zim2411 wrote:You need a computer. The upshot is, your computer can work as DVR and can record two shows at once, and you can connect your computer to the TV.

So then I wonder what's really the best way to go from the computer to the TV then? Keep in mind I'm talking about a basic TV from 6 years ago with just coaxial and AV input (no HDMI or anything like that), not my main LCD TV. The TV is also in another room adjacent to where the main desktop PC sits.

The reason I am interested in this is because I canceled my cable service a couple of months ago, and now I just watch TV through an antenna I bought. I don't think my other TV has a capable tuner for today's HD signals, so I was wondering if this unit would be a good buy?

what is the best software to use with this?

I would like to record NFL games on to the computer while I'm not home. I have Fios. Could I connect this turner to the Fios box? Is internet a must? My wireless internet service is very slow. Thanks

"Pause, rewind, fast-forward live television"

Awesome! I can see the future with this device. Totally in for one! I'll just fast-forward my live television so I can see what the winning lotto numbers are before they pick them.

Thanks Woot- My friend in Orlando has had one of these for a while. I wanted one, but could not stomach the $150+ price tag. We love over the air "free" TV, so I am VERY excited to be able to play all of the Media Center tricks that will now be available with this!

Quick question for any AV geeks who might be out there. I want to install a wall mounted TV in my bar, but there is no space nearby for the cable box. The wife abhors any kind of visible wires, and I'm wondering if there is a relatively painless way to beam a wireless signal from the cable box across the room to the TV on the wall. I've purchased nothing for this install yet, so all options are open.

SuperTully wrote:The reason I am interested in this is because I canceled my cable service a couple of months ago, and now I just watch TV through an antenna I bought. I don't think my other TV has a capable tuner for today's HD signals, so I was wondering if this unit would be a good buy?

I think what you want is one of those digital TV converter boxes which you should be able to get at Walmart or Target for less than this is selling for.

nickwoot9 wrote:what is the best software to use with this?

Windows 7 Media Center. It's included in any home version above Starter.

If you want more customibility, you might look at SageTV. But IMO, it's always been kind of ugly and requires a lot of setup work that many people don't want to deal with.

With Linux, MythTV.

My experience:

Comcast is really promoting "xfinity" and all the new fancy services. I'm glad my local Comcast [Vail, CO] is behind the times. HD is so limited, I returned the HD cable/dvr box; I'm happy with the clearQAM we do have, including all the music channels appear.

In larger Comcast markets (specific experience is Fresno, CA) all channels except 2-~15 are digital, w/ Comcast providing up to 2 free mini-decoders per account, after that it's $1/month per add. decoder for each tv. NOT ClearQAM-compliant digital, either. If xfinity is coming soon to your area - this isn't a recommended product, atleast in the Fresno, CA area with its xfinity/digital conversion.

subnote: ClearQAM still exists - in xfinity-land - for those "local" channels and the digital music channels; but it's those basic/expanded basic channels that used to be all-analog are now gone with an ever-so-limited analog selection, ch.2 - ~ch.15.

=====================
As for the NEXT version of HomeRun w/ cablecard capability and your local cable company: [do remember that for EACH tuner, and not each HomeRun box, you will need a separate cable card. So if it's a 3-tuner HomeRun, you'll need 3 cablecards]

Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CableCARD


And just a few of the bigger cable companies:

Charter Communications: http://www.charter.com/customers/support.aspx?SupportArticleID=15

Comcast:
http://customer.comcast.com/Pages/FAQListViewer.aspx?topic=Cable&folder=1d57bd4f-4607-409c-b5dd-95f2d79475cc&fss=cablecard

TimeWarner Cable:
http://www.timewarnercable.com/Corporate/site.faqs/DigitalCab/CableCARD/What-is-a-CableCARD-

Cox Communications:
http://ww2.cox.com/residential/oklahomacity/support/tv/article.cox?articleId={76ab0920-5c4a-11df-ed4d-000000000000}

And, by the way - Yep, I broke down and bought one after much research and a long wait for it to come up on Woot.

flashtg wrote: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.

Comcast blows chunks.

Whoa, crazy price. I paid double this, and it was a super product at $170. Now I'm trying to decide if I need a spare. This has been an incredible TV tuner, allows me to go to another computer and watch a basketball game while my wife is in the living room watching American Idol on the main media center. Or, record one show while watching another. Whichever. I only use it for over the air reception; it is the device that once and for all put the nail into DirecTV's coffin for us.

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.

The longer I live, the more I despise the cable companies, with Comcast being the king pimp of cable services.

LEM- wrote: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...

No point to do it with FiOS. This is a tuner and FiOS is encrypted, so all you would get is the channel being output by the FiOS box.

I love mine. I am too cheap to pay for cable.

I use BeyondTV app for Windows. It works great! My brother uses Windows Media Center with his.

This box sends the signal from the tuner to the computer(s) over the network. 100Mb or faster is required. Wirless-G is too slow. Wireless-N is too slow. Be sure you have Wireless-N 300Mb. This was a real limitation until I upgraded my wireless router.

This is a great price. When I shopped two years ago, everyone sold the dual-tuner for $159. It was the same price everwhere. Recently they introduced a single-tuner for about $90, and they announced a CableCARD tuner at CES in January.

kdouglas10 wrote:On manufacturer's website you can check which channels will work by zip code: http://www.silicondust.com/support/channels/

In my experience, channel availability can vary greatly within a zip code. That's why I recommended antennaweb - you can actually check by address (you can also play around by entering 2 addresses that are a block or two apart and seeing if there's a difference).

One caveat: antennaweb doesn't know if there are any tall buildings adjacent to your location, which can affect reception. There is a place to enter yes or no on tall buildings when you check what antenna you need.

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 use two cable cards one in my Pioneer Plasma and one in my Moxi DVR box, both work flawlessly

tewkewl wrote:If there was an HDMI input so it could connect to my cable box, i'd buy it. what i mean is that if the set up was like: wall---> cable box ---> Woot Tuner ---> router. this way, you could get all the channels on your comp. sure you wouldn't be able to change the channels, but if it had this option, i could go down stairs, change to the history channel, plop open my laptop and watch it while running on the machine... currently i have to watch streaming south park videos... nothing wrong with that, but some myth busters would be nice...

I think what you want is a slingbox or possibly a hauppauge hd pvr.

k1down wrote:one is a modem jack kid! whippersnappers these days! two lan jacks. Ha! back in my day...

Um, no.

"And there are even more ports on the back: three USB 2.0, two FireWire 800, optical audio in and out, analog audio in and out,
and dual Gigabit Ethernet ports."

So, if folks who don't know can politely not butt in: How easy is it to use this on the second Ethernet port? Thanks.

coyoteaz wrote:Yes it will work, but you have to set the interface to a static IP in the 169.254.*.* range for it to work. 169.254.0.1 is a good choice. Set the network/subnet mask to 255.255.0.0, and leave gateway/DNS/whatever else empty.

Oh, yay. If we're ever in the same place at the same time, I owe you a beer. Thank you.

GURABoy wrote:Wow. That's a lot of TV to watch.

As I'm reading the comments I've been kind of boggled by the idea that four shows worth watching are broadcast simultaneously. But it seems to happen pretty frequently based on the sample of comments here.

In Chicago Comcast encrypts everything except the networks that broadcast over-the-air: Fox, ABC, NBC, etc.

I have two tuners set up: A Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600 card with QAM, and a HD-PVR which records from the Comcast box over Component wires with an IR blaster to change channels. Beyond TV will record from broadcast channels with the 1600 and the encrypted channels come from the HD-PVR.

I had a HDHR but was never able to get any HD to come in on Beyond TV, even the HD stations that I know come in as clear QAM. I ended up selling my HDHR on eBay for more than I paid to purchase it. My current setup works great in Beyond TV.

kh99 wrote:I think what you want is one of those digital TV converter boxes which you should be able to get at Walmart or Target for less than this is selling for.

Yea I figure I may need one of those for the second TV, I haven't spent much effort figuring out a solution yet because I don't watch TV in that room. However, when football season starts I may need to mount an antenna on that side of the townhouse in order to get a "Fox" station that plays NFC games, thus I may need to use that TV.

I figured this device may assist me in someway when it comes to watching football games.

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?

This is not the CableCard version. The CableCard version is going through CableLabs testing and will be released "soon". I'm betting that's why it ended up on woot.

For cablecard stuff, I have a couple of the ATI Digital Cable Tuners. It's not the standard ATI TV Wonder you can buy anywhere, and in fact, it is discontinued, so you can only get them on Ebay.

I have this model of HDHomeRun and it rocks for basic cable as HD OTA (over the air) with an antenna.

How does one access the stream? From a URL or HTTP address? So as long as your router has WIFI it will be able to send the stream? Is this a Fifth Gen tuner?

SuperTully wrote:So then I wonder what's really the best way to go from the computer to the TV then? Keep in mind I'm talking about a basic TV from 6 years ago with just coaxial and AV input (no HDMI or anything like that), not my main LCD TV. The TV is also in another room adjacent to where the main desktop PC sits.

The reason I am interested in this is because I canceled my cable service a couple of months ago, and now I just watch TV through an antenna I bought. I don't think my other TV has a capable tuner for today's HD signals, so I was wondering if this unit would be a good buy?

A Lappy with a S-video jack? pretty common and can break out to composite, although this is a HD and a bit overkill.

and I do love a good sale...

for wireless, Meritline in their end-of-the-month sale does have multiple AirLink101 products on sale 802.11n/300

http://www.meritline.com/airlink101-awll6075-golden-n-wireless-mini-usb-adapter---p-38742.aspx

2-pack for $27 delivered.

why do I mention? To support the "best"/"fastest" possible wireless network for using the HDHomeRun.

wootcompare wrote:
=====================
As for the NEXT version of HomeRun w/ cablecard capability and your local cable company: [do remember that for EACH tuner, and not each HomeRun box, you will need a separate cable card. So if it's a 3-tuner HomeRun, you'll need 3 cablecards]

Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CableCARD

The Homerun w/cablecard will need only one M Cablecard (the M stands for Multi). In fact there will only be one slot.

baldbear wrote:The Homerun w/cablecard will need only one M Cablecard (the M stands for Multi). In fact there will only be one slot.

I stand truly humbly corrected.

RWoodward wrote:Quick question for any AV geeks who might be out there. I want to install a wall mounted TV in my bar, but there is no space nearby for the cable box. The wife abhors any kind of visible wires, and I'm wondering if there is a relatively painless way to beam a wireless signal from the cable box across the room to the TV on the wall. I've purchased nothing for this install yet, so all options are open.

I've seen where you can transmit your computer to tv, maybe get a TV tuner card for your computer, buy a wireless video signal device, and get wireless speakers hooked up to your computer for sound. Yes, it's an expensive project, but after you throw this idea to the Mrs. she may say go ahead and run the wire.

hexnut wrote:If you have XBMC (which is supported on HDHomerun) on your mac (free from XBMC.org) it should work. I don't believe the Ipad has a supported app for viewing HDHomerun content.

Disclaimer: I'm not a mac user so perhaps someone can confirm this.

Hexnut

Thanks for the infor and website.. I will check it out.

Anyone know if a iPad app is being developed by the company or a 3rd party?

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.

...sigh...that's all we needed....thank you

Sorry if this already been asked. Can I stream tv to my ps3 with this? It's in a room with no cable outlet.

Echoing others in saying that this is really the best digital tuner on the market. Hook it to your cable or antenna, plug it into your network, and power it up. I use it with SageTV and it works wonderfully. To disclaim, I am OTA-only so I understand that there are complications with digital cable. The quality of OTA HD is phenomenal and this dual tuner device takes care of it quite capably.

Skotyman wrote:...sigh...that's all we needed....thank you

Yes, to be clear the way to access this device is through software on your computer. Once that software is installed on the computer video can be streamed to it. You can use SageTV with this device which is PVR software. It works quite well capturing and saving TV.

worshipanimal wrote:Yes, to be clear the way to access this device is through software on your computer. Once that software is installed on the computer video can be streamed to it. You can use SageTV with this device which is PVR software. It works quite well capturing and saving TV.

Those files must be huge. I assume you can burn them to dvd's?

Total network device. I can use it for MythTV,
and still access it from native software for typical tv-tuning.

Works great for digital broadcast HDTV.
Higher quality than satellite (but about 7GB/Hr.)

Have not tried for cable.

I've had mine for a little over a year and I love it. It is a little cumbersome to setup initially, however, I have it working on TWC in NC and am able to get a few extra channels over QAM than with bunny ears. I mainly got it for that reason as we live a little valley and the local channels can get a little spotty at times, with clear qam no more signal issues. Before I was spending close to $150/mo for internet and cable, now $60/mo. My setup is a QuadCore Amd with a decent memory card running vista ultimate. The interface is great compared to my old TWC DVR and my wife even loves it since she can get hulu and netflix just using the remote. Unlike some, I basically set it and forgot it. It has been very reliable and other than initial setup has been perfect. One thing to consider is it does need a pretty strong signal in QAM to get a good picture. I learned all about splitters and how just a couple can quickly degrade the signal. Also i picked up a signal amp to maintain that quality. This is an excellent price and although I don't need it, it is tempting.

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

UPDATE: The HDHomeRun Now Supports Mac via EyeTV

This device connects to your NETWORK hub/router. It does not connect via USB or eSATA or PCI card/cable connector.

It has two antenna inputs (either OTA or cable (unencrypted channels only)) and an ethernet port and a power port. That's it.

RWoodward wrote:Quick question for any AV geeks who might be out there. I want to install a wall mounted TV in my bar, but there is no space nearby for the cable box. The wife abhors any kind of visible wires, and I'm wondering if there is a relatively painless way to beam a wireless signal from the cable box across the room to the TV on the wall. I've purchased nothing for this install yet, so all options are open.

You'll always have a box of some sort connected to the TV by a wire for now. At least until they settle on a standard and start building it into TV's.

Check out the GefenTV Wireless for HDMI or the Brite-View BV-2500. The first one is about $640 and while I've heard they make good stuff, I don't know about the quality. The second is about $290 and has good reviews on Amazon. If you could hide a single HDMI cable, it may be possible to just run a long HDMI cable and get the same outcome. Depending on the length of the run and the quality of your HDMI cable, that solution may require a repeater though.

Still debating this...

$90 shipped is still a lot of money for me even though I know it's a deal compared to what it's going for elsewhere.

However...

I don't really watch that much TV to begin with. Will I really use/need this? The only thing I would want it for is to record TNG episodes which air at 12:30 AM and it's been quite detrimental staying up til 1:30 every week night. Hmm... maybe it'll be worth it to be able to record/own every TNG episode that airs