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SiliconDust HDHomeRun HDHR-US Dual Networked High Definition Digital Television (White)
See it at Amazon.com for $114.95Average Customer Rating
(4.5 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First | + Share7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Great product at good price
(5 out of 5) by tech guy on Sep 21, 2008 (small town, Texas, USA)SUMMARY: I have had this product for over a year now. I use it with windows media center for Vista and the product works great. The SiliconDust web site was very helpful getting me set up and running. It has all the latest firmware and software you will need.
My TV over the air TV antenna was not located near where I have my PC so I needed something that I could put near my TV Antenna and communicate over a network to my PC. I have the LinkSys Media Center Extender and the HD HomeRun located near my TV and the PC is in another room completely. I have a hardwired network in the house so there are no network issues. My TV has an HD tuner, so I can actually record 2 programs and watch a third program.
I have had absolutely no issues with this product and it has worked great for me for over a year now. I recommend it.
My TV over the air TV antenna was not located near where I have my PC so I needed something that I could put near my TV Antenna and communicate over a network to my PC. I have the LinkSys Media Center Extender and the HD HomeRun located near my TV and the PC is in another room completely. I have a hardwired network in the house so there are no network issues. My TV has an HD tuner, so I can actually record 2 programs and watch a third program.
I have had absolutely no issues with this product and it has worked great for me for over a year now. I recommend it.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Magic!
(5 out of 5) by ScottW on Apr 9, 2009 (Northwest Washington)This device is MAGIC. I had XP with Media Center 2005 with a dual-tuner analog (NTSC) card. I needed to add digital (ATSC) tuners for the OTA digital transition in June, but still need analog for some in-house devices that broadcast analog via RF modulators.
I tried several different analog/digital combo and hybrid cards. I had the best luck with the Hauppauge 2250, but that "best" still meant random lockups in MCE, corrupted recordings, codec problems, and hours with technical support and different driver versions. None of the cards provided anything approaching stable operation.
Then I found the HDHomeRun. The install worked first time, XP Media Center saw both the new tuners, and everything works perfectly. I now have FOUR tuners (the two old NTSC, and the two new ATSC in the HDHomeRun) and all work flawlessly. No lockups, no reboots, no driver nightmares.
Some technical tips:
- If you want to use HDHomeRun with XP Media Center 2005, you must have an analog tuner card installed before installing HDHomeRun. This is because XP MCE2005 requires a analog tuner. Vista MCE and Windows7 MCE do not have this requirement, so they can use HDHomeRun without any internal tuner card. Similarly, third-party TV/PVR apps can use the HDHomeRun on XP without an internal tuner card.
- With XP and Media Center 2005, you must have the Media Center Rollup update installed. There are instructions and links for this on SilconDust's web page.
- Two concurrent video streams from the HDHomeRun will generate about 60mbps on your local network. That's 60% of a 100mbps network, which is fine if you don't have much other traffic on your LAN. If you have a lot of other traffic, consider upgrading your LAN to gigabit Nics/Routers/Switches.
- If you have a router and are using MAC filters, be sure to add the HDHomeRun MAC address to your router's MAC filter table. The MAC address is printed on the bottom of the HDHomeRun.
- The HDHomeRun requires DHCP (no way to set a static address, although if your router supports DHCP reservations you can use that).
I have one disagreement with the previous reviewer who said to "use 2MHz-rated splitters". First, I think he meant "2Ghz" since "2Mhz" is far below the TV band. Second, SiliconDust's setup instructions warn that "splitters rated for 2GHz operation should be avoided..." because they "...do not perform well at cable/antenna frequencies." SiliconDust recommends using splitters rated for "50Mhz-900Mhz or 50Mhz-1000Mhz operation" with the HDHomeRun.
I tried several different analog/digital combo and hybrid cards. I had the best luck with the Hauppauge 2250, but that "best" still meant random lockups in MCE, corrupted recordings, codec problems, and hours with technical support and different driver versions. None of the cards provided anything approaching stable operation.
Then I found the HDHomeRun. The install worked first time, XP Media Center saw both the new tuners, and everything works perfectly. I now have FOUR tuners (the two old NTSC, and the two new ATSC in the HDHomeRun) and all work flawlessly. No lockups, no reboots, no driver nightmares.
Some technical tips:
- If you want to use HDHomeRun with XP Media Center 2005, you must have an analog tuner card installed before installing HDHomeRun. This is because XP MCE2005 requires a analog tuner. Vista MCE and Windows7 MCE do not have this requirement, so they can use HDHomeRun without any internal tuner card. Similarly, third-party TV/PVR apps can use the HDHomeRun on XP without an internal tuner card.
- With XP and Media Center 2005, you must have the Media Center Rollup update installed. There are instructions and links for this on SilconDust's web page.
- Two concurrent video streams from the HDHomeRun will generate about 60mbps on your local network. That's 60% of a 100mbps network, which is fine if you don't have much other traffic on your LAN. If you have a lot of other traffic, consider upgrading your LAN to gigabit Nics/Routers/Switches.
- If you have a router and are using MAC filters, be sure to add the HDHomeRun MAC address to your router's MAC filter table. The MAC address is printed on the bottom of the HDHomeRun.
- The HDHomeRun requires DHCP (no way to set a static address, although if your router supports DHCP reservations you can use that).
I have one disagreement with the previous reviewer who said to "use 2MHz-rated splitters". First, I think he meant "2Ghz" since "2Mhz" is far below the TV band. Second, SiliconDust's setup instructions warn that "splitters rated for 2GHz operation should be avoided..." because they "...do not perform well at cable/antenna frequencies." SiliconDust recommends using splitters rated for "50Mhz-900Mhz or 50Mhz-1000Mhz operation" with the HDHomeRun.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
HDHomeRun Worsks great
(5 out of 5) by Christopher R. Peck on Oct 18, 2008 (Williamsburg, VA)I've been using this with a Vista Media Center (x64) system for about a month and a half. This product works like a charm, it was fairly easy to setup and integrate with Media Center. I've recorded two HD channels at a time without issue since installing it & am very happy with the product.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Just works
(5 out of 5) by Scott Lindner on Sep 12, 2008The simplest way to describe this tiny little thing is it just works. I had BeyondTV PVR up and running within 15 minutes of receiving this unit and I hadn't even downloaded and installed BeyondTV yet! Yes, it is that easy to get the HD HomeRun working. Plug it in, hook up the cable, and use the software.
One thing of note. The product dimensions listed are for the box, not the unit itself. I bought a 2U shelf for this unit and when I took it out of the box it's about the size of a tiny four port network switch.
On the technical side, it uses about 20Mbps per HD channel. If you're using both tuners concurrently, that's 40% of your network's theoretical capacity. This shouldn't be an issue for most people, but it is something to consider when setting up your network.
Scott
One thing of note. The product dimensions listed are for the box, not the unit itself. I bought a 2U shelf for this unit and when I took it out of the box it's about the size of a tiny four port network switch.
On the technical side, it uses about 20Mbps per HD channel. If you're using both tuners concurrently, that's 40% of your network's theoretical capacity. This shouldn't be an issue for most people, but it is something to consider when setting up your network.
Scott
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Easy to install and set up
(5 out of 5) by kipy on Jul 18, 2008 (Dallas, TX)With the Olympics and football season coming up, I wanted to get something for my PC that would record clear QAM. After learning the jargon and reading various forums, it seems like many people use this.
I installed the drivers, read the instructions, and followed them to set up Vista MCE. It worked on the first try, and the results are great.
I preferred a card that you can install into my PC (less wire clutter), but I can see how this unit can be really good for PC novices who don't want to go through the hassle of opening up their case, popping in a PCI card, etc.
I installed the drivers, read the instructions, and followed them to set up Vista MCE. It worked on the first try, and the results are great.
I preferred a card that you can install into my PC (less wire clutter), but I can see how this unit can be really good for PC novices who don't want to go through the hassle of opening up their case, popping in a PCI card, etc.