You plug an antenna or cable input into this thing, then connect it up to the network... then from any other computer on your network, you can watch digital television.

This is a great product, but beware that you are limited by what your cable company leaves unencrypted. When I started using this 8 months ago, Charter Cable gave me access to the over-the-air networks, PBS, espn 1 & 2, and a dozen or so of the mediocre low def cable channels that exist beyond basic analog cable. Slowly they have encrypted more and more. Now I get OTA fox, NBC, ABC and CBS, public access and a dozen or so shopping networks and religious stations.

The day I lost ESPN was the day I went back to paying $10 a month for an additional cable box.

Here's cnet

and techradar

I was just looking for one of these, and happened to check Woot -- I am amazed that they happened to have the very thing I wanted.

I have one of the single tuner versions of these, and it is one of my two favorite gadget purchases of recent memory. The only problem is that I bought the single tuner version (which I have now solved, as of today's Woot). It works very well, and allows me to record OTA HD from any one of several computers in my house (using wired ethernet).

Earlier this week I dropped my FIOS TV subscription because most of the shows we watch are OTA, and I like using the Windows Media Center interface more than the FIOS DVR anyway.

macraig wrote:Not that there aren't limitations to this approach: you might not wanna perform a system backup over the network or download music and pr0n torrents to a NAS while trying to record two simultaneous shows, for instance. There's only so much you can do with a 1000base-T network at the same time.

Having said that, though, there are ways to work around it, like adding an extra NIC to every machine and a separate router, and create a second dedicated TV-only network. That way there's not bandwidth competition, and you can access an NAS or whatever without consequences to your TV experience.

LoadStar wrote:In short: it's a network-attached TV tuner for your computer.

You plug an antenna or cable input into this thing, then connect it up to the network... then from any other computer on your network, you can watch digital television.

i'm in for 3! nowait ... i have one..it wasfrommonoprice... and very compact, simple, compatible, andcheap. it wasn't from a BBOOCC, but if it were, that would make it quite the find. Yes, quite the find. *if*

*woot!* victory for the Professor

These two tunner hdromerun devices work great for OTA HD recording with mythtv, windows and mac. These can't be used with a cable card but can record Clear QAM from cable if you are the lucky %1 of america who has a cable provider that still sends unencrpted channels. These units are getting cheap as Silicon Dust is getting close to releasing their HDHOMERUN Prime unit which will have 3 tuners built in and IS cable card ready. So with the prime unit you can watch encrypted tv.
Link to HDHomerunPrime
http://www.silicondust.com/products/hdhomerun/prime/

So let me see if I understand this correctly...

I connect this thing to my home network by attaching it to my router via ethernet cable.

I use some sort of program (not included) to access the tuner from any PC on my network and use the program to record OTA shows (Over-The_
Air in my case since I would connect an antenna to the tuner).

Is that the basic gist of it?

MickWeeze wrote:Okay. Maybe I am an spoon, but I still can't figure out what the heck this thing is and what it does.

This thing is a TV Tuner that allows you to watch OTA or Unencrypted cable TV from any computer in your home network.

I have 2 of these for a total of 4 tuners connected to mythtv. With these I can record 4 HD programs simultaneously.