I typically use the HDHR Extend to transcode to 540p. It is half the rez of 1080p but it looks good enough for me. The nice thing is that it is MP4 so it doesn't require a license and it takes 1/6th the amount of storage. This is something to keep in mind for people who record a lot of stuff or only have a small hard drive for storage.
Another great video, Lon. Very informative series. I just got an HDHomerun Connect getting ready to cut the cord in March when my FIOS contract expires. I'm still trying to figure out how my final system will look, but you're giving me some great ideas. For the time being I'm just using Windows Media Center to get a feel for everything (Still have Win 7 on main computer). I had to use Powerline adaptor to get the antenna to place to get best signals for OTA (total trial and error for placement for channels). Powerline works ok for me since my townhome is 10 years old. I get 20-25 Mbps consistently to furthest point. Powerline are all dependent on your home wiring. Wiring for ethernet is on my list for down the road. I'm streaming channels on my PS3 and PS4 to my two TVs. I just wish Silicon Dust would come out with an app for Playstation. Wireless works really well to my tablet (AC wireless). Also, if I was reading SiliconDust's website properly, you can use the Connect/Extend if your cable company doesn't encrypt channels. FIOS does not encrypt its local channels so that could be an option for people that can't get OTA signals via antenna. Looking forward to the rest of the series. Thanks, Lon.
I'm on Verizon FiOS, and they enable DRM on ~many~ channels. So far, I've not found anything that works better for me than Windows Media Center over Xbox 360's connected via MoCA. Still experimenting with HDHomeRun View app and DVR, but it's still got a way to go for me. Keep up the good work. Excellent video.
Thank you for giving new life to my old raspberry pi B+ that was so long left in the drawer of unusable tings. LibreELEC works really good shoving movies and UA-cam, to get to show them take some time because of the old Pi but the picture quality is great. You need Plex pass to use the app but it's not needed just choose add videos - Upnp devices in browse you see the plex server and that's it - Lon thanks again for a great channel
Great info Lon! Thank you! I couldn't figure out why the Plex DVR video quality was so poor on my Amazon FireStick - you're right - it's probably not de-interlacing! Well, I'll take it back and get a refund and buy a Raspberry Pi v3. Plus - in the future I might out grow it and then use it for other fun projects. I've watched quite a few of your vids over the years. That's why I got the HDHomeRun PRIME. And I've been using Plex for about a week now and found that I really need a decent speed CPU to handle the job - my old MacBook with Core 2 Duo isn't cutting it (or "shaving" it as it were). LOL. So, I'm going to utilize an old Win7 PC that's collecting dust - the CPU in it is just over Benchmark 3,000 so it should be able to handle one transcode at a time. Thanks again Lon! Keep Going! I love the updates! I want to know what your old Win PC setup was (specs and how many clients were connected and HDHomeRun PRIMES so I know how many channels it had to DVR simultaneously) and how *well* the WD setup works in comparison. I've read on reddit about a super inexpensive (sub $125) server that can be built (from *some* used parts & some new) and utilized to do up to 3 simultaneous transcodes! That's pretty amazing - especially for the price.!
I use plex dvr (lifetime license) with mi box on 5ghz WiFi and shield with Ethernet. Works well, but obviously the raspberry pi is cheaper. It's cool to know it works well with the HDHomerun.
You mentioned in the video that instead of using the WD drive, it is possible to use an old computer in this role as a server. I was hoping you could elaborate how to do this please. Thank you. I keep coming back to your channel for information- very helpful. Thanks for all you do Lon and the community.
Great Vid Lon...I have a synology and an hdhomerun prime, lifetime plex pass, and hdhomerun dvr..nexus player for bedroom and shield tv for living room..the whole shabang...it's excellent...going to cancel my cable boxes Monday! This is great...didn't know I u could do 2 hdhomerun prime tuners.
For cord cutters why would the HDHomerunConnect or HDHomerunExtend, both with two tuners be required if the viewing device is a television? If the viewing device doesn't have a tuner the that device is not a television. It is a monitor which would require a outboard tuner to receive television VHF and UHF video signals.
Seems the Extend has had a price increase. The SD website says $179.99.. You can find it on sale for around $159.00 at other web sites. I just recently upgraded my 6 year old N type router to the newer AC type router. Made a big difference in WiFi. I now have no problem streaming OTA MPEG2 stream to a four year old laptop and even a Nexus 7(2013) from my Connect. YMMV. You can drive ROI onto the 6-9 month range by cutting the cord and just going OTA. BUT your house has to be a location that can get good singals from the broadcast transmitters.
I have a Fire TV and it runs the HomeRun for live TV app just fine. For some reason it looks better than the Tablo TV box. Problem is it still does not work with Roku. I do not want to make a Plex server. However, with PSVue app and FireTV boxes and HomeRun box you can or if you are using Rocu a Tablo box for live TV. PSVue Sling DriectTVNow and a few other lived streaming services are also available now to be a cable cutter is really cheap.
For my Plex DVR setup, I use Roku devices instead of Raspberry Pis. The cheapest Roku devices (Roku Express and Express+) are about the same price as a RasPi, and allow me to access things besides Plex on those TVs (Netflix, Hulu, UA-cam, etc). Sure, Live TV isn't on the Roku Plex app yet, but it's coming soon. I can't use the HDHomerun software, because I went for a cheaper Happauge tuner instead, but I don't need it, so it's fine.
I have the Happauge tuner as well, but I am the only one that uses it via Windows 7 Media Center. Problem with Windows is that only Xbox 360 can playback anything originally recorded by my system. I can't even watch stuff recorded with the same hardware and software but a different motherboard because DRM is tied to the MAC address of the motherboard. I can automate changing the .WTV files to format that is smaller and can be hardware accelerated by low cost/power hardware. But honestly nobody else in the house really has a need for a DVR but me and even then I have roughly 20 hours of broadcast TV I haven't watched yet. I watch hours of You Tube....
ericbazinga are you liking the happauge tuner with plex? My main reason for considering it is I like the idea of the 4 tuner. I am completely ota currently and use one of those cheap tv tuners that can record to a usb stick.(I damaged the coax on my tv and the 30 dollar tuner is cheaper than a 100 dollar main board) problem with cheap recorder is I get playback on that device or on my computer unless I go thru the trouble of converting to a file format plex likes.
Chris Rasmussen My tuner (the Happauge Win-TV Dual-USB) is actually USB-based and can record 2 things at once (which is surprisingly enough for my recording needs). Happauge does sell a tuner that can record 4 things at once, but it's an internal card that you install into your computer. If you want the tuner I use, I'd reccommend you buy it from Best Buy. The tuner usually goes for $70, but apparently Best Buy is no longer carrying the tuner, so it's $50 on clearance (half the price of an HDHomerun Connect, and still the same number of tuners!). You have to order it off their website, though. The tuner is compatible with Plex DVR, and if you use that to record your media, it's automatically saved to MKV format (which is the ideal format for media, since it contains multiple optional audio tracks and subtitles in addition to the movie).
ericbazinga I have Chromecast on all of my TV's would it be possible to use Plex with cast compatibility? That would definitely make it the cheapest option.
I'm confused. I have an LG C9 "SmartTV" (WebOS) that I use for OTA viewing. I'd like to build a Raspberry Pi centered DVR setup and use an app available for my TV as the frontend. Do still I need the HDHomerun box (the client is available for my TV)? Or can I use a more basic USB ATSC tuner and something like Kodi or Plex to manage it all? I don't have any other set-top boxes for live real-time TV. I understand I will need to subscribe to a scheduling service to mange the unattended recording. What about using something like MythTV? Thoughts?
Can you use a $10 USB ATSC tuner stick instead of the HD-HomeRun on the Raspberry Pi? I bought the HomeRun about 10 years go and sent it back because the dual tuners were too weak to pick up anything except extremely strong signals. Back then, I ultimately went with Windows Media Center and a Divico USB tuner. With M$ support for WMC fading, I am interested in the Pi for its replacement.
This could use a 2021 update. You can get a setup now for a fraction of that price. HDHomeRun $200 (or less), Raspberry Pi 4 4GB Kit $70, 2TB USB3 HD $100, Channels DVR (much better than SD service) $8/Month.
Hey Lon, now that it looks like the DVR part of things are taken care of do you in your opinion think that it's now a potential replacement for the old Windows 7 HTPC setup that we all have used for years now? I would love to upgrade my machines to Windows 10 but have not done so because of the lack of WMC, but if the DVR software is now ready for the public and supports IR controls using any windows media center remote then I don't see why it isn't worth a shot.
I want to do this but have been holding out for months for the HD prime 6 and its still not out yet! Any idea when its coming out? I cant even buy a new prime 3 box, its out of stock everywhere.
I also second investigating using the Pi with attached storage as a replacement to the MyCloud (as I currently already own those and would prefer not to have to buy new hardware), but I worry if the Pi can handle the stress.
I am very disappointed. So I bought a Raspberry Pi 3 b+ and all the accessories, thinking that it would work well with my HDhomerun Prime and my Verizon FIOS service. Well I installed LebreELEC and the HDhomerun Add-on, just like in this video. I also purchased the MPEG2 license, adding the key properly to my config.txt file.. the HDhomerun app sees my tuner, it sees all the channels, but it only plays the first couple of seconds of HD content and even struggles with non-HD channels. What am I doing wrong? BTW my network connection is wired.
Great video. Could you please do a video on other EPG options with the HD Homerun. Looking for one that will go out at least a week and show in a Matrix format.
Hi Lon...few questions on the setup. In all these cases, are you server and all receivers connected to ethernet ? What about devices like fire TV stick, does the NAS do the transcoding ? Also, what kind of antenna do you use ?
Hi Lon, I'm setting up my Plex server and I have a tone of iTunes movies but I need a DRM remover to be able to watch them on Plex. Do you know of a free DRM remover for my movies.
I'm a *really* hands-on, no frills (unless I make, code or hack it) kinda guy. I bought the following: *Dell* PowerEdge R815 •256GB RAM •4 Opteron 6174 CPU's (96 cores!) •4 x 1TB Samsung Evo SSD (RAID1) •4 x 4TB WD Red (RAID 10) •25 x Ceton InfiniTV 6 ETH (150 tuners) •4 x 10GbE (RJ45 Backplane) Synology RS3618xs •10 x WD Red 4TB (RAID10 -20TB total) •2 x 2TB Samsung Evo SSDs (RAID 1) •64GB RAM (Upgraded) •4 x 10GbE (RJ45) -2 iSCSI 10G switch to PE (storage) -2 Link Aggregation for LAN conn. Spectrum Business Class Cable w/ peering arrangement (Apartment complex) So I live next door to an apartment complex, mostly older residents and handful (20ish) college students. I knew the manager from high school and I own a local IT consulting company. She stopped me one day as I was taking out the trash and said "do you know anything about building a CATV system" and I said "HELL YES!" I bought the PowerEdge Server from a data center stack (bankrupt non-paying customer) liquidation auction for *$450* and got the Synology from the same auction for *$300,* both the server and Synology already had the hard drives (SSD!), RAM but I upgraded the Synology's RAM to be on the safe side. So at this apartment complex after the manager officially contracted me, I installed a 10GbE homerun to 4 IDF cabinets to create the backbone network throughout the building, installed 8 HD cameras (so residents could watch the parking lots and all entrances, cams were all gigabit, no need for 10GbE on those). I installed 16 Ubiquiti Unifi AC HD Access Points to guarantee at LEAST 300MB/s via wireless, these APs are completely mesh networked so you can walk floor by floor, even on the elevator and NEVER lose connection! The manager "leased" me a 10' x 20' storage room in the building, centrally located. I contracted AT&T to install a *2 GBPS* fiber internet line (it was free, no monthly cost because ATT Wireless leases a communication room and roof antennas from the building, we worked a deal out to knock $500 off their rent if they threw in the 2gpbs line!) I conducted a survey / market research study in the building to see if residents would be interested in buy "cable" & internet from the building, as opposed to using AT&T's shitty expensive UVerse service ($250+/mo). Of the 150 units (375 residents~), 100 units (280 residents) agreed to buy "the buildings" cable and TV service! I ordered 250 Raspberry Pi 3 B+'s (50 are for growth and replacements) with IR Recievers and a nice universal remote that doesn't require programming. All of my engineers were busy on other jobs so I had 3 of the college residents help me in exchange for free cable & internet until they graduated (moved out). They were all Computer Science majors so we got all 150 RPi3B+'s flashed over a weekend, fan cases, 8GB SD cards, IR receivers and these new ones already had native Wireless AC so we were done. I setup 6 VMs on the PowerEdge, we had 3 different TV packages, 1 package was just OTA broadcasted channels, 2nd was all digital Spectrum channels and 3rd was all digital & pay (HBO, Cinemax, etc) Each "package" has it's own Plex instance, on it's own dedicated VM, this was so we could create simple standardized, Plex accounts so that Apt 125 would be a125@plex.aptbldgsite.com (for access / PlexPass) We struck a deal with Plex to buy 300 Plex Pass's (lifetime passes) for $2500, they were so damn kind to do that! So we logged in, setup and configured each box and only about 30 people requested a 'white glove installation' so most of them just picked up their box based on their apartment # and plugged it in and boom, it worked PERFECTLY! We used an opensource FreeRadius ISP software suite to control / manage the Internet packages, we have basic (10mbps/2mbps guaranteed) advanced (50mbps/5mbps) and the 'geek' (100mbps/10mbps) package that only 10 people have. For $100 we would run an ethernet drop to their apartment and give them their own 5 static IPs, only like 5 have that. We offer phone service and about 50 residents have it, run it via a couple 3CX PBX servers in high availability mode and we split off 1 fiber pair solely for phone, we run a Cat6 cable to their apartment to make sure the quality is good and use good quality bulk purchased Polycom video phones. We installed the units for each paying resident, install their phones if the pay for it and give them the RADIUS login info for the Internet / WiFi access, we have literally no complaints other than old men occasionally not being able to find a particular obscure Football/Soccer game (not my problem! Lol) So in total, we have 130 apartments on our cable, 135 on our internet and 52 on phone service. All costs were split between the building owners and my company, we spent roughly $15,000 in total, our cable bill is $250/mo (2$ per CableCard), our Intetnet is free and the phone is roughly $100/mo (we use a bulk SIP provider, we pay only for minutes). So our packages are the following: TV, Internet, Voice (Basic) $70/mo TV, Internet, Voice (Adv) $120/mo TV, Internet, Voice (Geek) $200/mo TV & Internet (B)$50, (A)$80 & (N)$120 TV (B)$20, (A)$50 & (N)$100 Internet (B)$20, (A)$50 & (N)$80 (No one has just phone) Extras: Ethernet Drop $100 Extra "Cable box" $10/mo Extra phone $10/mo Managed router (static ips) $10/mo This turned out to be one of the most profitable, enjoyable and interesting jobs I've ever done, I make around 20K a month *profit* and I only get a call about once a week and have to physically go fix a box once a month ish, only one Raspberry Pi has failed on me yet, 10 remotes have gotten broken but I bought an extra 55 of those! I am in talks with two other nearby apartment buildings to set up a similar system in their facilities soon, to put together a fully functional, feature rich, competitively priced system that is *WAY* better than *ANYTHIN* out there is a really good feeling, plus making lots of money (no collections either, it comes out of their rent, the building pays us a flat rate for the service and their IT) Seriously people, Plex can do a WHOLE lot, it can play live TV for 150+ people simultaneously without so much as a hiccup! sorry for writing this literal book but I had to tell my story LOL, more people need to do things like this, the demand is high.
Hi Lon I really love this idea of using the raspberry pie and the HD homerun to shave money off my cable bill. Fortunately I do have a NAS but it is not a Western Digital, it is a Q-NAP TS 231P, I have never set up anything up like this before if I run into a problem who can I call for help on setting this up. I would hate to make this investment of equipment and then not be able to get it set up correctly.
I believe the recording engine will run on the Qnap but at the moment the WD's are the only ones with an installable application. That will change shortly.
The application from SiliconDust is super easy to use. 1) Download the app, 2) Make a textfile saying where the recordings will be, 3) Make the file executable: $ chmod +x app-name 4) run it with sh: $ sh hdhomerun_record - voila. I have been using it with FreeBSD for the last few months after ditching Windows so I can record on a 4x2TB ZFS array. Having 4TB memory-cached storage rules.
Great fun for a dabbler, but too much complexity, investment, and work for a savings of $50/month. If you can use your cell phone as an acceptable internet appliance, just get an antenna and run some coax. It's free and just works. Add a DVR+ or a TiVo if you want trick play, time shifting, and an electronic program guide. If you cannot do the antenna thing or must have an ISP, get DirecTV or Sling TV and a couple Fire TV sticks or Rokus.
At approximately 15:10 on your video timeline you show connecting the power to the Raspi is that other cable , already connected, HDMI? And is it connected directly to the TV HDMI input?
Thank you so much for this. I really enjoy all of your reviews. Question: is there a way to have plex run off of the NAS as well? I see the HD Homerun dvr can be done but just was wondering if you've tested it with the single bay WD NAS?
Hey Lon I love your stuff , I just recently get the plex pass to start doing the dvr function I Im a apple tv user but since I purcheses the pass the apple tv plex app not work properly for example try to play regular mkv file movie is buffering not even start I start using the plex app on the lg smart tv no problem to play back but dosent have the dvr function or maybe i don't finded any other suggestions for dvr on apple tv or lg smart tv. Thanks Lon for what you do I learn a lot
I was wondering if anyone has any experience with the Tablo DVR, as compared to the HDHomeRun. (Coincidentally, Nuvyyo, the company that makes the Tablo, is located with a 10 minute walk of my home.) I'd also be interested in other suggestions (e.g. PC tuner card) that would allow me to use my existing Roku box and the desktop PC that runs my Plex server. BTW, any solution would have to properly support closed captioning, both for live TV and recordings. (I experimented with a cheap HDTV tuner box that also recorded to an external disk; although captions showed up in live TV, it did not have the hardware capability to display them from recorded files, despite actually saving the data.) Thanks for any suggestions
Ok, just checked out this video and it's awesome but, I have one question..... you didn't cover installing the DVR software and licensing on a NAS or spare PC for recording shows. Did I miss something or is that in a different video?
Hi Lon. Extremely well presented. Thank you. I just got Plex, like yesterday, so I have not set up anything. I'm getting a Pi 3 soon and I have a single drive My Cloud. If I'm understanding right, I can put my cable card in the Homerun Prime, install the Plex Media Server on the Pi 3 SD card, connect both to my switch/router, and run Plex on my Roku to stream live TV as well as record and playback like any DVR. Correct?
The Pi really can't handle the live TV streaming if you're using it for your Plex server. You need a decently powered PC for the transcoding or the WD NAS that I showed in the prior videos.
Thanks for the reply Lon. I borrowed a Pi3 from a friend and plan to experiment tomorrow to see if I can at least get the PMS to access my media on the My Cloud. Any tips?
Lon, I thought I'd ask what methods would you use in place of the HDHomerun itself? I ask as not to be tied to one specific vendor. Also Spectrum (previously known as Time Warner, Charter, or Brighthouse) encrypt most if not all channels, using the HDHomerun as a DVR is not an option but I'm still willing to setup something for OTA.
I use the Happuage version of the Home Run HD which has two tuners instead of three. I run WIndows 7 Media Center. I waited too long to upgrade to Windows 8.1 the final version of Windows with Media Center. You can re-install WMC on a Windows 10 machine but it takes some registry hacking I don't want to deal with and what I have works perfectly. If it missed a show it's because there was a problem at Spectrum (Time Warner). I do watch network TV but I am a big sports fan and the only way to watch that is via cable. I have NFL Sunday Ticket on my PS3. Systems like this and cord cutting are for people who like what they see on broadcast OTA TV mostly.
Carlos Vargas hdhomerun prime is a cable card device. It decrypts cable signals when you get the card from your cable provider setup. There are some cable card devices that take up a pc slot that are similar, but I don't know if any work with anything beyond windows 7.
Wow thank you. Been looking for this info for a wile and your the 1st to tell it good. But that's bad. We have a old TV that can take a cable card but it can all so do over the air if you don't have cable.
Lon, Excellent piece of work! Exactly what I was looking for. I imagine a higher performing compute engine can play/record all three channels plus support other client playbacks as well. Is that correct?
Surprisingly I think even a lower powered device should be able to handle everything quite well. HDHomerun's engine is not computationally intensive as it's not doing anything to the video (the client device does all of the work). I'm not sure about the max number of clients but I do think 3 active TV sessions plus a few extra clients should be fine even on the low end My Clouds.
Lon.TV please help us! U saw the forums at Google regarding the UA-cam app for Android TV. Please expose them. Talk to some friends to expose this and/or do a video. I talked to CNET but they are bought. U know how it works. We need to expose them! They need to revert the update and do an actual update with HDR for the native app
This is so interesting I have a few spare raspberry pis, just wondered do you see any picture quality difference between the connect or extended (if you have tested both), I want the best image quality and if thats with the older box then I shall get it. Have an Apple TV but it looks like kodi is not in my region :(
I have tested both - uncompressed they'll have the same image quality. There will probably be a slide decrease in quality using the Extend's transcoders but at the highest settings you probably won't notice (and will get better Wifi performance)
Hey Lon, If i setup an antenna plugged into the HDHOMERUN, then use Plex to detect this over the network. Do I need to still pay the $35 fee for HDhomerun dvr or can I just use Plex with Plex Pass to handle the DVR and eliminate and monthly or annual charges
I honestly don't see the value proposition here. Between the cost of the PI & Homerun boxes, it's still as much as a traditional subscription. It would take something like 3 years+ to become worth it and I don't trust such a new company to be stable for longer than that.
I agree, but as a professional technician I must ask "Why now & why HD Homerun" ? Every standalone TV product i've found over the last decade has either faded away due to the same problems i'm asking now, or was so garbage that stores stopped stocking it. You're looking at $250 for what the average DVR can record (6 channels at the same time). The menu has greatly improved and from what you've shown, I actually like it more than the traditional menus. Beyond that, it'll cost ~$300 for the average 4TB NAS and what about a remote? Will generic 2.4 GHz remotes work with your setup? (~$15 on amazon) I use Spectrum which charges ~$15 /mo for a cable card. Also, it looks like you forgot that not everyone will have the networking hardware for this already too. $25 for a standard 5 - 8 port gigabit switch will be needed as well. You're looking at near $600 for the initial setup and $85 per TV for the Raspberry PI/Card/License/Remote you want to watch on. PLUS, all of this is on-top of the subscription you have to pay Silicon Dust. $35/year is negligible, but again - we're assuming this is a long-lasting platform. Biggest detraction from using a traditional dvr box is that you have to boot into KODI/Android TV and then into HD Homerun's app/add-on. For many relatives, this will feel contrived and may detract from using this daily. In total, this is $805 for the traditional 3 room setup and that's before the $215/year cost ($35/yr for Silicon Dust, $15/mo*12 for the Spectrum cable card). Pricing Spectrum for 3 DVRs right now, in my area (So Cal), comes out just above $100/mo. This means it would take me an entire year to be worth it and that's not including the fact that you're basically tied-in to the system on purchase. If you don't like it, you'll have to return EVERYTHING of which I don't think people can reasonably make the decision to only having it within the typical 30 day return policy. Now, I know I may give this a hard time, but people need to see the realism that cord-cutting may not be. The ONLY benefit of this is if the platform lasts, you have it for atleast a year, and you don't have to replace the NAS or Raspberry PIs a ton. Personally I'd recommend an Android TV, especially if your grandmother or relatives are going to be using this. The time investment is HUGE as well - Setting all this up, making sure the networking is done properly, etc. EDIT: I forgot to talk about PLEX / KODI. Plex will be required to view the recordings remotely and you won't be able to use the various tv provider applications which let you view LiveTV as well (something PLEX / KODI wouldn't be able to do).
Excellent point that is until your cable company decides to place DRM on all their channels besides the OTA local ones, then the control is mostly lost which is my case with Cox Communications here in San Diego, CA. Time for me to cut the cord and find other means eh?
Let's say I have a HDHomeRun Prime. I want to add another HDHomeRun so I can record or watch more shows. I have no antenna. No OTA television. Just cable. Would I need to add another HDHomeRun Prime to my set up since the other HDHomeRun only picks up OTA? Would I need to get another Cable Card from my cable provider? 1st Cable Card I get with no charge but a 2nd they charge around $10.
Isn't easier just to add an hd antena to the TV... I don't get it. Most ppl like me.has a t.v in every room. Not necessary cable but OTA antenna..i just dont get it
Why not use Pi with the HD Homerun DVR running with a hard drive attached, Instead of the single drive WD my cloud running HDHomerun DVR. I would think that would both be cheaper and reloading the software on shutdown problem would be removed.
I was thinking the same thing. Sure it will be a bit more work, but more customizable. And not locked into a proprietary format that may not be compatible down the road.
I was thinking of a setup where one RPi is used for a PVR backend/server and NAS box, with the USB storage drive connected to it. Then use a separate RPi for a PVR frontend for each TV to be connected. The backend/server RPi would access the HDHomerun tuner just for recording and storing the shows on the storage drive that is connected to it. It would also make those recorded shows available to the network devices such as the frontend RPi on the TV, which could access either the recorded material, or watch live TV by accessing the HDHomerun tuner. At times, I may need to be able to reboot my frontend RPi, without disrupting any recording process that might be going on in the backend RPi. Am I over thinking this?
Clay Glenn Have you tried it yet? I'm going to buy two Rasp. Pi's and try it. I would like to have DVR capability without the subscription fees. NextPVR requires a PC. I'm not sure if I should get a a dedicated NAS device like a My Cloud or perhaps just get a tower PC for cheap and use that. I would like to record my media and have it in my conrrol, something similiar to windows media center. Any ideas?
I have a sibling stuck at roughly the mentality between a five and eight year old, so I would really rather them not have to deal with anything other than a simple IR remote that sends commands through the TV to the Pi. Is there any way for me to do that? I know there's something in the hDMI spec that lets the tv mediate remote commands to devices but... Not knowledgable enough.
Andrew Singleton The Pi supports HDMI-CEC. If you hook it into a tv that supports HDMI-CEC (typically a smart TV), you can control the Pi via your tv's remote. It sends the control signals over the HDMI cable.
I am using their "blast plus" with HBO tier. Comcast has a hidden menu, call them and ask for their full rate sheet and you can likely piece together a more affordable plan.
:) yeah I struggled with whether to make a shorter video or just go for as long as it takes, I opted for the latter. What I will be doing next is putting together a summary video to guide people into the longer stuff. I am aiming for 6-7 minutes tops on that one!
Sweet. That'd be great. It looks like you can create an autoexec.py file (bit.ly/2vq5Z4M) with a few parameters to accomplish this task. There is also a method for doing this via an addon called Maintenance Tool (bit.ly/2wpwFHs). But the tool was hosted via the now defunct Fusion Repo (TVAddons.ag). Both methods were messy enough that I paused my search for a while. It's surprising to me that there isn't a more well trodden path for this. I would think tons of Kodi users have wanted to do this very sort of thing with an addon or specific area (TV/Movies) to simplify the experience for wife/kid friendliness.
Great video. I put together my dvr system together based on your reviews/videos. I used the single drive mycloud and the HDHomerun Prime.... My only comment is you seem to skip over the Amazon Fire and Fire Stick devices. I have 3 tvs, and I use 2 Fire sticks and a Fire and love them with the HDHomeRun app. Fire stick at $40 is a deal.
Lon.TV ahh, yes you did talk about it in the end. I posted the comment before I watched the end. Sorry about that! I did not have the same experience, not sure what version I have but the stick is new. I noticed some lag, which I attributed to my wifi, but I found when I went into the settings of the fire stick and turned the audio to "Dolby digital off" (with the idea that maybe it uses less bandwidth) it seemed to work better. The tvs that have the stick are not hooked up to any sound system, so no loss there. My fire is my main unit and is wired, works awesome. I live in NJ and have comcast cable.
No worries! So Comcast is in some markets deinterlacing on their end and sending out 720p h.264. Many of my cable channels are in this configuration in my service area but the local networks are still coming over mostly as 1080i (with the exception of the 720p broadcasters). I wonder if Comcast is doing h.264 720p on all of your local channels too, that would certainly knock out the interlacing problem.
I use several Amazon Fire TV Sticks with the HDHomeRun app and haven't had any interlacing problems. I use the app from the Amazon App Store instead of Kodi though. Not sure if that would make any difference.
Lon.TV it's very possible that one of my TV's is running at 1080i but I haven't noticed any interlacing on my 1080p tv or 1080p projector. Maybe it's a setting that works with interlacing on the television or it might be because I'm using a computer with a dedicated gpu to run my HDHomeRun DVR client. Then again, I might just not be noticing it.
Lon.TV Hey there, Just picked up a prime. Have a local network VPN running, idea was to be able to stream my channels anywhere through that VPN. If I start the HD Homerun app on the network where the prime resides, leave the network, but leave the VPN running in the background, and then connect to the VPN (openVPN), it works. BUT if I don't first connect to the local network, I get an error back from the app that says can't find prime through network, even if I'm connected through VPN. Have to imagine this is because of the HD Homerun app...
ben hartwick yeah so annoying. Sadly Spectrum/Time Warner does DRM everything in my area so I just have given up on this but I do mostly watch TV from OTA so all isn't lost. I got a WD EX 2 NAS and two HDHomeRun extend units set up. I also have a Xbox One S which I use as a playback device. As worked well for me. For cable, I use UA-camTV to watch Angels baseball and other things. Channel lineup isn't the best but for me it's good enough.
Hey Lon! For another option for DVR + Plex Server you could look at something like this laptop from NewEgg: www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834261441 it's refurbished but carries a 90-Day warranty and already has Windows 10 Home installed on it! You also have an option to purchase an Extended Warranty. These HP EliteBook laptops are enterprise/business class so they are build to last and can take a beating unlike much of the consumer class stuff out there now. I have used these personally for years at work and have found them to be great machines. Obviously 250GB isn't very much but you can add a USB3 external drive fairly easily to store recordings, media for plex, etc. Here is a review on this laptop as well: www.notebookcheck.net/Review-HP-EliteBook-8460p-Notebook.57322.0.html I'm currently using a laptop with an external USB 3.0 drive as my whole home media server for Plex, HDHomeRun, etc. I have a Sandisk 120GB as the boot/windows drive and then my 5TB Portable External Drive for all of my media. It runs 24/7 and works great! :) Also one other note, you had mentioned about the Plex add-on for Kodi, it seems it is currently only available for Plex Pass customers according to Plex.tv
Liberty Action explain? I would say the same (AT&T bought Direct Tv) the service was only a rebranded AT&T TV... btw I got HBO for free and biggest line up in tv package for $40 .... so yeah we did well hahaha
I contemplated making a recommendation for generic Android TV boxes. My issue with them is of course long term support and product quality and how well they implement video de-interlacing etc. Another problem with most of them is that they're using the tablet version of Android which means Netflix and other video apps will offer a sub-par experience. I wanted to feature something that would work consistently from one user to the next and the Pi met that criteria. I might look at a few somewhat less generic Android boxes to see if there's a good plug and play alternative.
Lon.TV Netflix is going to be sub 1080p on any device that doesn't have official Netflix certification. I don't think a homebrew PI3 OS is going to have access to that level of DRM. Even UA-cam 1080p+ playback on uncertified devices at least require modifications. Cheapest 1080p Netflix experience I could think of ($40-$60 range) is either a firestick or a retired SFF office PC from sites like ebay. MI Box is also a great option thats slightly outside this price range but UA-cam, Netflix and other services range from 1080p to 4K right out the box. I know you kinda trashed it in in your review but it sure ticks alot of check boxes for $70. Android TV's UI and the tiny form factor is also going to be a bit more living room friendly.
Spoiler alert - I am going to cover more on this on the wrapup tomorrow night. My big issue with the Mibox is that it wasn't friendly with USB ethernet devices which can be problematic for some folks. If I remember correctly from my review and the MPEG 2 decoding did not look all that great. It looks like Walmart is selling the Nexus Players again for around the same price and I would recommend one of those over the Mibox as they are friendlier towards ethernet connections.
Lon.TV I just looked up the Nexus Player by ASUS and I must say that I'm not impressed. You must know something I don't because functionality wise It seems to be a Fire Stick with Android TV OS side-loaded and a 50% price hike. I didn't see usb ports or anything about 4K support in any capacity. At least a generic box would let you use things like Kodi for streaming and local media playback up to 4K. I definitely gotta catch that video tomorrow haha.
It's not a 4k box. But the 4k performance on the Mibox was nothing to write home about either :). I had a bunch of frame drops with 60hz content and even some of the 30fps stuff coming from Netflix. It also did not work well with as a DVR client especially given its USB port did not seem to work well with an ethernet solution. The Nexus Player has a more powerful processor (Intel Atom) which is more powerful than the Mibox and light years better than the Fire stick. For those on the cheap and who are not super techie I think it's best solution for this mix. If they've got more to spend the regular Fire TV or course the Nvidia Shield are a good choice.
I typically use the HDHR Extend to transcode to 540p. It is half the rez of 1080p but it looks good enough for me. The nice thing is that it is MP4 so it doesn't require a license and it takes 1/6th the amount of storage. This is something to keep in mind for people who record a lot of stuff or only have a small hard drive for storage.
Another great video, Lon. Very informative series. I just got an HDHomerun Connect getting ready to cut the cord in March when my FIOS contract expires. I'm still trying to figure out how my final system will look, but you're giving me some great ideas. For the time being I'm just using Windows Media Center to get a feel for everything (Still have Win 7 on main computer). I had to use Powerline adaptor to get the antenna to place to get best signals for OTA (total trial and error for placement for channels). Powerline works ok for me since my townhome is 10 years old. I get 20-25 Mbps consistently to furthest point. Powerline are all dependent on your home wiring. Wiring for ethernet is on my list for down the road. I'm streaming channels on my PS3 and PS4 to my two TVs. I just wish Silicon Dust would come out with an app for Playstation. Wireless works really well to my tablet (AC wireless).
Also, if I was reading SiliconDust's website properly, you can use the Connect/Extend if your cable company doesn't encrypt channels. FIOS does not encrypt its local channels so that could be an option for people that can't get OTA signals via antenna.
Looking forward to the rest of the series. Thanks, Lon.
I'm on Verizon FiOS, and they enable DRM on ~many~ channels. So far, I've not found anything that works better for me than Windows Media Center over Xbox 360's connected via MoCA. Still experimenting with HDHomeRun View app and DVR, but it's still got a way to go for me. Keep up the good work. Excellent video.
Thank you for giving new life to my old raspberry pi B+ that was so long left in the drawer of unusable tings. LibreELEC works really good shoving movies and UA-cam, to get to show them take some time because of the old Pi but the picture quality is great. You need Plex pass to use the app but it's not needed just choose add videos - Upnp devices in browse you see the plex server and that's it - Lon thanks again for a great channel
Thanks for the review - would love to see an updated Pi 4 version reviewed. The Nvidia Shield TV is a bit overkill and way too expensive.
Great info Lon! Thank you! I couldn't figure out why the Plex DVR video quality was so poor on my Amazon FireStick - you're right - it's probably not de-interlacing! Well, I'll take it back and get a refund and buy a Raspberry Pi v3. Plus - in the future I might out grow it and then use it for other fun projects. I've watched quite a few of your vids over the years. That's why I got the HDHomeRun PRIME. And I've been using Plex for about a week now and found that I really need a decent speed CPU to handle the job - my old MacBook with Core 2 Duo isn't cutting it (or "shaving" it as it were). LOL. So, I'm going to utilize an old Win7 PC that's collecting dust - the CPU in it is just over Benchmark 3,000 so it should be able to handle one transcode at a time. Thanks again Lon! Keep Going! I love the updates! I want to know what your old Win PC setup was (specs and how many clients were connected and HDHomeRun PRIMES so I know how many channels it had to DVR simultaneously) and how *well* the WD setup works in comparison. I've read on reddit about a super inexpensive (sub $125) server that can be built (from *some* used parts & some new) and utilized to do up to 3 simultaneous transcodes! That's pretty amazing - especially for the price.!
I use plex dvr (lifetime license) with mi box on 5ghz WiFi and shield with Ethernet. Works well, but obviously the raspberry pi is cheaper. It's cool to know it works well with the HDHomerun.
You mentioned in the video that instead of using the WD drive, it is possible to use an old computer in this role as a server. I was hoping you could elaborate how to do this please. Thank you. I keep coming back to your channel for information- very helpful. Thanks for all you do Lon and the community.
Great Vid Lon...I have a synology and an hdhomerun prime, lifetime plex pass, and hdhomerun dvr..nexus player for bedroom and shield tv for living room..the whole shabang...it's excellent...going to cancel my cable boxes Monday! This is great...didn't know I u could do 2 hdhomerun prime tuners.
For cord cutters why would the HDHomerunConnect or HDHomerunExtend, both with two tuners be required if the viewing device is a television? If the viewing device doesn't have a tuner the that device is not a television. It is a monitor which would require a outboard tuner to receive television VHF and UHF video signals.
Seems the Extend has had a price increase. The SD website says $179.99.. You can find it on sale for around $159.00 at other web sites.
I just recently upgraded my 6 year old N type router to the newer AC type router. Made a big difference in WiFi. I now have no problem streaming OTA MPEG2 stream to a four year old laptop and even a Nexus 7(2013) from my Connect. YMMV.
You can drive ROI onto the 6-9 month range by cutting the cord and just going OTA. BUT your house has to be a location that can get good singals from the broadcast transmitters.
I have a Fire TV and it runs the HomeRun for live TV app just fine. For some reason it looks better than the Tablo TV box. Problem is it still does not work with Roku. I do not want to make a Plex server. However, with PSVue app and FireTV boxes and HomeRun box you can or if you are using Rocu a Tablo box for live TV. PSVue Sling DriectTVNow and a few other lived streaming services are also available now to be a cable cutter is really cheap.
For my Plex DVR setup, I use Roku devices instead of Raspberry Pis. The cheapest Roku devices (Roku Express and Express+) are about the same price as a RasPi, and allow me to access things besides Plex on those TVs (Netflix, Hulu, UA-cam, etc). Sure, Live TV isn't on the Roku Plex app yet, but it's coming soon. I can't use the HDHomerun software, because I went for a cheaper Happauge tuner instead, but I don't need it, so it's fine.
I have the Happauge tuner as well, but I am the only one that uses it via Windows 7 Media Center. Problem with Windows is that only Xbox 360 can playback anything originally recorded by my system. I can't even watch stuff recorded with the same hardware and software but a different motherboard because DRM is tied to the MAC address of the motherboard. I can automate changing the .WTV files to format that is smaller and can be hardware accelerated by low cost/power hardware. But honestly nobody else in the house really has a need for a DVR but me and even then I have roughly 20 hours of broadcast TV I haven't watched yet. I watch hours of You Tube....
Anthony Thomas Interesting. Have you ever thought about upgrading to Plex?
ericbazinga are you liking the happauge tuner with plex? My main reason for considering it is I like the idea of the 4 tuner. I am completely ota currently and use one of those cheap tv tuners that can record to a usb stick.(I damaged the coax on my tv and the 30 dollar tuner is cheaper than a 100 dollar main board) problem with cheap recorder is I get playback on that device or on my computer unless I go thru the trouble of converting to a file format plex likes.
Chris Rasmussen My tuner (the Happauge Win-TV Dual-USB) is actually USB-based and can record 2 things at once (which is surprisingly enough for my recording needs). Happauge does sell a tuner that can record 4 things at once, but it's an internal card that you install into your computer. If you want the tuner I use, I'd reccommend you buy it from Best Buy. The tuner usually goes for $70, but apparently Best Buy is no longer carrying the tuner, so it's $50 on clearance (half the price of an HDHomerun Connect, and still the same number of tuners!). You have to order it off their website, though.
The tuner is compatible with Plex DVR, and if you use that to record your media, it's automatically saved to MKV format (which is the ideal format for media, since it contains multiple optional audio tracks and subtitles in addition to the movie).
ericbazinga I have Chromecast on all of my TV's would it be possible to use Plex with cast compatibility? That would definitely make it the cheapest option.
I'm confused. I have an LG C9 "SmartTV" (WebOS) that I use for OTA viewing. I'd like to build a Raspberry Pi centered DVR setup and use an app available for my TV as the frontend. Do still I need the HDHomerun box (the client is available for my TV)? Or can I use a more basic USB ATSC tuner and something like Kodi or Plex to manage it all? I don't have any other set-top boxes for live real-time TV.
I understand I will need to subscribe to a scheduling service to mange the unattended recording. What about using something like MythTV?
Thoughts?
Can you use a $10 USB ATSC tuner stick instead of the HD-HomeRun on the Raspberry Pi? I bought the HomeRun about 10 years go and sent it back because the dual tuners were too weak to pick up anything except extremely strong signals. Back then, I ultimately went with Windows Media Center and a Divico USB tuner. With M$ support for WMC fading, I am interested in the Pi for its replacement.
This could use a 2021 update. You can get a setup now for a fraction of that price. HDHomeRun $200 (or less), Raspberry Pi 4 4GB Kit $70, 2TB USB3 HD $100, Channels DVR (much better than SD service) $8/Month.
Great, Lon! I really enjoy watching your videos. Keep up the good work.
Getting a lot of use out of that Shield USB cable Lon.
Hey Lon, now that it looks like the DVR part of things are taken care of do you in your opinion think that it's now a potential replacement for the old Windows 7 HTPC setup that we all have used for years now? I would love to upgrade my machines to Windows 10 but have not done so because of the lack of WMC, but if the DVR software is now ready for the public and supports IR controls using any windows media center remote then I don't see why it isn't worth a shot.
Is there univision for my novelas?
I want to do this but have been holding out for months for the HD prime 6 and its still not out yet! Any idea when its coming out? I cant even buy a new prime 3 box, its out of stock everywhere.
Great video Lon. Very well put together. I just need to decide on the right NAS now.! That market is flooded with choice
I also second investigating using the Pi with attached storage as a replacement to the MyCloud (as I currently already own those and would prefer not to have to buy new hardware), but I worry if the Pi can handle the stress.
And then also which HD Homerun I'd need for OTA (would I need one with hardware encoding?)
Hey Lon you are where that the FCC kill off Cable Card Support not to long ago and SiliconDust no longer making the HDHomeRun Prime
I have a SDR Play RSP DX and a Adalm Pluto SDR for DATV Reception! These Software Define Radios can be Use for receiving satellite TV,
I got rid of my cable service and this would be great if I didn't live in a valley where you can get 0 over the air signals!
Likely in the works, but I imagine the decoder bit 21:56 would generate some traffic on the Extras channel
Yeah I am going to pull apart some of this for the snippets channel for sure.
I am very disappointed. So I bought a Raspberry Pi 3 b+ and all the accessories, thinking that it would work well with my HDhomerun Prime and my Verizon FIOS service. Well I installed LebreELEC and the HDhomerun Add-on, just like in this video. I also purchased the MPEG2 license, adding the key properly to my config.txt file.. the HDhomerun app sees my tuner, it sees all the channels, but it only plays the first couple of seconds of HD content and even struggles with non-HD channels. What am I doing wrong? BTW my network connection is wired.
Hey Looon Siedman, it's everybody!
Anything new out there offering DVR functionality for the DRM'ed channels? Excellent video! (Except TiVo)
Great video. Could you please do a video on other EPG options with the HD Homerun. Looking for one that will go out at least a week and show in a Matrix format.
Hi Lon...few questions on the setup. In all these cases, are you server and all receivers connected to ethernet ? What about devices like fire TV stick, does the NAS do the transcoding ? Also, what kind of antenna do you use ?
Lon will the raspberry pie out to a computer monitor? If it did use and old monitor to be a TV!
Hi Lon,
I'm setting up my Plex server and I have a tone of iTunes movies but I need a DRM remover to be able to watch them on Plex. Do you know of a free DRM remover for my movies.
I'm a *really* hands-on, no frills (unless I make, code or hack it) kinda guy. I bought the following:
*Dell* PowerEdge R815
•256GB RAM
•4 Opteron 6174 CPU's (96 cores!)
•4 x 1TB Samsung Evo SSD (RAID1)
•4 x 4TB WD Red (RAID 10)
•25 x Ceton InfiniTV 6 ETH (150 tuners)
•4 x 10GbE (RJ45 Backplane)
Synology RS3618xs
•10 x WD Red 4TB (RAID10 -20TB total)
•2 x 2TB Samsung Evo SSDs (RAID 1)
•64GB RAM (Upgraded)
•4 x 10GbE (RJ45)
-2 iSCSI 10G switch to PE (storage)
-2 Link Aggregation for LAN conn.
Spectrum Business Class Cable w/ peering arrangement (Apartment complex)
So I live next door to an apartment complex, mostly older residents and handful (20ish) college students.
I knew the manager from high school and I own a local IT consulting company. She stopped me one day as I was taking out the trash and said "do you know anything about building a CATV system" and I said "HELL YES!"
I bought the PowerEdge Server from a data center stack (bankrupt non-paying customer) liquidation auction for *$450* and got the Synology from the same auction for *$300,* both the server and Synology already had the hard drives (SSD!), RAM but I upgraded the Synology's RAM to be on the safe side.
So at this apartment complex after the manager officially contracted me, I installed a 10GbE homerun to 4 IDF cabinets to create the backbone network throughout the building, installed 8 HD cameras (so residents could watch the parking lots and all entrances, cams were all gigabit, no need for 10GbE on those).
I installed 16 Ubiquiti Unifi AC HD Access Points to guarantee at LEAST 300MB/s via wireless, these APs are completely mesh networked so you can walk floor by floor, even on the elevator and NEVER lose connection!
The manager "leased" me a 10' x 20' storage room in the building, centrally located. I contracted AT&T to install a *2 GBPS* fiber internet line (it was free, no monthly cost because ATT Wireless leases a communication room and roof antennas from the building, we worked a deal out to knock $500 off their rent if they threw in the 2gpbs line!)
I conducted a survey / market research study in the building to see if residents would be interested in buy "cable" & internet from the building, as opposed to using AT&T's shitty expensive UVerse service ($250+/mo).
Of the 150 units (375 residents~), 100 units (280 residents) agreed to buy "the buildings" cable and TV service!
I ordered 250 Raspberry Pi 3 B+'s (50 are for growth and replacements) with IR Recievers and a nice universal remote that doesn't require programming. All of my engineers were busy on other jobs so I had 3 of the college residents help me in exchange for free cable & internet until they graduated (moved out). They were all Computer Science majors so we got all 150 RPi3B+'s flashed over a weekend, fan cases, 8GB SD cards, IR receivers and these new ones already had native Wireless AC so we were done.
I setup 6 VMs on the PowerEdge, we had 3 different TV packages, 1 package was just OTA broadcasted channels, 2nd was all digital Spectrum channels and 3rd was all digital & pay (HBO, Cinemax, etc)
Each "package" has it's own Plex instance, on it's own dedicated VM, this was so we could create simple standardized, Plex accounts so that Apt 125 would be a125@plex.aptbldgsite.com (for access / PlexPass)
We struck a deal with Plex to buy 300 Plex Pass's (lifetime passes) for $2500, they were so damn kind to do that!
So we logged in, setup and configured each box and only about 30 people requested a 'white glove installation' so most of them just picked up their box based on their apartment # and plugged it in and boom, it worked PERFECTLY!
We used an opensource FreeRadius ISP software suite to control / manage the Internet packages, we have basic (10mbps/2mbps guaranteed) advanced (50mbps/5mbps) and the 'geek' (100mbps/10mbps) package that only 10 people have. For $100 we would run an ethernet drop to their apartment and give them their own 5 static IPs, only like 5 have that.
We offer phone service and about 50 residents have it, run it via a couple 3CX PBX servers in high availability mode and we split off 1 fiber pair solely for phone, we run a Cat6 cable to their apartment to make sure the quality is good and use good quality bulk purchased Polycom video phones.
We installed the units for each paying resident, install their phones if the pay for it and give them the RADIUS login info for the Internet / WiFi access, we have literally no complaints other than old men occasionally not being able to find a particular obscure Football/Soccer game (not my problem! Lol)
So in total, we have 130 apartments on our cable, 135 on our internet and 52 on phone service.
All costs were split between the building owners and my company, we spent roughly $15,000 in total, our cable bill is $250/mo (2$ per CableCard), our Intetnet is free and the phone is roughly $100/mo (we use a bulk SIP provider, we pay only for minutes).
So our packages are the following:
TV, Internet, Voice (Basic) $70/mo
TV, Internet, Voice (Adv) $120/mo
TV, Internet, Voice (Geek) $200/mo
TV & Internet (B)$50, (A)$80 & (N)$120
TV (B)$20, (A)$50 & (N)$100
Internet (B)$20, (A)$50 & (N)$80
(No one has just phone)
Extras: Ethernet Drop $100
Extra "Cable box" $10/mo
Extra phone $10/mo
Managed router (static ips) $10/mo
This turned out to be one of the most profitable, enjoyable and interesting jobs I've ever done, I make around 20K a month *profit* and I only get a call about once a week and have to physically go fix a box once a month ish, only one Raspberry Pi has failed on me yet, 10 remotes have gotten broken but I bought an extra 55 of those!
I am in talks with two other nearby apartment buildings to set up a similar system in their facilities soon, to put together a fully functional, feature rich, competitively priced system that is *WAY* better than *ANYTHIN* out there is a really good feeling, plus making lots of money (no collections either, it comes out of their rent, the building pays us a flat rate for the service and their IT)
Seriously people, Plex can do a WHOLE lot, it can play live TV for 150+ people simultaneously without so much as a hiccup!
sorry for writing this literal book but I had to tell my story LOL, more people need to do things like this, the demand is high.
!!!
Any news on possible support for Ceton products (Plex DVR/Live TV)? I know one of the updates said they would add more products as time goes by.
Any chance that we can now use the raspberry 4 with a usb disk and avoid the cost of the wd mycloud device?
Lon, With the Rasberry Pi, if I already pay for HD service with Comcast will the Rasberry Pi deliver a HD signal to the TV that it is attached to?
hey lon what about nexus players from Walmart or eBay, around 50 buck and comes with remote and android tv, i have bought like 10 of those
+Manaurys Suazo yes provided your wifi is strong enough
Hi Lon I really love this idea of using the raspberry pie
and the HD homerun to shave money off my cable bill. Fortunately I do have a
NAS but it is not a Western Digital, it is a Q-NAP TS 231P, I have never set up
anything up like this before if I run into a problem who can I call for help on
setting this up. I would hate to make this investment of equipment and then not
be able to get it set up correctly.
I believe the recording engine will run on the Qnap but at the moment the WD's are the only ones with an installable application. That will change shortly.
The application from SiliconDust is super easy to use. 1) Download the app, 2) Make a textfile saying where the recordings will be, 3) Make the file executable: $ chmod +x app-name 4) run it with sh: $ sh hdhomerun_record - voila. I have been using it with FreeBSD for the last few months after ditching Windows so I can record on a 4x2TB ZFS array. Having 4TB memory-cached storage rules.
Nice! 👊 might I add the HDHomerun needs to have an HDMI port, in or out or both
+Tinashe Gumbe it works over the network, does not directly attach to the tv.
Very nice Lon !!
The only complaint I have is HD Homerun doesn't run on IOs devices like Ipads and Iphones.
Again thanks for Sharing Lon!!
I am going to cover this soon - InstaTV is an app that integrates nicely with the the HDHomerun stuff including the DVR.
Greate video dear, can we use it for more than 1000 users on a LAN network ??
Any updated?
I have found there's no other device in the Raspi3 price point that deinterlaces 1080i channels fluidly.
Great fun for a dabbler, but too much complexity, investment, and work for a savings of $50/month. If you can use your cell phone as an acceptable internet appliance, just get an antenna and run some coax. It's free and just works. Add a DVR+ or a TiVo if you want trick play, time shifting, and an electronic program guide.
If you cannot do the antenna thing or must have an ISP, get DirecTV or Sling TV and a couple Fire TV sticks or Rokus.
At approximately 15:10 on your video timeline you show connecting the power to the Raspi is that other cable , already connected, HDMI? And is it connected directly to the TV HDMI input?
Thank you so much for this. I really enjoy all of your reviews. Question: is there a way to have plex run off of the NAS as well? I see the HD Homerun dvr can be done but just was wondering if you've tested it with the single bay WD NAS?
Hey Lon I love your stuff , I just recently get the plex pass to start doing the dvr function I Im a apple tv user but since I purcheses the pass the apple tv plex app not work properly for example try to play regular mkv file movie is buffering not even start I start using the plex app on the lg smart tv no problem to play back but dosent have the dvr function or maybe i don't finded any other suggestions for dvr on apple tv or lg smart tv. Thanks Lon for what you do I learn a lot
Have you checked to make sure the server application is on the latest version?
I was wondering if anyone has any experience with the Tablo DVR, as compared to the HDHomeRun. (Coincidentally, Nuvyyo, the company that makes the Tablo, is located with a 10 minute walk of my home.) I'd also be interested in other suggestions (e.g. PC tuner card) that would allow me to use my existing Roku box and the desktop PC that runs my Plex server. BTW, any solution would have to properly support closed captioning, both for live TV and recordings. (I experimented with a cheap HDTV tuner box that also recorded to an external disk; although captions showed up in live TV, it did not have the hardware capability to display them from recorded files, despite actually saving the data.) Thanks for any suggestions
Ok, just checked out this video and it's awesome but, I have one question..... you didn't cover installing the DVR software and licensing on a NAS or spare PC for recording shows. Did I miss something or is that in a different video?
It’s covered in my full playlist - lon.tv/dvr2017
Hi Lon. Extremely well presented. Thank you. I just got Plex, like yesterday, so I have not set up anything. I'm getting a Pi 3 soon and I have a single drive My Cloud. If I'm understanding right, I can put my cable card in the Homerun Prime, install the Plex Media Server on the Pi 3 SD card, connect both to my switch/router, and run Plex on my Roku to stream live TV as well as record and playback like any DVR. Correct?
The Pi really can't handle the live TV streaming if you're using it for your Plex server. You need a decently powered PC for the transcoding or the WD NAS that I showed in the prior videos.
Thanks for the reply Lon. I borrowed a Pi3 from a friend and plan to experiment tomorrow to see if I can at least get the PMS to access my media on the My Cloud. Any tips?
Could you explain how to apply the heat sinks that come with the Pi?
Lon, I thought I'd ask what methods would you use in place of the HDHomerun itself? I ask as not to be tied to one specific vendor.
Also Spectrum (previously known as Time Warner, Charter, or Brighthouse) encrypt most if not all channels, using the HDHomerun as a DVR is not an option but I'm still willing to setup something for OTA.
I use the Happuage version of the Home Run HD which has two tuners instead of three. I run WIndows 7 Media Center. I waited too long to upgrade to Windows 8.1 the final version of Windows with Media Center. You can re-install WMC on a Windows 10 machine but it takes some registry hacking I don't want to deal with and what I have works perfectly. If it missed a show it's because there was a problem at Spectrum (Time Warner). I do watch network TV but I am a big sports fan and the only way to watch that is via cable. I have NFL Sunday Ticket on my PS3. Systems like this and cord cutting are for people who like what they see on broadcast OTA TV mostly.
Carlos Vargas hdhomerun prime is a cable card device. It decrypts cable signals when you get the card from your cable provider setup. There are some cable card devices that take up a pc slot that are similar, but I don't know if any work with anything beyond windows 7.
I have retropie and kodi already on my pi 3. Will i still need to install the libre? if i install libre, will it delete retropie?
What about Channelmaster dvr+ and their newer stream+? Those are name brands.
Will I be able to VIEW HD content with the PI? and HD HOMERUN
If you get the one with the cable card can you still use it if you get rid of cable and just do over the air?
The Prime only works over cable so you'll need to get one of the OTA boxes if you cancel cable service.
Wow thank you. Been looking for this info for a wile and your the 1st to tell it good.
But that's bad. We have a old TV that can take a cable card but it can all so do over the air if you don't have cable.
Lon,
Excellent piece of work! Exactly what I was looking for. I imagine a higher performing compute engine can play/record all three channels plus support other client playbacks as well. Is that correct?
Surprisingly I think even a lower powered device should be able to handle everything quite well. HDHomerun's engine is not computationally intensive as it's not doing anything to the video (the client device does all of the work). I'm not sure about the max number of clients but I do think 3 active TV sessions plus a few extra clients should be fine even on the low end My Clouds.
Lon.TV please help us! U saw the forums at Google regarding the UA-cam app for Android TV. Please expose them. Talk to some friends to expose this and/or do a video. I talked to CNET but they are bought. U know how it works. We need to expose them! They need to revert the update and do an actual update with HDR for the native app
This is so interesting I have a few spare raspberry pis, just wondered do you see any picture quality difference between the connect or extended (if you have tested both), I want the best image quality and if thats with the older box then I shall get it. Have an Apple TV but it looks like kodi is not in my region :(
I have tested both - uncompressed they'll have the same image quality. There will probably be a slide decrease in quality using the Extend's transcoders but at the highest settings you probably won't notice (and will get better Wifi performance)
Good to know, thanks for the reply, think I may get the extend
Hey Lon,
If i setup an antenna plugged into the HDHOMERUN, then use Plex to detect this over the network. Do I need to still pay the $35 fee for HDhomerun dvr or can I just use Plex with Plex Pass to handle the DVR and eliminate and monthly or annual charges
+TDUB116 no if you don't use the hdhomerun DVR it'll work without a fee from them. You'll need a plex pass.
I honestly don't see the value proposition here. Between the cost of the PI & Homerun boxes, it's still as much as a traditional subscription. It would take something like 3 years+ to become worth it and I don't trust such a new company to be stable for longer than that.
The hardware is a one time cost. You can't escape having to buy hardware no matter what you choose in a cord cutting set up.
I agree, but as a professional technician I must ask "Why now & why HD Homerun" ? Every standalone TV product i've found over the last decade has either faded away due to the same problems i'm asking now, or was so garbage that stores stopped stocking it.
You're looking at $250 for what the average DVR can record (6 channels at the same time). The menu has greatly improved and from what you've shown, I actually like it more than the traditional menus. Beyond that, it'll cost ~$300 for the average 4TB NAS and what about a remote? Will generic 2.4 GHz remotes work with your setup? (~$15 on amazon) I use Spectrum which charges ~$15 /mo for a cable card.
Also, it looks like you forgot that not everyone will have the networking hardware for this already too. $25 for a standard 5 - 8 port gigabit switch will be needed as well. You're looking at near $600 for the initial setup and $85 per TV for the Raspberry PI/Card/License/Remote you want to watch on. PLUS, all of this is on-top of the subscription you have to pay Silicon Dust. $35/year is negligible, but again - we're assuming this is a long-lasting platform.
Biggest detraction from using a traditional dvr box is that you have to boot into KODI/Android TV and then into HD Homerun's app/add-on. For many relatives, this will feel contrived and may detract from using this daily.
In total, this is $805 for the traditional 3 room setup and that's before the $215/year cost ($35/yr for Silicon Dust, $15/mo*12 for the Spectrum cable card). Pricing Spectrum for 3 DVRs right now, in my area (So Cal), comes out just above $100/mo. This means it would take me an entire year to be worth it and that's not including the fact that you're basically tied-in to the system on purchase. If you don't like it, you'll have to return EVERYTHING of which I don't think people can reasonably make the decision to only having it within the typical 30 day return policy.
Now, I know I may give this a hard time, but people need to see the realism that cord-cutting may not be. The ONLY benefit of this is if the platform lasts, you have it for atleast a year, and you don't have to replace the NAS or Raspberry PIs a ton. Personally I'd recommend an Android TV, especially if your grandmother or relatives are going to be using this. The time investment is HUGE as well - Setting all this up, making sure the networking is done properly, etc.
EDIT:
I forgot to talk about PLEX / KODI. Plex will be required to view the recordings remotely and you won't be able to use the various tv provider applications which let you view LiveTV as well (something PLEX / KODI wouldn't be able to do).
well said
Brian Bautista even with all that said, it's still the best option if you're an enthusiast that wants to control all his tech.
Excellent point that is until your cable company decides to place DRM on all their channels besides the OTA local ones, then the control is mostly lost which is my case with Cox Communications here in San Diego, CA. Time for me to cut the cord and find other means eh?
Let's say I have a HDHomeRun Prime. I want to add another HDHomeRun so I can record or watch more shows. I have no antenna. No OTA television. Just cable. Would I need to add another HDHomeRun Prime to my set up since the other HDHomeRun only picks up OTA? Would I need to get another Cable Card from my cable provider? 1st Cable Card I get with no charge but a 2nd they charge around $10.
The Prime only does cable. The other two boxes I mentioned do OTA. So if you want to do both you'll need a Prime + an OTA box.
Robert Howard Yes, you would need another Prime tuner along with another cable card. This would give you six tuners.
can we get a view of your network/closet ? rack, etc...
Isn't easier just to add an hd antena to the TV... I don't get it. Most ppl like me.has a t.v in every room. Not necessary cable but OTA antenna..i just dont get it
Why not use Pi with the HD Homerun DVR running with a hard drive attached, Instead of the single drive WD my cloud running HDHomerun DVR. I would think that would both be cheaper and reloading the software on shutdown problem would be removed.
That might work I'll have to dig into that a bit. Might be another way to shave some cost off the project!
I was thinking the same thing. Sure it will be a bit more work, but more customizable. And not locked into a proprietary format that may not be compatible down the road.
I was thinking of a setup where one RPi is used for a PVR backend/server and NAS box, with the USB storage drive connected to it. Then use a separate RPi for a PVR frontend for each TV to be connected. The backend/server RPi would access the HDHomerun tuner just for recording and storing the shows on the storage drive that is connected to it. It would also make those recorded shows available to the network devices such as the frontend RPi on the TV, which could access either the recorded material, or watch live TV by accessing the HDHomerun tuner. At times, I may need to be able to reboot my frontend RPi, without disrupting any recording process that might be going on in the backend RPi.
Am I over thinking this?
Have you tried this yet? I have a RPi in my garage I would love to use this for. Can you do a video that shows how to do this?
Clay Glenn Have you tried it yet? I'm going to buy two Rasp. Pi's and try it. I would like to have DVR capability without the subscription fees. NextPVR requires a PC. I'm not sure if I should get a a dedicated NAS device like a My Cloud or perhaps just get a tower PC for cheap and use that. I would like to record my media and have it in my conrrol, something similiar to windows media center. Any ideas?
Can a USB external hard drive be used as a DVR??
I have a sibling stuck at roughly the mentality between a five and eight year old, so I would really rather them not have to deal with anything other than a simple IR remote that sends commands through the TV to the Pi. Is there any way for me to do that? I know there's something in the hDMI spec that lets the tv mediate remote commands to devices but... Not knowledgable enough.
+Andrew Singleton yes I think there is hdmi CEC support I'll experiment with that.
Andrew Singleton The Pi supports HDMI-CEC. If you hook it into a tv that supports HDMI-CEC (typically a smart TV), you can control the Pi via your tv's remote. It sends the control signals over the HDMI cable.
Thank you. I have several universal remotes... and a flip phone (I get distracted easy.) So appreciate you looking into cec as an alternative.
Great Work Lon
Comcast charges $9.99 for the cable card -$2.50 Credit ... so it still cost $7.50 A month for the card
Not in my area, the card is part of the plan. No extra charge. Additional cards come with the fee.
Is that a Lazer Tag sensor behind you? I' e always wanted to play!
It is! I did a retro review of it here: ua-cam.com/video/8TYlQqvUgVU/v-deo.html
Fabulous job as always... Thank You!
Thanks for tuning in!
What about the mi boxes that they sell at Walmart they are only 69 dollars, and it has a remote and has other features.
It will work but only if your Wifi is strong enough. They don't have ethernet built in and I found its USB port wasn't ideal for ethernet adapters.
this would be great on the odroid c2
Can you put up a Visio type image of your system?
Lon did you do the informative video for the HDHOMERUN that's on Best Buy's channel?
Pety He does video work for Silicon Dust (the makers of HomerunHD) so they used that on Best Buy’s website
Yes I did a series of quick how to's for them, very cool they're up there!
How much are you paying for High Speed internet? I'm paying comcast business 109 a month
I am using their "blast plus" with HBO tier. Comcast has a hidden menu, call them and ask for their full rate sheet and you can likely piece together a more affordable plan.
how do I get to part 1?
theres probably enough material to make a whole spin off channel,lol
:) yeah I struggled with whether to make a shorter video or just go for as long as it takes, I opted for the latter. What I will be doing next is putting together a summary video to guide people into the longer stuff. I am aiming for 6-7 minutes tops on that one!
Not complaining, I learned a lot from your videos, good stuff!
Why not just buy a roku device and use the xfinity app? Much cheaper?
How called that app on the phone?
Got mine all set up. I'd like it to boot straight into the HDHomeRun Add-on. Anyone have any tips on the best method for doing that?
This is a good question I am going to research this and maybe do a followup.
Sweet. That'd be great. It looks like you can create an autoexec.py file (bit.ly/2vq5Z4M) with a few parameters to accomplish this task. There is also a method for doing this via an addon called Maintenance Tool (bit.ly/2wpwFHs). But the tool was hosted via the now defunct Fusion Repo (TVAddons.ag). Both methods were messy enough that I paused my search for a while. It's surprising to me that there isn't a more well trodden path for this. I would think tons of Kodi users have wanted to do this very sort of thing with an addon or specific area (TV/Movies) to simplify the experience for wife/kid friendliness.
What's the purpose of using the Nvidia shield? Could I use an amazon fire tv instead?
I believe Plex just added Live TV/DVR support for the Fire TV (with a Plex Pass subscription)
Can I use an Xbox One X as the NAS device?
Great video. I put together my dvr system together based on your reviews/videos. I used the single drive mycloud and the HDHomerun Prime.... My only comment is you seem to skip over the Amazon Fire and Fire Stick devices. I have 3 tvs, and I use 2 Fire sticks and a Fire and love them with the HDHomeRun app. Fire stick at $40 is a deal.
+Will Chang I talked about it at the end. My fire stick (2nd gen) is not deinterlacing video properly. Which ones do you have ?
Lon.TV ahh, yes you did talk about it in the end. I posted the comment before I watched the end. Sorry about that! I did not have the same experience, not sure what version I have but the stick is new. I noticed some lag, which I attributed to my wifi, but I found when I went into the settings of the fire stick and turned the audio to "Dolby digital off" (with the idea that maybe it uses less bandwidth) it seemed to work better. The tvs that have the stick are not hooked up to any sound system, so no loss there. My fire is my main unit and is wired, works awesome. I live in NJ and have comcast cable.
No worries! So Comcast is in some markets deinterlacing on their end and sending out 720p h.264. Many of my cable channels are in this configuration in my service area but the local networks are still coming over mostly as 1080i (with the exception of the 720p broadcasters). I wonder if Comcast is doing h.264 720p on all of your local channels too, that would certainly knock out the interlacing problem.
Will HDHomeRun dvr let me use it plex premium as you mentioned in this video
No you have to buy a plex pass seperately
I use several Amazon Fire TV Sticks with the HDHomeRun app and haven't had any interlacing problems. I use the app from the Amazon App Store instead of Kodi though. Not sure if that would make any difference.
+arenn222 I tried both apps, had interlacing issues on both. Is your fire Tv stick set to 1080i ?
He's probably having his TV doing the deinterlacing for him
Lon.TV it's very possible that one of my TV's is running at 1080i but I haven't noticed any interlacing on my 1080p tv or 1080p projector. Maybe it's a setting that works with interlacing on the television or it might be because I'm using a computer with a dedicated gpu to run my HDHomeRun DVR client. Then again, I might just not be noticing it.
Lon.TV oh and the Fire TV sticks are set to 1080p
Is it a 4k television by chance? I'm wondering if maybe it's deinterlacing when it upconverts from 1080.
Great Video
Lon, could I get one of these, run a VPN server, and connect to live tv anywhere? Or does SD not allow this?
Yes but you'd need a very fast upstream connection . My advice would be to look at the Plex DVR: lon.tv/plexdvr
Lon.TV I have 150mb/s up, so I think it's possible. But would Plex enable live TV?
Lon.TV Hey there,
Just picked up a prime. Have a local network VPN running, idea was to be able to stream my channels anywhere through that VPN. If I start the HD Homerun app on the network where the prime resides, leave the network, but leave the VPN running in the background, and then connect to the VPN (openVPN), it works.
BUT if I don't first connect to the local network, I get an error back from the app that says can't find prime through network, even if I'm connected through VPN.
Have to imagine this is because of the HD Homerun app...
Can you recommend a great Indoor antenna for getting OTA Local TV StationS'? Thanks.
I am looking for a few options. I get next to nothing over the air here so if I find something useful I'll definitely do a followup.
cordcuttersnews on youtube look them up
Time to make changes and ditch Ceton Infini TV 6
What's your opinion on the xiaomi mi box instead of the Pi?
See this week's wrapup!
Time warner is blocking almost ever channel with drm as far as I can tell.. wish there was a work around.
ben hartwick yeah so annoying. Sadly Spectrum/Time Warner does DRM everything in my area so I just have given up on this but I do mostly watch TV from OTA so all isn't lost. I got a WD EX 2 NAS and two HDHomeRun extend units set up. I also have a Xbox One S which I use as a playback device. As worked well for me. For cable, I use UA-camTV to watch Angels baseball and other things. Channel lineup isn't the best but for me it's good enough.
Daniel Curiel basic cable is included with my apartment, but the $15 a month standard definition box isn't , yes I know it's a joke
Awesome!
Yes!
Xiaomi Mi Box, it should work pretty well!
Yes I have it on my list of recommended devices. Only catch is if your WiFi isn't strong it will have some difficulties.
Hey Lon! For another option for DVR + Plex Server you could look at something like this laptop from NewEgg: www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834261441 it's refurbished but carries a 90-Day warranty and already has Windows 10 Home installed on it! You also have an option to purchase an Extended Warranty. These HP EliteBook laptops are enterprise/business class so they are build to last and can take a beating unlike much of the consumer class stuff out there now. I have used these personally for years at work and have found them to be great machines. Obviously 250GB isn't very much but you can add a USB3 external drive fairly easily to store recordings, media for plex, etc. Here is a review on this laptop as well: www.notebookcheck.net/Review-HP-EliteBook-8460p-Notebook.57322.0.html
I'm currently using a laptop with an external USB 3.0 drive as my whole home media server for Plex, HDHomeRun, etc. I have a Sandisk 120GB as the boot/windows drive and then my 5TB Portable External Drive for all of my media. It runs 24/7 and works great! :)
Also one other note, you had mentioned about the Plex add-on for Kodi, it seems it is currently only available for Plex Pass customers according to Plex.tv
Man, TV is soooo complicated in the US.
Everything is complicated in the US these days unfortunately. None of it good for consumers either.
direct tv now and call it a day
Liberty Action explain? I would say the same (AT&T bought Direct Tv) the service was only a rebranded AT&T TV... btw I got HBO for free and biggest line up in tv package for $40 .... so yeah we did well hahaha
Not really as cheap and simple as it could be, Lots of generic android tv boxes can run Kodi up to 4K.
I contemplated making a recommendation for generic Android TV boxes. My issue with them is of course long term support and product quality and how well they implement video de-interlacing etc. Another problem with most of them is that they're using the tablet version of Android which means Netflix and other video apps will offer a sub-par experience.
I wanted to feature something that would work consistently from one user to the next and the Pi met that criteria. I might look at a few somewhat less generic Android boxes to see if there's a good plug and play alternative.
Lon.TV Netflix is going to be sub 1080p on any device that doesn't have official Netflix certification. I don't think a homebrew PI3 OS is going to have access to that level of DRM. Even UA-cam 1080p+ playback on uncertified devices at least require modifications. Cheapest 1080p Netflix experience I could think of ($40-$60 range) is either a firestick or a retired SFF office PC from sites like ebay. MI Box is also a great option thats slightly outside this price range but UA-cam, Netflix and other services range from 1080p to 4K right out the box. I know you kinda trashed it in in your review but it sure ticks alot of check boxes for $70. Android TV's UI and the tiny form factor is also going to be a bit more living room friendly.
Spoiler alert - I am going to cover more on this on the wrapup tomorrow night. My big issue with the Mibox is that it wasn't friendly with USB ethernet devices which can be problematic for some folks. If I remember correctly from my review and the MPEG 2 decoding did not look all that great. It looks like Walmart is selling the Nexus Players again for around the same price and I would recommend one of those over the Mibox as they are friendlier towards ethernet connections.
Lon.TV I just looked up the Nexus Player by ASUS and I must say that I'm not impressed. You must know something I don't because functionality wise It seems to be a Fire Stick with Android TV OS side-loaded and a 50% price hike. I didn't see usb ports or anything about 4K support in any capacity. At least a generic box would let you use things like Kodi for streaming and local media playback up to 4K. I definitely gotta catch that video tomorrow haha.
It's not a 4k box. But the 4k performance on the Mibox was nothing to write home about either :). I had a bunch of frame drops with 60hz content and even some of the 30fps stuff coming from Netflix. It also did not work well with as a DVR client especially given its USB port did not seem to work well with an ethernet solution.
The Nexus Player has a more powerful processor (Intel Atom) which is more powerful than the Mibox and light years better than the Fire stick. For those on the cheap and who are not super techie I think it's best solution for this mix. If they've got more to spend the regular Fire TV or course the Nvidia Shield are a good choice.