Review: HDHomeRun

About 2 years ago, I replaced our TiVo with a Mac Mini with 2 Elgato EyeTV 250 Plus HD tuners. The system has worked pretty well, but occasionally I had to reset the boxes (they were connected via USB and each had a power supply) and that caused some shows to not record. I tried to alleviate the problem by scripting the EyeTV software to quit and restart each day. In addition, I tried using a Sophosticated Circuits PowerKey to toggle the power supplies on and off, but that didn’t work well either. The PowerKey software was basically abandoned several years ago and kept crashing. In addition, it didn’t helped. I tolerated it up until recently and finally decided to look for alternatives. To make matters worse, the Signal Strength meter on EyeTV never registered over 30% despite me getting a coax amplifier (the tuners worked worse without the amplifier).

I had read about the SiliconDust HDHomeRun dual tuner device. My hesitation with the device was that it only handled HD channels; however, I realized that we’ve pretty much only watched HD channels in the last 2 years.

I bought the HD HomeRun to give it a try as it was fairly inexpensive. Hooking it up was easy and setup wasn’t difficult either. Plugged it in, connected the coax and the Ethernet cable. Silicon Dust shipped the software on a mini CD which, of course, wouldn’t work on my Mac or any Mac I’ve had in the last 10 years. I downloaded the software from the web and did the basic configuration; the software was pretty basic and awful looking, but good enough to get the job done and I’d never have to see it again. The box has been working flawlessly and even better, I was able to disconnect the coax amplifier and still get a very clear picture. This also let me go from 3 power bricks to 1 power brick.

The only downside to the box and not really a flaw in the box itself is that I went from using the EyeTV remote with over 50 separate buttons to using an Apple remote with far fewer controls. (I programmed my Logitech Harmony 880 remote for the commands I needed.) This means that I lost some of the skip features and a few other functions; however, it’s working pretty well.

Pros

• Inexpensive.
• Easy to setup.
• Good picture quality.
• Reliable.

Cons

• Is not a standalone device; requires a computer to view TV or record.

Summary

The HD HomeRun was a very nice replacement for the EyeTV 250 Plus devices. If I was looking to setup a Mac Mini again, I would have gone with the box as it was significantly cheaper ($100 vs $320 for the 2 EyeTV 250 Plus boxes). I’m very pleased with my purchase and would definitely recommend it to anyone setting up a DVR. I’m still not ready to drop regular TV (we still have basic cable as I haven’t made the leap to an antenna), so this is a great solution to keep us loaded up with content.