HDHomeRun is a network-attached digital television tuner box, produced by the company SiliconDust USA, Inc.
Unlike standard set-top box (or set-top unit) appliances, HDHomeRun does not have a video output that connects directly to the user's television. It instead receives a live TV signal and then streams the decoded video over a local area network to an existing smart phone, tablet computer, smart tv, set top streaming device, computer, or game console. This allows it to stream content to multiple viewing locations.[1]
There are currently a number of HDHomeRun models on the market:
All models are designed to receive unencrypted digital broadcast or cable television and stream it over a network for use by any PC on the network. HDHomeRun normally receives an IP address via DHCP but will also work via an auto IP address if no DHCP server is available.
The HDHomeRun Windows driver presents the tuners as standard BDA tuners, enabling BDA-compliant applications to work with the HDHomeRun. The HDHomeRun can also be controlled via a command-line application which is available for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, FreeBSD, and other POSIX-compliant operating systems. The control library is open source and is available under the LGPL for use in custom applications.
Select retail packaged HDHomeRun units are distributed with Arcsoft TotalMedia Theatre.
The HDHomeRun can be controlled and viewed from a wide variety of DVR/PVR software. Microsoft provides Windows Media Center for Windows XP through 8, but discontinued the product in Windows 10.[2] Apple macOS 10 runs EyeTV 3.[3] Linux runs Myth TV.[4][5]
Consumer Tuners
Line | Model | Part Number | Number of Tuners | Tuners | Coax Ports | CableCARD Slots | USB | Hard Drive | DLNA/UPnP | Hardware Transcoder | Notes | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ATSC 1.0 | QAM 64/256 | ATSC 3.0 | CableCard | DVB-T | DVB-T2 | DVB-C | ISDB-T | |||||||||||
Flex | Flex 4K | HDFX-4K | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes (2 of 4 tuners) |
No | No | No | No | No | 1 | 0 | Yes | No | Yes | No | |
Flex 4K Development Edition |
HDFX-4K-DEV | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes (2 of 4 tuners) |
No | No | No | No | No | 1 | 0 | Yes | No | Yes | No | Comes with developer firmware for deep signal inspection/tinkering | |
Flex Duo | HDFX-2US | 2 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | 1 | 0 | Yes | No | Yes | No | ||
Flex Quatro | HDFX-4US | 4 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | 1 | 0 | Yes | No | Yes | No | ||
Connect | Connect 4K | HDHR5-4K | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes (2 of 4 tuners) |
No | No | No | No | No | 1 | 0 | No | No | Yes | No | |
Connect Duo | HDHR5-2US | 2 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | 1 | 0 | No | No | Yes | No | ||
HDHR5-2DT | 2 | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | 1 | 0 | No | No | Yes | No | |||
Connect Quatro | HDHR5-4US | 4 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | 1 | 0 | No | No | Yes | No | ||
HDHR5-4DT | 4 | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | 1 | 0 | No | No | Yes | No | |||
Connect | HDHR4-2US | 2 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | 1 | 0 | No | No | Yes | No | ||
HDHR4-2DT | 2 | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | 1 | 0 | No | No | Yes | No | |||
HDHR4-2IS | 2 | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | 1 | 0 | No | No | Yes | No | |||
Scribe | Scribe 4K | HDVR-4K-1TB | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes (2 of 4 tuners) |
No | No | No | No | No | 1 | 0 | No | 1TB | Yes | No | |
Scribe Duo | HDVR-2US-1TB | 2 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | 1 | 0 | No | 1TB | Yes | No | ||
Scribe Quatro | HDVR-4US-1TB | 4 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | 1 | 0 | No | 1TB | Yes | No | ||
Dual | HDHR3-US | 2 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | 1 | 0 | No | No | No | No | ||
HDHR3-DT | 2 | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | 1 | 0 | No | No | No | No | |||
HDHR3-EU | 2 | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | 1 | 0 | No | No | No | No | |||
HDHR-US | 2 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | 2 | 0 | No | No | No | No | |||
HDHR-EU | 2 | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | 2 | 0 | No | No | No | No | |||
Single | HDHR-US-T1 | 1 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | 1 | 0 | No | No | No | No | ||
Extend | HDTC-2US | 2 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | 1 | 0 | No | No | Yes | MPEG2 → h.264 | Plastic case and fan | |
HDTC-2US-M | 2 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | 1 | 0 | No | No | Yes | MPEG2 → h.264 | Metal case, fanless | ||
HDTC-2US-L | 2 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | 1 | 0 | No | No | Yes | MPEG2 → h.264 | 2US converted to fanless case | ||
Expand | HDHR3-4DC | 4 | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | 1 | 0 | No | No | Yes | No | 5V 2A power adapter | |
HDHR5-4DC | 4 | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | 1 | 0 | No | No | Yes | No | 5V 1.5A power adapter | ||
Prime | HDHR3-CC | 3 | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | 1 | 1 | Yes | No | Yes | No | USB for Tuning Adapter only[7] | |
HDHR3-6CC-3x2 | 6 | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | 1 | 2 | Yes | No | Yes | No | USB for Tuning Adapter only[7] | ||
HDHR5-6CC | 6 | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | 1 | 1 | Yes | No | Yes | No | Unreleased, canceled[8] |
Commercial Tuners
Line | Part Number | Number of Tuners | Tuners | Coax Ports | CableCARD Slots | USB | Hard Drive | DLNA/UPnP | Hardware Transcoder | Rackmount | Notes | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ATSC 1.0 | QAM 64/256 | ATSC 3.0 | CableCard | DVB-T | DVB-T2 | DVB-C | ISDB-T | |||||||||||
Tech | TECH3-6CC-3X2 | 6 | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | 2 | 2 | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | |
TECH4-8US-2X4 | 8 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | 4 | 0 | No | No | No | No | Yes | ||
TECH4-8DT2x4 | 8 | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | 4 | 0 | No | No | No | No | Yes | ||
TECH4-2US | 2 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | 1 | 0 | No | No | No | No | No | ||
TECH4-2DT | 2 | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | 1 | 0 | No | No | No | No | No | ||
TECH4-2IS | 2 | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | 1 | 0 | No | No | No | No | No | ||
TECH4-8IS | 8 | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | 4 | 0 | No | No | No | No | Yes | ||
TECH5-4K8-2X4 | 8 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | 4 | 0 | No | No | No | No | Yes | ||
TECH5-16US-4X4 | 16 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | 4 | 0 | No | No | No | No | Yes | ||
TECH5-16DT-4X4 | 16 | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | 4 | 0 | No | No | No | No | Yes | ||
TECH5-16DC-4X4 | 16 | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | 4 | 0 | No | No | No | No | Yes | Unreleased, canceled[8] |
Introduced Fall 2011, the HDHomeRun PRIME provided the ability to view and record all the digital cable channels they subscribe to without using a cable supplied set-top-box. The device employed a CableCARD to replace the set-top box. The rental fee was usually much less than the rental fee for the cable box. The HDHomeRun PRIME integrated easily with Windows Media Center (WMC), included with Windows 7 and available with Windows 8, and turned your PC into an HD DVR. With 3 tuners, the PRIME let you record two programs and watch another live all at the same time. Although a few HDHomeRun Prime boxes can be found for sale on the internet, they are no longer in production. Cessation of production has been attributed to a change in FCC regulation, which no longer requires cable service providers to make CableCARDs available to their customers.[8]
WMC was included with Windows 7 but is an additional $100 for Windows 8/8.1 and an additional $10 for Windows 8/8.1 Pro. It is not available from Microsoft on Windows 10 but members at The Green Button are developing a way to use a modified version of WMC with Windows 10.
The HDHomeRun DVR is a DVR software designed for installation on a network-attached storage device. It is intended to be used with an HDHomeRun tuner and is expected to overcome digital rights management complications.
Launched in 2018, HDHomeRun Premium TV was a virtual MVPD service that worked with the HDHomeRun Prime and HDHomeRun DVR service. A unique feature of this service over most other MVPDs was the ability to record the channel streams to a local hard drive for time-shifted viewing. In March 2019, HDHomeRun announced that it would shut down its Premium service.[11]