|
|
|
|
 Electronics : SiliconDust HDHR-US HDHomeRun Networked Digital TV Tuner (White) |
|
Rating:  - Great device, difficult to set up
I love this thing, but I must admit that it takes a lot more expertise than I had to set it up. I am using it with Beyond TV and creating the channel layouts is very challenging the first time around. Make sure you are willing to read through a lot of material if you are not familiar with this device and software. The results are excellent. Great pictures from free digital signals on my cable service! What could be better.
Rating: - Great HD quality
Really good HD quality. Works with El gato TV and Mythtv flawlessly on a celeron processor. Kind of expensive but it is the best multiplatform HD tunner you can find right now.
Rating: - Awesome product....
I was debating for a while if I should purchase a mac mini with the hd homerun or an apple tv or tivo. A tivo will cost me $299 plus a monthly cost. The apple tv will cost $299. A mac mini is $599 plus $170 for the hd homerun for a total of $769.
It cost more than tivo or the apple tv but you can do a lot more with a mac mini and hd homerun combined. You can use it as a standalone computer and dvd player.
The hd homerun can record two shows at once and will work just like the tivo.
If you pair the hd homerun with elgato eyetv software this setup becomes superior and easy to use.
The mac mini can do the same as the apple tv. You get less memory on the mini but cheap external hard drives take care of the problem. The mini comes with a remote and front row as well.
Here is my setup:
-Mac Mini 1.83ghz c2d
-Silicon Dust HD HomeRun
-Elgato EyeTV Software
-Google these free plugins for EyeTV: pyetv (integrates eyetv into front row), etvcomskip (skips commercials automatically when watching a recorded show.
-Logitech Dinovo Edge Mac Edition: This is essential to the setup. Its a keyboard with a built it trackpad. No more shuffling between a keyboard and mouse. Its an all in one making life a lot easier.
The hd homerun works perfect. With elgato eyetv software setup was really easy.
Rating: - 2 Years of Reliable Use
What I like about this product is the flexibility a networked device delivers. All the computers in my house can access it as needed: the Linux box running MythTV, the Vista PC running Media Center, the Mac running EyeTV. Even my iPhone can access the HDHomerun to check on antenna signal quality (using an iPhone application I wrote: Signal GH). A tuner in a PCI slot or on a USB dongle would not be nearly as useful and would tend to be harder to setup as special device drivers would be required. And if every computer had its own tuner, my antenna signal strength would be split down to nothing.
I was an early adopter of this gadget, purchasing one in November 2006. It has been reliable and has good sensitivity for over the air broadcasts hooked up to my rooftop antenna. The manufacturer has released a steady stream of firmware updates resulting in a gadget you can rely on not to crash. As a software engineer I'm impressed with the quality of the publicly available code for controlling the device. El Gato sells a package with this tuner and their (really good) EyeTV software for OS X, and I would recommend Mac users go that route.
I've found it to be extremely easy to use with MythTV, making it one of the few easy things about MythTV.
My Kill-A-Watt tells me my HDHomerun draws 6W, which isn't horrible, but something to keep in mind for people worried about yet another constant electricity sink.
Rating: - Great product at good price
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.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Home
