Question 1

It looked like the older HDHomeRun boxes had a coax input for each tuner.  This one (HDHR3) looks like it has only a single coax input.  Can someone with the box confirm the number of coax connectors on the box?

Accepted Answer

Yes, the older dual white HDHomeRun tuner had two coax input ports while the small black HDHR3 has only one coax input port because it has an internal splitter before the tuners. The advantage of the older model was that you could put two different sources as input (ie two different antennas facing different directions or use one for unscrambled cable tv feed). Most people will prefer this smaller newer model. Keep in mind if your input signal is weak, splitting the signal to feed the two tuners will make some stations unavailable. Btw, old model has four LED lights, new model has three LED lights. Remember, this model it NOT for scrambled cable tv. only free digital OTA (over the air) broadcasts. FYI, I have both models and the old single blue tuner model (three LED lights) as well.

Question 2

Charter Communications is going all digital and is encrypting their signal. Does this device have a slot to use a Charter Cable Card?

Accepted Answer

No, this unit is not a CableCard tuner.  If you are looking for one of those, you need to get the HD HomeRun PRIME (or one of the Ceton InfiniTV models).

This device has 2 tuners that can be configured for over-the-air ATSC use (with an antenna), or for ClearQAM, which is the unencrypted digital cable signal that does not require a CableCard to receive.

Are you sure that Charter is really encrypting *all* of their channels?  Most cable providers are still providing the same channels that are broadcast over-the-air in ClearQAM format.  That would be kind-of a jerk move if they were requiring a CableCard to receive e.g. major network channels.

Question 3

Which router's port does the network cable connect to? The router has one port in and four ports out. I do need the "in-port" for the internet feed, thou. Otherwise I will need two routers.

Accepted Answer

You can plug this in one of your routers "four out ports." Those ports connect your home network together so you are able to share not only your home internet connection, but any media from any computer (or this device) on your home network. If you have a wireless router, any computer you have on WiFi will also be able to access this device. It is really endless the amount of equipment you can connect and share seamlessly with your router. If you find you need additional ports, you can purchase a switch, and plug that into your router, expanding your network.

Question 4

Hey man, I have problems picking up some regular channels with my digital antenna, however, I want to dvr shows on these regular channels...will this product be the solution to all my problems?

Accepted Answer

While I am by no means an expert in such areas, this product will not necessarily solve your issues. This is a good tuner, but it will not be able to correct poor signal issues. If you are not getting the channels that you speak of, you might need a higher gain antenna, a signal booster or perhaps a directional antenna to focus on the geographic area where the desired channels broadcast. A good source is TVFool dot com. This site can show you anticipated ranges for the channels you desire, and can make antenna recommendations. For fringe areas, you might consider making your own antenna: simply do a search for the Gray-Hoverman antenna, and there are lots of posts from antenna enthusiasts detailing the process. I played around with one, and just some copper elements bolted to a piece of pegboard performed as well as a retail antenna. I live in a hilly rural area approximately 70 miles from the nearest broadcast tower. YMMV, depending on terrain and distance.Hope this helps.

Question 5

What hookups are on the back, does it have HDMI or other besides just co-ax cable in/output?

Accepted Answer

The tuner has a power jack, network jack and a cable input which runs to a good antenna I have mounted on the roof.

The niche to this product is that it is accessible from your Network. If you have other devices you can watch TV on almost any device like Ipad, phone or a PC. I ordered it to make a DVR to replace the one I had with cable service. I setup a decent laptop with a good HDTV antenna and bought a DVR software package so I could record shows off TV.

I purchased Beyond TV and a firefly rf remote wich gives me a channel guide better than cable in my opinion and a DVR that records 1080 HD over the air shows.

I can control the system with the Firefly RF remote.

With two tuners I can record 2 shows at one time or watch one channel and record another.

No complaints on any of the products I purchased and am saving $140 a month by not having cable.

The laptop I use as a DVR has an HDMI output that goes to the TV and a 1TB hard drive that gets me about 96 hours of recording time. Storage is cheap these days.  You can use any half way decent desktop or laptop. There are other software packages like Mythtv to use as a DVR/Media center.

If you just want to use it as a network tv tuner it works well.

Question 6

Will this unit work if you have cable tv, but don't use any type of set top box? My basic cable comes directly from the wall jack into the back of the tv. Will this work with my setup?

Accepted Answer

Yes and no.  Most (maybe all) cable providers provide local broascast channels un-encrypted.  You will only be able to receive these channels with this unit.  They will typically be different channel numbers from the broadcast channels as well, i.e. 6.1 over the air may be 83.5 from your cable provider.  You will NOT be able to recieve your basic cable (analog) channels with this unit.  To see what channels you can receive, set up your TV to scan for digital channels (OTA) using the cable as a source.  Anything that you pick up that way can be picked up by this unit.

Question 7

I'm looking for a device to allow me to plug my TV antenna signal into my receiver for digital audio and visual to the speakers and TV.  Is this consistent with this device or another ATSC device?

Accepted Answer

It's not totally clear to me what you're looking for, but it sounds like you want a standalone ATSC tuner device, also commonly known as a "DTV converter box," Something like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA3CS14R4648 . That would act as an external tuner for your TV and should have separate audio outputs. These devices are somewhat uncommon now since the all-digital TV conversion a few years ago. At that time it was mandatory for all new televisions to include such a tuner, so the market for the DTV converters is small. For reference, what the HDHomeRun Dual does is essentially take TV from an antenna and allow you to access it over your home network via an ethernet cable. It basically requires a connected computer to work. The HDHomeRun Dual is almost useless if you aren't connecting a computer to your TV and audio receiver to read the video off of the network. If you have a networked TV and/or audio receiver, the HDHomeRun PLUS (also available from Newegg, but their content filtering wouldn't let me post the link because it thinks it is a phone number) would allow you to watch its output from your TV. However, in my experience, the HDHomeRun PLUS is not mature enough yet to recommend it. I am pretty unhappy with mine.

Question 8

Does this work with any kind of cable tv box? If the cable tv box has coax in and out, can this be connected to the out instead of a TV.

Accepted Answer

Hopefully...  You would not even use the cable TV box.  You would be very limited and would need to use the remote on the cable TV box to change the channels.

I have basic cable with my internet service from Charter.  I have 2 of these connected and they are able to pick up all the stations by just connecting the cable directly them.  But it will depend on what your cable company is broadcasting.  It will need to be QAM64/256 (unencrypted digital cable TV) for it to work without the cable box.

Question 9

Will this work with Dish Network?

Accepted Answer

Joy,
I do have this device, however - I don't use Dish Network... sorry. However, I can say that it picked up all my COX (Phoenix, AZ) cable channels without any difficulty.
I will also state further, that while the video appearance is GREAT, I have not been able to get sound using Windows Media Center.
Sincerely,
Kevin B

Question 10

After running the PC scan is it possible to run co-ax to TV, run a channel scan and watch the new channels with TV and TV remote without PC attached?

Accepted Answer

That's not how this one works.
(Keep in mind, if your tv has an hdtv tuner, you can run the antenna's coax through a splitter. One side can go to your tv and the other to the HDHomeRun. This will let you watch tv normally while also using this tuner for your pc) 
The antenna's coax goes into the HDHomeRun. The HDHomeRun also connects t0 your network or router with an ethernet cable. 
Now, you use the software to install it in windows. Once this is done, you can use Media center to tune into a tv channel or record a channel. This has two tuners in it so you can record two stations at once.
To watch, you either use a computer monitor or hook your pc up to an hdtv. (preferably via an HDMI cable) 
My pc is only hooked up to a Samsung 46" tv. The live and record picture is fantastic. One thing to remember with this type of use. The resolution on the tv is so high that the text on some non-mediacenter applications is extremely small. It might be difficult to use things like instant messenger from your easy chair. Browsing the web is tougher also. Some of the menus are very small.
Even with this, I would choose this tuner again. It works great!

Brand	SiliconDust
Model	HDHR3-US

Type	External TV Tuner Box
Others	1-4 GB per 1/2 hour of DTV recording

TV Tuner	Dual Tuners
TV Standards	ATSC / ClearQAM

Processor	Dual core recommended for HD playback
Memory	1 GB RAM recommended

SiliconDust HDHomeRun Dual HDHR3-US HD Digital Network Attached TV Tuner Device

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Item#: N82E16815345007