HDHomeRun Flex 4K ATSC 3.0 NextGen TV: 2/4 Tuners HDFX-4K

This is kind of lengthy... Previously, for the past 6 years, our household used a “Tablo” as our in-home OTA DVR solution. For that purpose, it worked fairly well. I won’t go into any of the downsides, but the final deal killer was the inability to access it remotely using Roku devices. No matter how many router tweaks and settings such as port forwarding I tried, Roku just couldn’t access it. The only thing that worked was using a smartphone. All we wanted was the ability to access our local news broadcasts and sporting events when out of town. We thought we had found a solution by subscribing to “YouTube TV” which provides local channels as part of the package. Imagine our disappointment when on our first trip out of town, we could not get any of our hometown stations but instead those of where we were at the time. Upon our return, I resolved to finally replace the “Tablo” with a SiliconDust “HDHomeRun Flex 4K”. Operationally, much like the “Tablo”, you connect an OTA antenna to the unit, connect to your home network and then power it up. One of the nice things about the “Tablo” is that you can connect to your home network wirelessly. The “HDHomeRun” requires a wired ethernet connection. This meant we would have to run ethernet cable from our router to where the unit would reside. Fortunately for us this was something we did last year for different reasons but in the process, the “Tablo” was connected directly as well which greatly improved its responsiveness and stability. Unboxing the “HDHomeRun” and connecting it in place of the “Tablo” took only a few minutes. I used the “HDHomeRun” app on my android phone while connected to the same network to finish up firmware upgrades and channel scans. The “HDHomeRun”, when connected to our attic antenna, picked up 52 local ATSC 1.0 channels and 4 ATSC 3.0 stations. Now, the main reason we selected the “HDHomeRun” was its ability to integrate with our “Plex Media Server” which we have had operating for years. Within just minutes, the “HDHomeRun” was setup within Plex which, as part of our lifetime pass, provides a guide for all of the channels the “HDHomeRun” found. Plex also provides native DVR support so no additional storage devices or fees to SiliconDust for their DVR functionality. What Plex won’t do is decode AC-4 audio (blame FFmpeg) which is what the ATSC 3.0 broadcasts come with. Not a huge problem since all of the ATSC 1.0 audio channels work just fine. We anticipate that Plex/FFmpeg will provide the AC-4 decoder eventually as ATSC 3.0 adoption picks up, but the main thing is, since Plex is a server, we can access it remotely which means all of our local channels are available remotely as well. “HDHomeRun” also has a Windows 10 app which was downloaded to test. That worked great and after downloading a couple of drivers it said it needed, including a 99 cent one from Microsoft, I was able to play the ATSC 3.0 channels with audio as well. Some users have complained about channel changes taking a long time. For us this is 2-3 seconds. I challenge anyone to go from one YouTube or Roku channel to another much faster. All in all, to date, this change over has worked out well. It picks up all of the local free channels we could ever need. Subjectively, we also think the image quality is great. If I had a wish list, it would be that the “HDHomeRun” apps provided more native info and/or metadata about each channel such as the kind of audio track being listened to and the video resolution. Kind of like YouTube providing “Stats for Nerds” on each of its videos. We’re not sure if we are future proofed on the ATSC 3.0 roll-out but that was not the only or even main part of the reason for our purchase decision. What we wanted is what we got, and it works very, very well.

I had an Internet/TV/Phone bundle through Verizon that I've had for years but I finally decided to "cut the cord" because I was tired of paying for TV service that, honestly, I rarely used. We have a couple of streaming services that we watch purposefully, and we only ever used the TV service for background noise or to watch live TV during special events or local news or things like that. So I dropped the bundle, increased my Internet speed, and ended up cutting my Verizon bill almost in half. As part of that decision, I decided to get this HDHomeRun box so that I could still get local broadcast stations for local live news and event coverage. I paired it with this antenna: https://a.co/d/4Xrc74l The box is in my basement, connected to my core switch. The antenna is on the second floor of my house near a window. I reused some coax I had in my house to connect the two - making sure that nothing else was connected to the coax - no splits or anything. This box is great. My Plex server found it immediately and was able to perform a channel scan and pull guide information no problem. AND even though I'm using it with Plex, you don't have to. As long as you have a device on the same network at the HDHomeRun box with the HDHomeRun app installed, those devices can address the box directly without needing to go through Plex at all. I was hesitant to buy a box with four tuners in it - why would I need four tuners? I discovered the answer during the eclipse on April 8 - I had Plex set to record two different news broadcasts during the eclipse while I watched a third broadcast using the HDHomeRun app on my Chromecast with Google TV. This engaged three of the four tuners in the box, and it performed perfectly. I will point out - since some of the literature is unclear - that all four tuners are capable of ATSC 1.0, but only two tuners are capable of ATSC 3.0. In my area, only two channels are broadcasting in ATSC 3.0 right now, but even those channels are broadcasting in both for the time-being. But for most folks, ATSC 1.0 is all you need at the moment, and having four tuners that can pick that up really makes it useful when you want to watch or record multiple things at the same time. Set up is easy - plug the box into your network. It will check for firmware updates on its own, and you can use the web interface to apply those updates if you wish. I gather that it essentially uses DLNA to share the media streams, so anything on the same network can use the box. Also, if you're using it with Plex, the recommendation is to assign a static DHCP lease to the box because if the address changes, Plex may have to set it up all over again. This is not a requirement if you're just going to use the HDHomeRun app, since the app looks for the box via broadcast each time you open it. This box is easy to use, works with a wide variety of devices and applications, and is practically plug-and-play in terms of setup. I am very pleased to have it.

I purchased theSiliconDust HDHomeRun Flex 4K ATSC 3.0 to replace two HDHomeRun Connect Duos. My Connect Duos still performed but I decided to purchase a 4 tuner model to free up an internet outlet. Performance: The tuner pulled in available channels for my area. I used it with a roof antenna at a house and with some indoor antennas at an apartment. The indoor antennas drive me crazy because they are so sensitive but my HDHomeRun tuners still pick up whatever they bring in. Channels look the same from HDHomeRun as they do with the native Samsung tuner. I love the updated guide design in Live view. DVR Service: I began using the HDHomeRun Connects years ago with Windows Media Center on a Windows PC as my DVR (miss you WMC). I purchased one Duo then later purchased another one a year or 2 later. Once WMC was retired, I switched to the HDHomeRun DVR service for $35 per year. With the service, we are basically paying for the guide data, not the DVR service. It works okay and I like that it now shows upcoming tasks. I also have a Plex media server on my pc. I tried the Plex DVR but quality was inconsistent. I only have to go into the DVR part to schedule on demand recordings. I like that it allows you to schedule single episodes and the guide even includes the Season and episode number in the Discover section when you select airings to record if you do not want the whole season. How I Watch: I still have an antenna connection to my main living room Samsung TV so I watch Live TV from their native tuner. I use the HDHomeRun app or the Channels app to watch live on my AppleTV in my bedroom. The rest of my TVs use either the HDHomeRun app or the Plex app to watch Live TV. This has been working for me. I also tried Kodi as my front end and it did work okay finding the HDHomeRun tuners but I since moved to Plex for my media server. Replacement heads up: I disconnected one Connect Duo then connected the Flex 4K and set it up. I confirmed my channels and DVR was still good. Next, I disconnected the 2nd Connect Duo. At that point, my schedule DVR tasks disappeared and I had to set them back up again. Some of my shows do not have airings right now so I will need to wait to set them back up. I noticed it did not record its tasks the first two nights. When I troubleshooted, I found the app no longer showed me as an active DVR subscriber. You must go the the Account Details and log back into to your account and add your DVR activation key. I wish that was clear somewhere! Upcoming Tasks: I like this window is available on the Tasks tab to see your upcoming scheduled recordings. I don't know how new that is or if I missed it all these years. This will help me manage my computer's CPU resources with a resource intensive program I run on the same PC I run my HDHomeRun DVR software on. I can pause the other program if needed while recordings are in process. ATSC 3.0: I am okay with this feature not working yet. This is not SiliconDust's fault and I personally have signed several petitions to keep broadcast tv free and available and with ATSC 3.0 available for all since the airways belong to the public. Though I don't use it, I like these newer models have the ability to just connect a hard drive to it to record without a computer. It is a shame our TVs have this capability but it is not available in the US. Overall, I recommend HDHomeRun devices and I am glad they allowed me to easily cut the cord years ago. I conducted a 2 month review prior to cutting the cord and found most of the tv shows I watch are on the major broadcast networks and I like I did not need a device for every tv as some other tuner companies required back then. If you are struggling with the DVR aspect of it, perhaps try a different front end like Channels but it costs a bit more.

Update: I've been so frustrated with the constant freezing. I basically never watch antenna TV anymore because of it and customer support's usual answer along the lines of "it could be worse." In fact, I forgtt all about even having it until I saw the auto payment for another year of the dvr service. I saw it to late to cancel, but I don't renew next year, for certain. I don't even use it anymore until Sundays when I'm trying to watch football on my local station. I miss so many plays because of the freezing and having to restart (and missing every play that happened during that process), but that's not the only problem with live tv. Pausing hardly ever works, and more often than not, when I unpause, it skips right to live and I'm unable to rewind. When I watch something I've recorded, maybe the whole episode will be there... but maybe it crashes. In any case, if i try to pause, it restarts at the beginning. At one point, I blamed the Roku HDHomeRun app, but I later downloaded the app on an Amazon Fire TV, and wouldn't you know it, I have the same problems. I absolutely cannot recommend this product, which makes me sad bc it had a lot of promise, and I paid good money for it. Original review: The only reason I need a tuner/dvr at all is so I can record NFL games—I don't want to miss one while I'm watching another that's being broadcast at the same time, and I want to be able to skip commercials (and sometimes the announcers' chatter). I've tried several OTA receivers/DVRs but finally settled on the SiliconDust HDHomeRun Flex 4K. The SiliconDust HDHomeRun Flex 4K is dead simple to set up: plug in coax cable from the antenna, plug included ethernet cable into the HDHomeRun and your router, plug included power supply in. The HDHomeRun isn't connected to your television, only to your router (and antenna and power)—it streams your OTA channels to your TVs and other devices via app. Viewing OTA (antenna) TV: My two main TVs are Roku Tvs (and a rarely-used 3rd TV uses a Roku device), so I just added the HDHomeRun app. I didn't need to do anything else to view all my OTA channels, not even run a channel scan. I spent a total of about 2 minutes from opening the box to watching TV (and probably 60 seconds of that was bc my arthritic hands had trouble tightening the coax cable). I wasn't missing any of the 77 channels my TV found when the antenna cable was connected directly to the TV. (Incidentally, HDHomerun was not my first choice: I bought a Tablo Dual Lite first, but it could not find as many channels, and not the local networks that broadcast NFL games at all, so I returned it asap.) The picture through the HDHomeRun is clearer than watching when watching from my Dish, which surprised me. Note: Some Samsung TVs cannot get audio when using the HDHomeRun. The site's FAQ says "To hear audio, you need a TV, AV receiver, or soundbar that can decode Dolby Digital or AC3 audio over HDMI. Most modern TVs can do this, though we’ve noticed a few Samsung TVs cannot." DVR: If you want DVR functionality, you'll pay $35/year, and plug in an external hard drive to your HDHomeRun via usb. I tested the DVR functions via the HDHomeRun app on my laptop and on my phone. I started recording a program already in progress. I scheduled recording for a program that would start about a half hour in the future. I used the search bar to schedule recordings of all NFL games, on any channel, at any time. Super easy. The quality of the recording is great. Here's where things get a little less than ideal. I could not for the life of me figure out how to use the DVR functions from the Roku app. I submitted a support ticket to Silicone Dust, and they told me how to find my recordings (just hit the "back" arrow button on the Roku remote), but I can't schedule recordings from the Roku app... yet. I'll paste Silicone Dust's email below: The Roku version of the HDHomeRun app is getting some long overdue updates to help bring it in-line with the HDHomeRun app for other platforms. We'll be adding the ability to schedule recordings, search guide data, and more, in the coming months. When you open the Roku app, it will start playing the last played channel right away. Pressing left/right arrows will bring up the live channel switcher. Icons and guide data might take a moment to load, and we are working to improve those loading times. Pressing "Back" from live TV will bring you to a new "Live/Recorded/Discover/Tasks" screen. Selecting "Live" will bring you back to the live view on whatever channel was being watched before Selecting "Recorded" will show recordings if you are using the HDHomeRun DVR service Selecting "Discover" will give you our guide discover view. Selecting a TV program from "Discover" will show a summery for that program, and will show the current and future episodes (if the program is a TV show and not a movie). If a program is available on more than one channel, you will also see those options listed here. In the future you will be able to use this view to also schedule recordings if you are subscribed to the HDHomeRun DVR service.

I set this up with an outdoor antenna, and its working great. It has a USB port to install a hard drive for storage to use its DVR features. I'm using it with third-party DVR software that stores recordings on my network, so I didn't connect a USB drive. Its compatible with Plex, and other third-party streaming programs. Installation is simple, plug it into the home network, plug in the antenna, and plug in the power... done! I purchased the Flex 4k that includes 4 tuners, so up to 4 different channels can stream simultaneously for viewing or recording at any time. Local broadcast channels stream with built-in DVR features for free with the simplicity of a streaming service.

This was a quick setup that was actually so easy it threw me for a loop. I had no choice but to get a replacement for my Amazon Fire TV Recast. Support was dropped for that and mine finally just failed. After reading reviews, I settled on the 4 tuner (4 x ATSC 1.0, with 2 x ATSC 3.0 capable). There are a couple of things to be aware of on this model and I'm going to go with them under the pros and cons, but suffice it to say, so far, I'm satisfied with it. I wasn't satisfied with my Recast unit from almost day 1, but read on. Pros 1. Handles through ATSC 3.0 so it'll do NextGen channels if you have them in your area and your gear is capable of getting them. 2. Has four tuners so you can record or watch programming on four different tuners, though only two can handle ATSC 3.0. 3. The apps to facilitate getting programming from the HD Homerun appear to work well so far on both the Fire TV, Windows 11, and Android. Scratch that - they work. The Windows 11 app almost locked my system up solid while doing this review. 4. The picture is not only good, on HD broadcasts, it's OUTSTANDING on both the Fire TV and via the Windows app, and it looks fine on the phone, but why bother with a phone when you've got a larger screen? Cons 1. This doesn't come with a guide - if you want the guide and DVR capability you have to do the following: a. Shell out $35.00 for a year of DVR / Guide capability b. Shell out for an external hard drive - yeah, you heard that right - this comes with no hard drive c. While I have nothing good to say about my previous Recast unit, at least that came with a guide, DVR capability and a TB of storage for $179. This was $199 with no no disk or guide. 3. That you even have to use an app to view it on the Fire TVs, but it's not an Amazon product 4. While you may see that I did a scan and found 99 channels (I have 2 x HD OTA antennas) probably 10 to 12 of those cannot be viewed because they're DRM protected So, with those cons, why did I buy this one? First, read the reviews on the other units outside of Amazon. From what I could find online, the top models appeared to be the Silicon Dust HD Homerun models, the Tablos, and the ZapperBox. They each had their pros and cons and the ZapperBox also has a similar setup to the HD Homerun for recording and a guide. The Tablo would have been the more economical model in initial cost, that it came with storage, and has no charge for it's guide. Unfortunately, it's only equipped for ATSC 1.0 (I'd like to be ready for 3.0) and if you look at some of the reviews, no thanks, they're not very good. There was a greater than 20% return rate on the models I looked at on Amazon. I already had enough of that with my Recast unit. So that's why I went with the HD Homerun 4-tuner model. My photos include out of the box (the first 2), via the Fire TV app, and on my Windows 11 Desktop which uses an HDMI input into the same Fire TV as it's monitor. These photographs do not do the HD broadcast pictures any justice. You have to see them in person. Yes, I'd recommend this just out of taking everything into account including technology, customer service (I read ZapperBox now has customers IM or email them?), cost, and the aggravation I was hoping to avoid. It's my hope that in the future, some company will come out with something that's a bit more reasonably priced overall, like the Recast was, if only it had worked right out of the gate.

In our area (Atlanta), there are plenty of ATSC1 broadcasts (86 chhanels) ATSC3 broadcasts are offered for 5 primary channels (FOX/ABC/CBS/NBC/PCH). With this unit I was able to tune to these and they were functional in specific circumstances while dysfunctional in others. For years I've been a huge supporter of SiliconDust products. I own two 3-tuner SiliconDust cablecard models (Prime), and 1 OTA ATSC1 HD 2-tuner (HDHR). Unfortunately, I feel this product is not quite ready for primetime due to the following issues experienced. 1. As of February 2022, there is still a lack of proper audio support for Dolby AC-4. In my market, for ATSC 3.0, this is major. All 5 channels require AC-4 support. Video shows up and audio is inconsistently supported. Plex does not support this audio so regardless of player device (PMP, Android, web, Roku) it did not have audio with ATSC 3 broadcasts. Furthermore, there was not any additional audio tracks available in Plex to workaround this. Using SiliconDust's HDHomerun player app was badly inconsistent. On Android phones audio was fine, on Android TV via Nvidia Shield audio was fine. On built-in Roku with 8 series TCL, audio not available. On Roku 4K streaming stick+, sometimes it would work, not always consistent. 2. As of February 2022, although the 5 channels are available. The bitrates are about half (4-5Mb/s) the main 1080i broadcasts (8-10Mb/s). Additionally, they are just 1080p deinterlaced versions of the 1080i broadcasts. Due to this, in the Atlanta market, ATSC 3.0 is actually not very beneficial. I've heard this issue is in other markets as well. Trying to watch the Olympics or Superbowl in 4Mb in deinterlace processed1080p just isn't all that great. Conclusion: I'm truly glad SiliconDust made this product and this does enable ATSC 3.0 station reception. Additionally, for ATSC 1.0/1080i, in my case it worked perfectly fine compared to prior products. However, I wish there was more information available from SiliconDust in regards to the current state of ATSC 3.0. Between the quality of broadcasts in local areas and the audio support between this product and the "supported" platforms, I'm sure it can lead to plenty of buyer's regret. If you already own enough ATSC 1.0 tuners, do not buy this for only ATSC 3.0 unless you know there are TRUE 4K broadcasts in your area. If you don't own tuners, and you somehow have true 4K broadcasts in your area, and you are using Android TV (not Roku and not Plex), maybe then ATSC 3.0 is a great feature for you. As of February 2022, it's just not there yet for ATSC 3.0 and this becomes an expensive but high-quality 4-tuner ATSC 1.0 tuner.

I had a couple of older, used HD Homerun (HDHR3-US) units in the house, and moved up after I got my large antenna up. This is more sensitive despite having four tuners instead of two, and it does pick up non-DRM'ed ATSC 3 channels well. Bummed about DRM not working, but it's really not the fault of SiliconDust, and I expect the FCC to help with all of that soon. I'm running this from a Channels DVR setup, Plex is also compatible, and the HDHR software works, too. Just remember that you need some kind of software to access it - someone was upset it didn't have HDMI, which is kind of the point of a unit like this. You put it where the OTA signal is good and just need to wire it to Ethernet.