SiliconDust HDHR4-2US HDHomeRun CONNECT 2-Tuner Streaming Media Player for Cord Cutters

Pros: See previous review from 11/19/2014.

Cons: See previous review from 11/19/2014.

Overall Review: Some reviewers complained of problems like pixelation and frame drops when watching TV from the HDHR4 on a tablet or smart phone via Wi-Fi. One reviewer also thought that the HDHR4 compressed the TV signal and that was the cause of the pixelation. He thought connecting an antenna directly to a TV used an uncompressed TV signal.

The HDHR4 and previous models of the HD Homerun do not compress the TV signal. They only tune the over-the-air ATSC digital TV signal. These TV signals have already been compressed at the TV station using the old MPEG-2 format that is also used on DVD's. The problems experienced when using the HDHR4 with a tablet or smart phone are caused by two things. Neither of them is due to the HRHR4.

The first cause is the large amount of bandwidth required to transmit a 1080 TV signal using the old MPEG-2 compression. MPEG-2 uses twice the bandwidth of the modern MPEG-4 compression that is used by Blu-Ray and to stream videos over the Internet. The HDHR4 and previous models are designed for use on a wired Ethernet LAN. If you have to stream from one using Wi-Fi, the SiliconDust forum mentions that you have to use at least 802.11n Wi-Fi to stream HDTV. The HDHomerun Plus HDTC-2US is the model you should use if you plan to stream over Wi-Fi. The HDTC-2US does compress the TV signal using MPEG-4 and was actually designed for use over Wi-Fi.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815345014&cm_re=hdhomerun_plus-_-15-345-014-_-Product

The second cause of problems when using tablets and smartphones is the need to down convert a 1920x1080 pixel picture to the size screen used on the tablet or smart phone. The videos you stream from the internet are normally stored in multiple common aspect ratios. Your tablet or phone will download and play the size that is closest to its screen resolution. When using one of the HD Homerun tuners you are streaming the full resolution TV picture that the TV station transmitted. It could be 480x640, 480x704, 720x1280, or 1080x1920. If the signal is 1080 your tablet or phone may have to down size the picture to fit the screen and this could overwhelm the processor on some older devices.

Pros: Worked good until it started locking up.

Cons: Sadly after 6 months the thing refuses to stop locking up. Tried to get a warranty from SiliconDust over their web support. They kept giving me excuses instead of replacing it.

Overall Review: I have owned the first gen unit for a few years and it still works. Wish this company would support it's warranty.