I want to hear from Plex Pass folks with an HD HomeRun tuner

[Z3Dreamer]

I already have an antenna in my attic connected to my 4 tuner legacy Tablo. Depending on weather, I pull 65 to 81 channels. Most are sub-channels.

I have a second antenna in my attic which is connected to a big ole TV in my living room. The quality of picture on that big ole TV is fantastic. I have a Synology NAS running Plex. I have made audio playlists galore. I do not use Plex for ripped movies or free Plex movie and tv content. Recently upgraded to a Plex Pass.

I was thinking about redirecting that second antenna into a Silicon Dust HD Homerun and using my Plex Pass to record movies and shows to my NAS. I would also use it for watching live TV. This would essentially duplicate my Tablo setup for only the price of whatever HD Homerun I choose to buy.

I have questions for you:

1. Of the 3 that are currently available, should I buy the most expensive? It has ATSC 3.0 but who needs it? I see that they won't be broadcasting 3.0 for years.
2. How is the Live TV picture quality through your Homerun and Plex?
3. Do you like Plex's channel guide? Is it free? Can you exclude certain channels? Does it lump in the Plex free channels in the guide?
4. Streaming Plex audio playlists outside the network is easy and flawless. Is watching live TV and recorded TV flawless?
5. Is setting up recording of a TV series easy? How about movies? With Tablo I can pick movies 2 weeks in advance. How about Plex?
6. Any other pointers?
7. I see that there is an HD Homerun app and you can connect a hard drive directly to your HD Homerun. Is there any advantage to doing this? I see a downside in that you have to pay $35 a year for the guide.

Thanks in advance.

 

[camfused]

2. I don’t know about Plex/Homerun, but live TV quality on the Tablo is quite good, since they don’t transcode the signal to a different format than what is broadcast. I suspect that Plex might do some transcoding, and quality would suffer a bit.

 

[JoeWras]

2. I don’t know about Plex/Homerun, but live TV quality on the Tablo is quite good, since they don’t transcode the signal to a different format than what is broadcast. I suspect that Plex might do some transcoding, and quality would suffer a bit.

OP said Legacy Tablo. That's different than the current version. Legacy Tablo transcodes live TV if viewed over the network. There is a Legacy version direct connected that may not. The new version Tablos don't do this transcoding. (Source, first official post from Nuvyyo here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/tablotv/comments/1646wdb/bought_the_new_4thgen_tablo_dvr_here_are_some

)

I think OP was comparing the direct connected antenna to Big Old TV versus Legacy Tablo, and wondering if the same comparison is valid for HD Homerun, because that second antenna will be used for it instead of directly connecting as now.

Legacy Tablo streams are visibly impaired.

 

[mountainsoft]

I don't use Plex but I have a HD HomeRun Flex Duo with two tuners.

ATSC 1.0 HDHomeRun FLEX DUO (HDFX-2US) – SiliconDust SHOP

I use it with NextPVR and a subscription to Schedules Direct to record OTA TV shows, and Comskip to remove any commercials. Then I stream the recorded video over our home network to a Zidoo Z9X media player in our living room.

As for quality, as long as you have a decent signal the quality will be perfect. It's all digital, so it's basically good or it isn't. I use to have a Hauppauge quad tuner card, but it wasn't able to pull in the signal as well. The HDHomeRun seems to have a much better tuner, so there are fewer drop out's when the signal gets weak. I was worried about going from 4 tuners to 2, but honestly there isn't much on TV worth recording anymore and it has not been an issue.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

JoeWras - you are correct. Tablo live tv picture is good, but same brand antenna connected to big ole TV is better.

Camfused - yes, Tablo live tv picture is good, until you see the same show through the direct feed to the big old TV. This is a miniscule problem as the Tablo picture is good enough and DW is begging me not to mess with the setup. Pointing those antennae so they pick up signal 100 miles requires much fine tuning.

Mountainsoft - Not familiar with the products you describe. Looks like NextPVR is free software that allows you to view and record content. Schedules direct ($35 per year) is the programming. I assume it feeds directly into NextPVR. Comskip is free but supported by donations. The Zidoo Z9x seems to be fairly pricy compared with Fire TV sticks and Roku devices. What more does it bring to the table?

 

[Z3Dreamer]

I was actually hoping to hear from user "Nobody" as he has the setup I am thinking about.

 

[JoeWras]

JoeWras - you are correct. Tablo live tv picture is good, but same brand antenna connected to big ole TV is better.

Yes. It is good enough for me. Heck, I still love my 720p ancient plasma. Bright and reliable. But even on that, when switch to antenna, I see the difference. For 99% of the time, I'm ok with the slight degradation.

You should try asking on the cord cutters thread (Update on Cord Cutting (Cable TV) - 2021 version) Nobody hangs out there.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

Mountainsoft - I meant to ask you about the software/app on HD Homerun that does the same thing as Next PVR. Is it not good?

 

[nobody]

I already have an antenna in my attic connected to my 4 tuner legacy Tablo. Depending on weather, I pull 65 to 81 channels. Most are sub-channels.

I have a second antenna in my attic which is connected to a big ole TV in my living room. The quality of picture on that big ole TV is fantastic. I have a Synology NAS running Plex. I have made audio playlists galore. I do not use Plex for ripped movies or free Plex movie and tv content. Recently upgraded to a Plex Pass.

I was thinking about redirecting that second antenna into a Silicon Dust HD Homerun and using my Plex Pass to record movies and shows to my NAS. I would also use it for watching live TV. This would essentially duplicate my Tablo setup for only the price of whatever HD Homerun I choose to buy.

I have questions for you:

1. Of the 3 that are currently available, should I buy the most expensive? It has ATSC 3.0 but who needs it? I see that they won't be broadcasting 3.0 for years.
2. How is the Live TV picture quality through your Homerun and Plex?
3. Do you like Plex's channel guide? Is it free? Can you exclude certain channels? Does it lump in the Plex free channels in the guide?
4. Streaming Plex audio playlists outside the network is easy and flawless. Is watching live TV and recorded TV flawless?
5. Is setting up recording of a TV series easy? How about movies? With Tablo I can pick movies 2 weeks in advance. How about Plex?
6. Any other pointers?
7. I see that there is an HD Homerun app and you can connect a hard drive directly to your HD Homerun. Is there any advantage to doing this? I see a downside in that you have to pay $35 a year for the guide.

Thanks in advance.

Was out of town enjoying life. Since retired, not on here as much.

1. ATSC 3.0, is in my area, I don't have a tuner to support it, I am intruged by it tho, not enough to spend money on it. My Homerun is 10ish years old, its dual channel. Can't give any adivce, mine has been solid and 2 channels does it for me 98% of the time. The 2% is recording old stuff that will be on again.
2. When watching live antenna TV, like football, I don't go thru plex or homerun. Just watch it live OTA.
3. With Plex, channel guide is awesome. It is free with plex pass. I can filter out channels in Plex and it does not lump in FAST ( Free As Supported Tv.). I don't want it to.
4. Never messed with audio, I think I read they are now seperating audio from video in the Plex world. Flawless is a very open question. Sports can run long and you miss recorded shows per schedules. I have Hulu live for football season, their DVR does the same. This season I just encorported commercial flagging, I'd say its 95% awesome. Last time I tried, I was not able to watch a live TV stream I was recording, midway thru and start from beginning, used to could. Plex is always under development. My old Synology won't support Plex any more, its probably 20 years old, I use 2 Nvidia shields as my servers.
5. Yes, yes, about the same. You can select record new or new and reruns and limit per channel. If you want to look forward, its easier to do on PC, you can select a day about a week in advance. Seems on my shield devices from TV, you have to scroll thru guide, can be painful. I'm not a fan of the search option, it seems to show what you have recorderd or on the FAST TV. Doesn't seem to search future TV quide. I often browse movies to look ahead on good movies OTA to record.
6. As I indicated above I started flagging commercials but don't delete them. Easy to skip them. My biggest issue now is some channels start like 20-30 seconds early and you can only record 1 min early with plex. That 1 minute can mess up some of my shows schedule. Just gotta try it and see what works for you.
7. I see you can have Homerun do it all, never messed with it. I went off the deep end and splurged for the liftime Plex pass and never looked back. Prior to plex was 10ish years running MythTv, not an option with Plex at the time. MythTv was way more flexible but Plex on the Shield, just so much easier. I've been happy with Plex on a Shield for 10ish years.

 

[sengsational]

Not answering the OP, just a comment on the 20 second problem. I have a routine that checks a time server daily, and adjusts the PC clock by 20 seconds.

My OTA usage is falling off, but still have two classic HDHR dual tuners and one newer 4 tuner model. We pretty much never watch OTA live, but use schedules direct and a thing I helped write called CW_EPG. My head end is overly complicated, with too many rooftop and attic antennas. I think an amplifier went out on me, and I'm not motivated to fiddle with it. Its so much easier to subscribe to something and stream, but annoying when you realize you've been paying for months without watching anything.

 

[nobody]

My shield is setup to synch daily thru google time. I think some channels are just messing with times so you will subscribe to stream.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

Thanks for the info. Especially "Nobody". You have given me many details as I consider how and if I should go the Homerun route. To summarize: Picture is good but not as good as the antenna. Guide is good. Start times bad. You did not play with Homerun doing it all. You have a totally different server configuration than I do.

 

[5Miler]

I also use two old HDHomerun tuners that are dual OTA tuners giving me a total of 4 tuners. They are going on 12 years old now and although I have been a Lifetime PlexPass user for many years, I do not use Plex for viewing OTA programming. I still use my MS Windows Media Center system for OTA recording which still provides very good picture quality. I record and convert a few programs to MP4 and move them to Plex at 1080P and 5.1 audio so DGF can enjoy using a ROKU at her leisure. How I do spoil her.

While I don't watch TV these days, DGF does but all viewing except these few recordings are done via streaming. Hoping to wean her off these last few OTA programs soon so I can finally shut down my Media Center PC that has been running for almost 12 years nonstop now. It seems that NCIS is determined to never go off the air just to vex me. She could watch on YoutubeTV but would rather I keep recording them so she has them forever on the PLEX server. Up to season 22 now.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

5 miler, you use your 12 year old Homeruns for recording via Windows Media Center on your 12 year old PC. Since you only record one show, the programming interface/system is not important to you. You don't use Plex for viewing or recording TV. Right?

 

[RonBoyd]

I am not sure I can add much. First off, I almost exclusive use a FireTV Cube.

Nevertheless, I have Plex installed and am quite impressed with it.

Beyond that, it is probably useful to know that I have three roof mounted antennas routed by a single cable to three HDHomeRun devices. and then on to two tv's and three computers. I have both the legacy Tablo 4 and the new Tablo 2. I have not used the New Tablo other than to check it out because of the lack of commercial skip.

I have no issue with picture/sound issues with any of the sources on both 4K tvs.

Again, I am very impressed with Plex, particularly in how it gives me access to all my devices (including SageTV) and all my various diverse recording locations. The TV Guide is top notch and gives access to all the local channels (80+). (I use Titan TV when I am interested in Streaming programs.)

I hope some of this is useful.

 

[kgtest]

Why such an interest in recording OTA tv? There really isn't that much on anymore? CBS, NBC, FOX CW....

I use OTA to watch football, and that is about it. No need to record it because I can watch the highlights almost instantly on YouTube in condensed format.

 

[GenXguy]

As for quality, as long as you have a decent signal the quality will be perfect. It's all digital, so it's basically good or it isn't.

Not my experience with ATSC. While, it's good most of the time, a couple of my main network channels pixelate a lot with a lot of glitches through the afternoon when watching from either of my Happauge cards (1600 & 1800). The mornings and evenings are fine showing a good solid signal, and the other networks are always fine. It looks like the issue is from multipath rather than signal strength, so the low noise Kitztech amp helps but doesn't solve the problem. The 2008 model Sony TV I have handles the multipath much better than the Hauppauge cards. I thought about trying a Hauppauge 1265 or HDHomerun to see if they would handle the multipath better with ATSC 1.0, like my Sony TV. ATSC 3.0 isn't available here. I already put in an excellent directional UHF antenna (removed VHF since no longer need) and might try some additional antenna positioning changes up in the attic to see if that helps. The problem may also resolve itself soon as the leaves fall from the trees in the wooded area behind my house.

 

[GenXguy]

Why such an interest in recording OTA tv? There really isn't that much on anymore? CBS, NBC, FOX CW....

I use OTA to watch football, and that is about it. No need to record it because I can watch the highlights almost instantly on YouTube in condensed format.

Preferences vary. Most of what I watch is on OTA TV. I don't like to pay for streaming services. I also get other networks you didn't mention like ABC, PBS, MeTV. And I much prefer to record / time shift entire football games to watch and not watch some youtube condensed format.

 

[jim584672]

I have my $25 Mediasonic DVR which is clunky but works. The only TV I watch are NFL games that I can skip the commercials on. I use a NVMe drive in an enclosure to record on.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

I have my $25 Mediasonic DVR which is clunky but works. The only TV I watch are NFL games that I can skip the commercials on. I use a NVMe drive in an enclosure to record on.

What software do you use for the guide? For viewing recordings? For recording?

 

[pb4uski]

Why such an interest in recording OTA tv? There really isn't that much on anymore? CBS, NBC, FOX CW....

I use OTA to watch football, and that is about it. No need to record it because I can watch the highlights almost instantly on YouTube in condensed format.

Ah contraire. I think there is a lot of good content on OTA to record and time shift. We record the morning and evening news each day, a few of the Sunday morning shows, and some evening shows like the FBIs, Law & Order, NCIS, Blue Bloods, as well as NFL football games. With 30-second fast forward if I FF when a play is over quite often it picks up just before the next snap and I can watch a game in a lot less time and miss some of the talking heads commentary.

 

[5Miler]

5 miler, you use your 12 year old Homeruns for recording via Windows Media Center on your 12 year old PC. Since you only record one show, the programming interface/system is not important to you. You don't use Plex for viewing or recording TV. Right?

Correct, I don't use PLEX for recording or viewing live. I record a handful of OTA shows for DGF, some older on PBS. My intent was to let you know the HDHomerun turners have worked very well for me over the years and I am confident the newer ones provide as good or better quality. I have occasionally played with the Silicon Dust viewer available for the tuners and the quality there was just as good as on Media Center.

I have ported Media Center from my old Windows 7 server to a newer mini system running Windows 10 but still need to reinstall PLEX on the new server before I put it in service. FYI - Media Center does not come with Windows 10 or later as Microsoft abandoned it after Windows 8 but I found a way to port it that works. I should really look at using PLEX but Media Center has worked so well for me over the years and I am so comfortable with it, I find it hard to be enthusiastic about changing.

BTW - I also use Schedules Direct for my Electronic Program Guide.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

Why such an interest in recording OTA tv? There really isn't that much on anymore? CBS, NBC, FOX CW....

I use OTA to watch football, and that is about it. No need to record it because I can watch the highlights almost instantly on YouTube in condensed format.

Youtube is good. If I took the time to educate myself in how to better use Youtube and save things to your library, I wouldn't need any of these things.

 

[jim584672]

What software do you use for the guide? For viewing recordings? For recording?

Stations broadcast the schedule OTA for the next few hours and it comes up in the DVR. For a general guide I use TitanTV.com.

 

[GenXguy]

I have my $25 Mediasonic DVR which is clunky but works. The only TV I watch are NFL games that I can skip the commercials on. I use a NVMe drive in an enclosure to record on.

Only TV you watch is NFL? So you gave up on watching the Roku or watching movies from the library? I remember you canceled Netflix. There's still lots of free stuff to stream, though.