Just buy a cheap ethernet switch and plug it into your Extreme to expand the number of ports to whatever you want. Works for me.

editorkid wrote: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?

djlushious wrote:I'm confused. So, the HomeRun does /not/ support one computer feeding off of Tuner 1 and another computer feeding off of Tuner 2 simultaneously?

That's correct. Woot is confusing people with their item descriptions. Go to the silicondust website if you don't believe me, but absolutely, positively not, it will NOT let you stream an HDTV signal to two seperate IPs at one time.

No no no.

You have to get the "HD Homerun Tech" which is twice the retail to do what many here think it can do.

What the second tuner will do for you is let you watch TV on one channel and record another on the SAME PC. Not mutiple PCs at the same time.

bigdroo wrote:That's correct. Woot is confusing people with their item descriptions. Go to the silicondust website if you don't believe me, but absolutely, positively not, it will NOT let you stream an HDTV signal to two seperate IPs at one time.

No no no.

You have to get the "HD Homerun Tech" which is twice the retail to do what many here think it can do.

What the second tuner will do for you is let you watch TV on one channel and record another on the SAME PC. Not mutiple PCs at the same time.

Wrong. Each tuner can go to the same PC, or one to one PC and one to another. The Tech allows for multicasting so you can stream from one tuner to multiple PCs.

kh99 wrote:I'd say probably not, since this only has inputs for a digital cable or digital TV signal, and usually the RF out of a sat or cable box is an NTSC (old style analog TV) signal. I suppose it's possible that a sat or cable box could have a digital signal out in one of those formats, but I've never heard of it.

Thanks...

baldbear wrote:Has to be hooked directly to coax, there is no other input available, and the cable box doesn't strip the scrambling. (and that's an analog signal coming out of the back of that...)

Thanks to you too...

bcm00re wrote:If you'd take 30 seconds to look at the inputs this thing has (and maybe another 30 seconds to look at the HD outputs your Sat/Cable box has) then you'd know the answer!

I'd rather read snark replies like yours...

While I do understand the limitations of wireless G being a little short in the Bandwidth Dept, I can't believe no one has developed software that allows for a good 5-10 minutes of pre buffering to the Hard Drive to allow for seamless play. it seems most 'buffering' is really just before it plays that segment, I want to buffer as much as I want from 30 seconds to practically a whole show or movie, why is this impossible?

For everyone asking about FiOS: you can connect it directly to the coax from the wall, and it will get the local channels in SD and HD, WGN America (SD), and WeatherScan Local, basically channel numbers 2-49 and 460-549.

It will not work connected to the output of a FiOS set top box, because like all other boxes, they only output analog.

bigdroo wrote:That's correct. Woot is confusing people with their item descriptions. Go to the silicondust website if you don't believe me, but absolutely, positively not, it will NOT let you stream an HDTV signal to two seperate IPs at one time.

No no no.

You have to get the "HD Homerun Tech" which is twice the retail to do what many here think it can do.

What the second tuner will do for you is let you watch TV on one channel and record another on the SAME PC. Not mutiple PCs at the same time.

I must apologize.... for being WRONG. Silicon Dust just corrected me.


"You are incorrect regarding multiple tuners. Each tuner on a dual tuner device can send one channel to any one PC, or both to the same PC. The TECH's multicasting support allows each tuner to send one channel to multiple PCs.

Silicondust Support

PLEASE buy this tuner with confidence. It's a great product.

bigdroo wrote:I must apologize.... for being WRONG. Silicon Dust just corrected me.


"You are incorrect regarding multiple tuners. Each tuner on a dual tuner device can send one channel to any one PC, or both to the same PC. The TECH's multicasting support allows each tuner to send one channel to multiple PCs.

Silicondust Support

PLEASE buy this tuner with confidence. It's a great product.

Must have talked to the same person in support as I did, because I got the same answer just before I posted .

Went ahead and bought one. From the replies and discussion in the thread it seems that I should be able to stream OTA HDTV broadcasts from this thing to my Xbox 360 by using Windows Media Center from my PC (whew!).

I just hope I don't end up needing gigabit networking to get the video to play without stuttering.

Now, then, does anyone have recommendations for a good OTA Antenna?

Not to be confusing, but even if you had just regular ATI Tuner cards in a machine couldn't you share over the network? i know NAS storage or products like this make it a no brainer and save on electricity, but isn't their more than one way to skin a cat.

kazama wrote:Went ahead and bought one. From the replies and discussion in the thread it seems that I should be able to stream OTA HDTV broadcasts from this thing to my Xbox 360 by using Windows Media Center from my PC (whew!).

I just hope I don't end up needing gigabit networking to get the video to play without stuttering.

Now, then, does anyone have recommendations for a good OTA Antenna?

Take a look at the one over at thingfling, it gets great reviews and is cheap.

FYI - If your AC Adapter does die, a common replacement for it is the AC Adapter D-Link likes to use for its wireless routers. If you have an old D-Link Router that you've since replaced, hang on to that AC Adapter. It's a perfect fit and can handle the constant 5V 2A power that the HD HomeRun Dual requires.

kingofthenet wrote:Not to be confusing, but even if you had just regular ATI Tuner cards in a machine couldn't you share over the network? i know NAS storage or products like this make it a no brainer and save on electricity, but isn't their more than one way to skin a cat.

Nope. You can use your ATI Tuners on an always-on PC and use one of the aftermarket mediacenter software packages (SageTV? BeyondTV?) that will let you do exactly that over the network, BUT! any computer will take far more power to run continuously than one of these HD HomeRuns... or two of them... or even three.

Buy with confidence. It's a great product.

OH! By the way, this ALSO works with LiquidTV's TiVo-PC, if you own that software. I simply love their remote that comes with it. (it's the old standby TiVo remote)

I do hope that WOOT gets my email to allow me to cancel this order. After MUCH research, and this may - and probably is a repeat -....

This product will *NOT* tune in analog channels. It will *ONLY* tune in digital ClearQAM 64/256 and OTA-ATSC digital channels.

I'll wait for HDHomeRun Prime.

Yes - my own mistake for not fully reading the specs on the SiliconDust website prior to hitting the buy button.

wootcompare wrote:
This product will *NOT* tune in analog channels. It will *ONLY* tune in digital ClearQAM 64/256 and OTA-ATSC digital channels.

Are they even analog channels anymore? The whole DTV converter thing was because they were getting rid of analog and all signals were being changed to digital so I don't really understand why not tuning in analog is an issue...

thewronggrape wrote:Are they even analog channels anymore? The whole DTV converter thing was because they were getting rid of analog and all signals were being changed to digital so I don't really understand why not tuning in analog is an issue...

In this area, there are 67 analog channels on my cable system, and 9 ClearQAM (not including all the digital music stations, which I probably wouldn't record, anyway). And, according to SiliconDust, I supposedly get 3 broadcast channels, all from the Denver, CO-based PBS station (all are KBDI TV feeds in 8VSB-480i) - I sit within 2 miles line-of-site of that broadcast antenna - and don't get even a trickle of a signal.

Edit: And if I "must" take the purchase, I'll of course do with it as I can - but it isn't worth it for 9 usable ClearQAM channels. I'd guess this really is a designed product for larger metro areas with many ATSC channels. ClearQAM is definitely disappearing in those areas; or in my case - there just isn't a market to provide upgraded cable bandwidth to even support more ClearQAM channels.

Ok Im Sold, by the posts it looks like a great product... And I finally get to use my Woot Coupon Code for something over $30

bigdroo wrote:I must apologize.... for being WRONG. Silicon Dust just corrected me.


"You are incorrect regarding multiple tuners. Each tuner on a dual tuner device can send one channel to any one PC, or both to the same PC. The TECH's multicasting support allows each tuner to send one channel to multiple PCs.

Silicondust Support

PLEASE buy this tuner with confidence. It's a great product.

Thanks for clearing this up, both you and Coyoteaz. I placed my order on this product hours ago and am looking forward to hooking it up. My laptop is going to love me for not having to be the dedicated TV tuner anymore!

kingofthenet wrote:While I do understand the limitations of wireless G being a little short in the Bandwidth Dept, I can't believe no one has developed software that allows for a good 5-10 minutes of pre buffering to the Hard Drive to allow for seamless play. it seems most 'buffering' is really just before it plays that segment, I want to buffer as much as I want from 30 seconds to practically a whole show or movie, why is this impossible?

A lot of clients allow you to adjust the buffer. Doesn't VLC?

kazama wrote:Now, then, does anyone have recommendations for a good OTA Antenna?

Try the less-than-$20 RCA ANT1050 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001GGAIGI
I got mine at WalMart for under $20 and it looks great and is invisible laid flat on top of my dresser next to the bedroom TV. It's a little tricky to put together, but the directions are clear, and there's not that many parts. The wires connect by pressure and touching exposed pads on the "wings".

It works great where I am. I get all of my local HD OTA stations. I'm 15-25 miles from the broadcast towers (per Antennaweb.com -- great site, BTW) and for under $20, I'm plenty satisfied for a simple, passive (not amplified and no power plug/wall wart to deal with), good looking, easy-to-hide antenna.

Oh, and in for one. Wish I could swing two, but will have to wait until it gets wooted again. Never paid for TV, not gonna start now. Especially with streaming Netflix, Vudu, Hulu, PlayOn, CinemaNow filling in the rest of the content for far, far less than the local cable monopoly charges.

And for the Win MCE users, check out MyMCE for converting your recorded shows into other formats (e.g. MP4) to save space or for playback on other devices.

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
...

Not necessarily true.

A single Multistream CableCARD "M-Card" can tune as many as 4 channels at once if the device will support it. You put one of those in a current HD TiVo to have two active tuners. In fact the new TiVo Premiere has only one card slot.

TiVo owners like me will tell you that you can get CableCARD support from such as Comcast, it's just not as fun as getting teeth pulled..

russdog wrote:I'd rather read snark replies like yours...

Good, I am glad you liked it! I guess I just don't have much tolerance for those who prefer to ask questions when the answer is right in front of them (with very little effort).

mike808 wrote:Oh, and in for one. Wish I could swing two, but will have to wait until it gets wooted again. Never paid for TV, not gonna start now. Especially with streaming Netflix, Vudu, Hulu, PlayOn, CinemaNow filling in the rest of the content for far, far less than the local cable monopoly charges.

You get free Netflix?

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 really a Tv Tuner that allows you to view OTA or Unencrypted cable Tv from any personal computer in your home network.

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

bigdroo wrote:That's correct. Woot is confusing people with their item descriptions. Go to the silicondust website if you don't believe me, but absolutely, positively not, it will NOT let you stream an HDTV signal to two seperate IPs at one time.

No no no.

You have to get the "HD Homerun Tech" which is twice the retail to do what many here think it can do.

What the second tuner will do for you is let you watch TV on one channel and record another on the SAME PC. Not mutiple PCs at the same time.

This is only true about the HDHomeRun Prime when using a CableCARD, and that is due to a cablelabs licensing limitation.

editorkid wrote:You get free Netflix?

A $10 streaming Netflix subscription and an OTA antenna will still net you a huge savings against a monthly cable subscription.

djlushious wrote:A $10 streaming Netflix subscription and an OTA antenna will still net you a huge savings against a monthly cable subscription.

But you still need to pay cable (or someone) for the hi-speed internet connection to stream the Netflix....

AVspec wrote:But you still need to pay cable (or someone) for the hi-speed internet connection to stream the Netflix....

A valid point. However, I'll make the counterpoint that an internet bill is as essential as an electricity, water, or sewage bill. Yes, the library loves it when you use their internet, but internet piped into your own home? Now that's forward progress!

Anyone gotten a shipping confirmation on these yet?

Mariomad29 wrote:Anyone gotten a shipping confirmation on these yet?

Not yet

Mariomad29 wrote:Anyone gotten a shipping confirmation on these yet?

Still waiting...I don't expect to see it until sometime tomorrow (5 business days and all), though I'd be pleasantly surprised to see it today! :D

Mariomad29 wrote:Anyone gotten a shipping confirmation on these yet?

No shipping confirmation yet.
This is my first time buying from woot, is this normal? There is a lack of information.

agingdragqueen wrote:It really depends on what you mean by "lack of information". In our order confirmation email we state that orders can take up to 5 business days to ship (counting from the end of the sale). This item's 5th business day is tomorrow. Usually, if we have any problems, we will email everyone affected or post in here as an indication that there may be a delay. I am unaware of any issues with this item and so it's safe to assume that we'll have all of these out and tracking emailed by the end of the day tomorrow.

It's not like I really need to speak up and confirm what the Staff of Woot say about this, but I like to hear myself talk.

For those of you unfamilar with the process (like abraham42), the ordering process from Woot will either teach you patience, or strain your patience. You can always get a shirt.woot purchase shipped overnight for $5, but over here that $5 just gets your order shipped period. As was mentioned, it'll generally ship within 5 business days (a calendar week). Looking through my emails, a few things shipped early, most shipped at 5, and a few were 6 days out. I see the last TV tuner card I ordered shipped out on the 6th business day (8th calendar). That was the longest I could see though.

I assume it takes a few days to get ~2500 things boxed up and labeled, ready for FedEx to pick up en masse. As long as things arrive within 10 business days, I'm happy to save the money compared to buying elsewhere. If longer? Well, it's still cheaper than elsewhere!

agingdragqueen wrote:It really depends on what you mean by "lack of information". In our order confirmation email we state that orders can take up to 5 business days to ship (counting from the end of the sale). This item's 5th business day is tomorrow. Usually, if we have any problems, we will email everyone affected or post in here as an indication that there may be a delay. I am unaware of any issues with this item and so it's safe to assume that we'll have all of these out and tracking emailed by the end of the day tomorrow.

Hello:

The HDHomeRun was my second Woot purchase, with my first having been so long ago that I don't remember how long it took to ship.

I'm not upset with the process or anything, but to say "within 5 business days" implies in my mind that it could be shipped during days 1-5. Given this information about 5 days being normal, would it not make more sense for the page to say "in approximately 5 business days" instead? That would reduce expectations among new people like myself to an appropriate level.

And honestly, had I known that it would take the full 5 days to ship it, I'd have had my HDHomeRun shipped to a different address. It is likely that I will not be here when the package arrives, and that has me worried about what will happen in the event it needs a signature, since I've never received packages requiring a signature at this address before. (I just moved here at the beginning of the month.)

I thank you for your witty website that saves me money. =)

tripinva wrote:Hello:
It is likely that I will not be here when the package arrives, and that has me worried about what will happen in the event it needs a signature, since I've never received packages requiring a signature at this address before.

I've never had to sign for a package from Woot.

Also, they are sometimes late in posting tracking information. I've received some packages before I receive the tracking information. You can use Fedex track by reference and see if your package has shipped though. My tuner is still not in the Fedex system so I'm guessing it hasn't shipped yet.

agingdragqueen wrote:We also do not require signatures on any of our packages (the only exception I know of has been for the recent axe + etc. offering and, of course, wine).

I just have all my packages delivered to my workplace by default. They will sign for anything for me, and occasionally if it would arrive USPS on a Saturday I can pick it up at my local post office rather than wait for Monday.

But I can see how that might not work for him if he's just changed jobs. Wouldn't it be nice if you could elect to have shipping delayed to a certain date? Then you can be sure that surprise gift order won't arrive too early. Maybe get a discount on the shipping?

Well, a reasonable date. At least beyond the first 5 days, and nothing too far into the future, especially not an arbitrary future event like when time machines are invented so you can get it shipped five days earlier so that it arrives the moment you clicked, "I want one!"

agingdragqueen wrote:I agree that there are a lot of neat things that we could potentially implement, but the way we're able to keep costs down is by keeping things simple. We're not able to hold things back or expedite items (other than shirts) as a way of streamlining our shipping process. It would be difficult to keep track of special packages and would end up taking more man power, passing that expense on to everyone. But then I'm far removed from that decision-making process, so who knows!

I understand keeping things simple...this is my first woot purchase though and I think the information given is a little too simple - leaving people like me asking when the heck the thing is going to ship. Especially if you are used to buying from...just about any other online retailer. Personally I think it would benefit woot to put up a bit more information on the process as they'd have to answer fewer questions at 5 days then.