I bought the Hauppauge WinTV DCR-2650 Dual Tuner Cable Card TV Tuner from Amazon. The installation was fairly simple although I did have to call Time Warner and work with them for about half an hour to get it registered on their system.
The cable card feature on this allows it to work like the DVR that I rent from Time Warner. I can see the encrypted channels that my Silicon Dust HD HomeRun cannot see. It is not perfect however as many channels are broadcast on an on demand basis, the technology for this is called Switched Digital Video or SDV. SDV is used for the channels that have few viewers, unfortunately for me BBC HD is included in that list. To get the SDV channels your tuner needs to send a signal to Time Warner to send the channel. The Hauppauge cannot send the signal but it does work with a tuning adapter to notify Time Warner that you want to watch an SDV channel.
I picked up a tuning adapter from Time Warner, there was not cost, unfortunately the one I got is not currently supported by Hauppauge so I am still out some channels.
The picture on my HD channels is great, just as good as my DVR if not better. I am really enjoying this new cablecard tuner setup. I do wish that this was a network device like the HD HomeRun so that I could share the tuners on multiple computers. Silicon Dust makes a new version of the HD HomeRun that is cablecard and network capable, the cost has kept me from buying it so far.
More details soon.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
Silicon Dust HDHomeRun
For Christmas I bought myself an HDHomerun. This is a network connected dual tuner that works with many software products including Windows Media Center.
The HDHomerun is ethernet attached and as many computers as you like can use it to tune in and watch or record digital television. With two tuners two computers can each use one tuner or one computer could use both tuners at the same time.
The HDHomerun has required quite a bit of configuration but nothing technical. I've had to configure many of the digital cable channels but Silicon Dust offers great instructions and tech support to help in this process.
One of the issues that I have with the HDHomerun is that once you do all your configs for the channels you have to repeat them for every computer. I wish there was some way to move the config file from one computer to another.
Over all I am very happy with the HDHomerun and would recommend it to someone who is not afraid of some configuration work.
The HDHomerun is ethernet attached and as many computers as you like can use it to tune in and watch or record digital television. With two tuners two computers can each use one tuner or one computer could use both tuners at the same time.
The HDHomerun has required quite a bit of configuration but nothing technical. I've had to configure many of the digital cable channels but Silicon Dust offers great instructions and tech support to help in this process.
One of the issues that I have with the HDHomerun is that once you do all your configs for the channels you have to repeat them for every computer. I wish there was some way to move the config file from one computer to another.
Over all I am very happy with the HDHomerun and would recommend it to someone who is not afraid of some configuration work.
Back on Media Center Again
We moved the DVR back to the family room and I've setup a Media Center PC in our bedroom. While I'm not loving the selection of channels, many of our favorites are not available, we are loving watching downloaded video and some Media Center recorded shows.
I've installed the Silicon Dust HDHomerun and so far am pleased with it. It's been fun to work with and configure to get all the channels possible. I still don't quite have it setup completely but am probably 95% done.
Part of the issue that I have with my Media Center is that I don't want to leave the computer in the bedroom running all the time. I have a computer in my office that runs 7X24. I configure recordings from the HDHomerun on the office computer and then daily I power up the bedroom computer and move the recordings over.
The issue that comes up with this setup is that if I see a commercial for a show that I want to record I have to either try to remember it and schedule it when I get on the office computer or run to the office and schedule it right away. Remote access to the office computer would be cumbersome as it's awkward to use a wireless keyboard while sitting in bed ten feet from the television screen.
Media Center is not the perfect solution that I would like it to be but it's pretty good and I'm having fun playing with it.
I've installed the Silicon Dust HDHomerun and so far am pleased with it. It's been fun to work with and configure to get all the channels possible. I still don't quite have it setup completely but am probably 95% done.
Part of the issue that I have with my Media Center is that I don't want to leave the computer in the bedroom running all the time. I have a computer in my office that runs 7X24. I configure recordings from the HDHomerun on the office computer and then daily I power up the bedroom computer and move the recordings over.
The issue that comes up with this setup is that if I see a commercial for a show that I want to record I have to either try to remember it and schedule it when I get on the office computer or run to the office and schedule it right away. Remote access to the office computer would be cumbersome as it's awkward to use a wireless keyboard while sitting in bed ten feet from the television screen.
Media Center is not the perfect solution that I would like it to be but it's pretty good and I'm having fun playing with it.
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