Home > Consumer Reviews > SiliconDust HDHomeRun HDHR-US Dual Networked High Definition Digital Television (White)

Once you get everything set up it works great. I wasn't expecting any problems setting the
SD HomeRun up after reading many reviews. I found the software very disappointing with a
steep learning curve. The software is poorly organized compared to most other companies
and few instructions are given - it's mostly keep trying things until it works - don't
expect any automatic installation because that won't happen! I rate the unit itself 5 stars
and the software one star.

This is the greatest piece of hardware that currently exists for HD broadcast freaks. Can't believe I didn't purchase it sooner! Hooked it up and was viewing HD on my laptop (Win 7 64bit, Windows Media Center) within minutes. Probably would of worked even if I didn't run the included software first.

Unit is much smaller than it appears and tucks away nicely wherever you want (for some reason the picture makes it look big and unsightly like a TIVO box).

To anyone that bought this and then complains because it doesn't have NTSC capabilies...you're a moron. Next time have at least a clue about what you're buying.

I wanted to setup a Windows 7 home theater PC in a small,
low profile case, so full-height PCI TV tuner cards would
not have worked. The HDHomeRun is perfect for this type
of setup. Plus you can watch HDTV from any other PC on
your home network.

The HDHomeRun must be able to receive an IP address from a DHCP
server on your network, you can't just login to a web interface
on this box and setup the IP address yourself.

I ran into a small problem during setup, the netmask on my
router was 255.255.0.0, and the netmask on my Win 7 PC
was 255.255.255.0, which is why the setup program could
not find the HDHomeRun box.

I emailed tech support, and had a clear answer in less
than 24 hours.

As others have said, this box locks-in on digital channels
fast (faster than the PCI TV tuner cards I've used), and it
comes with helpful software to show channel signal strengths,
which is useful when positioning and aligning your antenna.

I'm using this solely for over-the-air HDTV broadcasts, and
it's working great!

I had an Asus internal tuner in my HTPC, but it is very fussy about signal quality & of course it can only be used on that machine. The HDHR seems a bit pricey, but consider that you get 2 tuners in one & if you have several computers (5+ in our house) any computer can use them across the network so it's like having a tuner in each computer but you only buy one! The tuner is also much better than the internal card, far less dropouts & faster locking in.
I had some unrelated networking trouble (belkin router) & their tech support was helpful, but this is their weak point since tech support is all online & response time is like 24hrs/reply so don't expect instant support. This is actually far better than the tech support I got with my Asus internal tuner, their responses took days & they didn't have relevant answers.

So the reason I was searching for a TV Tuner for my computer was to of-course watch television on my computer AND more importantly watch what was recorded on my DVR on my computer.
Pro:
+ I loved being able to watch TV from any computer, even on my wireless laptop on a N router. And the QuickTV software was adequate.
+ No hardware installation hassles

Cons:
- I realized that I can't watch my DVR since the DVR's Coax output is Analog and this box is digital only.
- Can't get any more that 5 ClearQAM HD channels, not realizing that I am so used to HD that watching standard definition again was depressing.
- For the price that should either include Analog through Component or just allow HDMI if digital only. That way I can watch HD DVR recordings on the PC.
- Now I thought I'd just record on my PC using Windows Media Center. But after HOURS of going through the forums and manual setup it just didn't work well enough to provide an enjoyable, hassle free experience. That's the straw that broke the camels back. At $160 it should just work. They say they are working on a fix but no timeline. The hand-me-down Haupauge PVR 150 I had worked beautifully till I went above 4GB ram on my Windows 7 64bit box.

I so wanted this to work, but I decided this isn't for me and am returning it. The AVerTV Hybrid TVBox 11 looked promising but without the ability to watch all the HD channels I would be setting myself up for another disappointment.

So I decided to get myself a new 25.5" Samsung Monitor with a lot of inputs and ordered a $5/month HD cable box.