Cool (?) Ethernet Tuner: HDHomerun by SiliconDust

[de3pc77]

Has anyone used the HDHomerun by Silicon Dust? (http://www.silicondust.com/)

It looks like it is a great alternative to PCI/USB tuners and can be used to watch TV from anywhere in the house (even wirelessly, tho quality may be an issue with slower networks). And its dual tuner ATSC/QAM support. I have not bought one yet, but am considering it.

There is a discussion here...
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=731457

or better ones at the silicon dust forum...

[Naylia]

Here's a review at missingremote.com
http://www.missingremote.com/index.php? ... Itemid=152

[Marbles_00]

This is a cool looking box. I do have a question, and maybe its just my total lack of understanding on the broadcasting of HD signals. But from what I can see, most of the HD content that we can get (well at least here in Canada) is encrypted by the service provider, so your forced into using one of their boxes to de-crypt the signal and then output to the TV, so I guess I'm wondering, how a box like this or any HD tuner/capture card will be of any benifit?

[tswhite70]

Marbles - as for QAM/cable the HDHomerun (along with the later Fusion cards that are QAM compatible) can only tune those channels that your cable provider sends unencrypted. Usually, at least in the US these are your local big network stations (CBS, NBC, ABC, etc), but there's no gaurantee. You would need to check with your local provider / or check AVSforum / or just buy one and test to see what's available from your provider in the clear.

I've been thinking about the HDhomerun as I'd like to add a couple more tuners for HD to my current dual tuner analog setup. The nice things about the HDHomerun seem to be that it is network based (no card slots taken, don't have to worry about IRQ's or drivers really). It has 2 tuners that can be connected ATSC/ATSC, QAM/ATSC, or QAM/QAM. And it's supported in SageTV (which is really why I'm interested in this particular solution).

See the Sage thread: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20549

good luck,
tsw

[jmv]

I've had a HDHomerun for ~1 week and ordered the second one. I'm on my way to SageMC/SageTV. Back up on the learning curve. I have the Homerun being fed by Comcast cable in OR, and all the broadcast analog and HD Digital are available through the HDHomeRun...also gets a few other stations like Vs. and Discovery...too bad comcast doesn't broadcast all the standard stuff unencrypted...but for me it hits 90% of my desired PVR viewing habits.