An external North American cable TV tuner with three or six independent tuners, interfaces via ethernet, and supports CableCARD. See Silicondust_HDHomeRun for other models available. The Hauppauge DCR-2650 is a similar, USB-based CableCARD tuner manufactured by SiliconDust.

The Prime is essentially SiliconDust's HDHomeRun tuner with over-the-air ATSC support removed and CableCARD support added. (It thus retains the HDHomeRun's ability to receive clear QAM channels without a CableCARD.) Unlike the Ceton InfiniTV 4 the Prime does not require a PCI slot; it has an Ethernet port instead. We do not keep your credit card info on file in our own database. Commercial Silicondust Products. Silicondust TECH3-6CC-3X2 $ 2,000.00.

• 3MythTV Configuration

Description

The Prime is essentially SiliconDust's HDHomeRun tuner with over-the-airATSC support removed and CableCARD support added. (It thus retains the HDHomeRun's ability to receive clear QAM channels without a CableCARD.) Unlike the Ceton InfiniTV 4 the Prime does not require a PCI slot; it has an Ethernet port instead.

Full support of CableCARD requires that every device and software in the recording chain be certified as enforcing the copy protection mandated by the software. For insurmountable technical reasons, MythTV cannot comply with this. Because of this, the HDHomeRun Prime will only allow MythTV access to those shows that are not copy protected. These copy freely shows may be encrypted and inaccessible to a standard QAM tuner, but will be decrypted and made available through the HDHomeRun Prime. These are the same shows that can presently be accessed through firewire capture from a cable box.

While a digital tuner, CableCARD does not support the kind of access needed by multirec to record multiple shows from a single tuner. This device can only record three (or, for the rackmount version using two CableCARDs, six) shows at a time.

Initial Checkout and Activation

Complete the first four steps shown in the Quickstart Guide:

• Connect coax cable between HDHomeRun Prime and cable wall outlet or splitter.
• Connect Ethernet cable between HDHomeRun Prime and router.
• Insert M-CARD obtained from your cable provider.
• Connect the power adapter to the HDHomeRun Prime and a power outlet.

On a Linux computer command line:

Install development tools and prepare build directory

Copy sources from CD (or download from https://www.silicondust.com/support/linux/) and unpack

Read installation instructions for the library

Build and install the library

Read installation instructions for the GUI

Start build

Install missing development package

Restart build

Install the GUI

Check out the options for the command line tool

Learn the IP number for the HDHomeRun Prime

Note: It is good practice to not proceed until the HDHomeRun is discovered by mythtv-setup. Mythtv-setup allows configuration of an undiscovered tuner by IP address, but if the HDHomeRun is not discoverable by the backend, then recordings will fail with only uninformative error messages in the backend log file. It is possible that the firewall on the backend is blocking discovery.

The Prime has an internal Web server that provides configuration and status information such as signal strength and copy protection.

Point a web browser to the address you just found (in my case, 192.168.1.104). You should get this top-level menu:

Click on 'CableCARD Menu' to get this menu:

Click on 'CableCARD(tm) Pairing' to get a menu like this:

NOTES: This display is for a CableCARD that has been paired, so yours will be different.If the HDHomeRun Prime reports no CableCARD, you may have inserted it incorrectly. You will of course have inserted it with the label up. However, the HDHomeRun Prime is quite symmetrical -- with cooling holes on both top and bottom.Its bottom side has a serial number label and four tiny feet.Make sure the serial number label and the CableCARD label are on opposite sides.

Contact your cable provider's CableCARD activation hotline (see http://www.silicondust.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=10490) and recite numbers from the pairing status page as requested.When they claim the card is activated, refresh your browser and note any changes.

Navigate to the HDHomeRun Prime log page (e.g., 192.168.1.104/log.html).It should look something like this:

Install VLC if necessary

Try out the hardware using the Silicondust GUI

Select the frequency set appropriately (e.g., us-cable in the U.S.) and hit the 'Scan ->>' button to find the first physical channel with TV programs.Hit the 'Program' button to show the programs packed into that physical channel. For example, in the Nashua area the first channel has these programs:

The first number in each row is the program number within the physical channel. The second number is the virtual channel number assigned by the cable provider.Click on one row, then 'View' to start up VLC on that program.

After viewing a program, return to your browser and navigate to the status page for the tuner you have been using.You should see something like this:

You can use the command line tool to record a channel scan.

A channel scan will take quite a while. You may want to monitor progess in a second terminal

In Nashua, the entry for physical channel 7 looks like this:

Navigate to the device's lineup (http://192.168.1.104/lineup.html?show=subscribed)Here, the standard definition signals for several over-the-airprograms have low virtual channel numbers, but there are HD versionswith 800 series channel numbers:

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You can save a copy of this lineup like this:

MythTV Configuration

Preliminaries

Note: This guide assumes that you have correctly set up and configured MythTV itself, including setting up a working database and all the other setup steps common to a working MythTV setup

It's a good idea to sign up for program listings, e.g. from Schedules Direct (https://www.schedulesdirect.org).Configure your lineup, and 'enable' all the channels you are subscribed to.

Illustrated Guide (Master/.25)

Troubleshooting

• I'm able to view/record channels sometimes but not others
  • Make sure Max Recordings is set to 1 for each tuner. See Capture Card Setup > Recording options for each of the three tuners in the Prime. MythTV, with other versions of the HDHomerun, can record more than 1 program per tuner but not with the HDHomerun Prime.
• I'm not able to tune any of my channels! The OSD simply says 'Partial Lock' and 'LAMc'. What gives?
  • A lock message of LAMc indicates the channel is encrypted and untunable. There are multiple possibilities. Either the channel might not be copy-freely, and thus is uncapturable in MythTV, or your CableCARD may not have been properly activated. Check your HDHomeRun Prime's Web page (by bringing up its IP address in a Web browser). Click Status Menu. You should be able to see the tuner which is currently recording, and the channel to which it is tuned. Click the link for that tuner number at the top. The value for Authorization should be subscribed (A valid value in some cases is 'unspecified'. If a non-working channel says 'unspecified', see what appears for nearby working channels before assuming that it indicates an error.) and the CCI Protection should be unrestricted. If either of these values are different, and you are certain your CableCARD and HDHR Prime are properly paired, then this channel may not be capturable in MythTV. A value of 'unknown' most likely means that your card is not properly provisioned. For clear QAM channels (channels which can be tuned with any QAM tuner), Authorization may be unknown, but the channel may still be capturable.
  • Because many technicians (even those allegedly trained on the subject) are unfamiliar with CableCARD setups, particularly with devices like the HDHomeRun Prime, there is a good chance that you will have to call your cable provider a couple of times to get things worked out. If a regular reset doesn't work (sometimes it can take more than one to 'stick'), ask for a 'Cold Hit', 'DAC Init' or 'Grand Slam Init/Hit'. For some reason, the phone representatives are hesitant to try these, so be insistent.
    • The direct number to the Comcast CableCARD activation line is 877-405-2298, which should connect you directly to a human. Don't bother calling the number that your device recommends; that is just the normal customer service number.
• I want to use the Prime only to tune in Clear QAM channels.
  • The PrimeUpdateScript will be of interest.
• My recordings are being mysteriously truncated.
  • Try increasing the network buffers: sysctl -w net.core.rmem_max=1048576
  • Check for packet loss, see the Troubleshooting section on the Silicondust HDHomerun Dual page.
• My HDHomeRun Prime cannot tune certain channels
  • You can get a lot of information from the web interface on the hdhomerun prime. You can look at the logs, and if you are tuned to a channel you can look at information about the channel. Also you can get a listing of all of the channels that the hdhomerun knows about. If you know the ip address of your hdhomerun, just point a browser to it.
  • If that doesn't work, you can tune to virtual channels and see what the CCI and other information is using the hdhomerun_config tool.
  • I had an issue where some of my channels weren't tuning, and I powercycled the hdhomerun and it started working.
  • Sometimes DRM may affect tuning some channels. The channels you lost are likely being protected with the 'One Copy' protection scheme (or other) that requires DRM to allow access to the stream.

More Information

• SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime
• Official HDHomeRun forum (hosted by silicondust.com) Official HDHomeRun forum

It's no secret that the price of cable and satellite is increasing every year, forcing many people to wonder if it makes sense to keep paying the likes of DirecTV and Comcast for the service. In the past, the convenience factor alone may have been worth it, but nowadays there are many easy-to-use software packages that, paired with an antenna, can be a worthwhile replacement for the monthly bills, and while some shows can't be seen for free, you can still pair it with a subscription service or two to fill in the gaps. Today I'll take a look at one such solution: A Synology NAS device, running Plex, and connected to a SiliconDust HDHomeRun Connect Quatro.

Synology

If you want to cut the cord and control your own media, the first thing you'll need is a server. Everything I discuss can be done on practically any hardware, but for my money, I want something that has low power usage (it'll be running 24x7), is easy to setup, and works with minimal input from me. The Synology DS1019+ is a great choice as it has five drive bays and hardware transcoding, but if you don't care about transcoding, the DS1618+ might be a better option due to its six drive bays. Alternatively, you can use a PC as well. Although it will cost more in terms of electricity requirements, and also requires more care and feeding from a maintenance perspective, there's no question that it's more powerful, something that's important if you're going to be sharing your media with many people at the same time. For this deep dive, I used the Synology DS1019+.

Plex

There are multiple software packages that do similar work from a cord-cutting perspective, but Plex is arguably the most popular, with Kodi not far behind.

Installation of Plex is as simple as downloading it from the Package Center, with the caveat that you won't be at the most recent version. Once it's installed though, Plex conveniently provides a link to download the most recent version and informs you when a new version is released, making upgrades very straight forward.

After installing the package, either through Package Manager or manually, you can connect to your new Plex server. Doing so opens up a new web browser (or tab) connecting to (the default set) port 32400, and you're greeted with an introduction page, then asked to create or login to your account.

The first issue I ran into, and it appears to be a common piece of confusion because there were many articles about it online, was 'where do I go to upload video files to Plex?' I was able to see a volume labeled Plex within the control panel, but couldn't find any shared folders to be able to mount on my Windows host so that I could copy files across. It turns out that, by default, nobody has access to view the volume. So make sure you go in and edit the shared folder permissions to open up permissions to the proper users. You'll have to do this change with every update, so make sure to document it!

Plex organizes media by what it calls 'Libraries.' Each library can have different permissions, and you can have any number of libraries that you want. A common configuration is to have one for movies, one for TV shows, and one for home videos. When setting up your libraries, it's important to note that you can share them with other users, so if you have things you don't want them to see, create a separate library that isn't shared.

In my testing, I created a few different libraries to help organize my content. In addition to the standard 'Movies,' 'TV Shows,' and 'Home Videos,' I also created a playlist called '4k UHD Movies' to put my UHD rips, and 'Concerts' to put the Blu-ray videos of actual concerts and music videos.

When creating a library, you select what folder on the server will house the data, and then you can tweak the settings for the library to meet your needs. There are many features, allowing you to choose where you get information such as cast, ratings, and plot summaries. This is also where you select which agent will be used to identify the content. For personal movies, select 'Personal Media,' but for movies, you have your choice of Plex Movie or The Movie Database. I didn't notice much of a difference between the two, and Plex recommends not using it.

When importing movies, you'll invariably find issues in either detection or, more likely, naming. For example, when importing the movie 12 Monkeys, Plex decided to name it Twelve Monkeys. Luckily, the software anticipated these types of issues so allows you to change either the sort title or the actual name.

There's also the concept of Collections, allowing you to group together similar movies to make them easier to find. For example, I created a Collection called 'Marvel Cinematic Universe' so that I could label all of the movies. Plex automatically creates a conglomerate movie poster consisting of the posters of four of the films in the collection. By default, it orders them by release date, but you can change that to alphabetical order instead if you prefer.

Plex does more than just manage your own media, as it has links to online video content, organized into News and Web Shows. In News, you're able to customize what topics you want to see across ten different categories from Arts & Entertainment to World News. While you won't be able to watch talking heads from CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News, you will be able to see informational videos from the likes of the Associated Press, Reuters, and The Guardian, as well as other lesser-known feeds.

In the Web Shows section, there's a lot to choose from, and it is a nice way to curate a lot of online content into a single pane of glass. If you're into podcasts, Plex has you covered as well, allowing you to browse various offerings and even download them onto your mobile device for offline listening.

Plex also supports libraries specific to music and photos. Finally, if you love music but don't want to manage your own collection, Plex integrates directly into the TIDAL service, and you can try a 30-day demo to see how much you like it. Since these features aren't related to cutting the cord, they're left to a future article.

SiliconDust's HDHomeRun Quatro

Until now, all I've shown was that Plex makes a great media streamer, but while that's a good foundation, it doesn't allow people to cut the cord. That's where the HDHomeRun series by SiliconDust comes in. The device is a little larger than a deck of cards and receives a signal from an antenna or CableCard, then saves the resulting data to a storage device.

The company has several models to choose from. Three of the models (the Duo, Quatro, and Extend) are able to receive over-the-air (OTA) signals from an antenna, while two of the models (Prime and Prime 6) use CableCard, allowing you to replace your cable TV set-top box. There are no solutions for DirecTV or Dish Network.

For my deep dive, I tested the Quatro ($120), which allows you to record up to four shows at the same time. The Duo ($100) and Extend ($180), on the other hand, have two tuners. The Extend also has built-in hardware transcoding, but since we're saving to the Synology NAS, it's not really necessary.

One thing to note is that although these devices allow you to stream, you'll need to purchase a Plex Pass subscription ($5/mo, $40/year, or $120/lifetime) if you want to integrate it with Plex. If you don't care about DVR functionality, you can use the HDHomeRun on its own, but Plex really opens up the ease of use.

Setting up the HDHomeRun Quatro is as easy as connecting an antenna via an F-connector (standard barrel connector), connecting the device to your network via Ethernet, and then connecting the power adapter. After this is done, log in to Plex and it should be automatically detected and ready to integrate.

From here, just following a simple configuration wizard. After selecting the device and clicking next, Plex scans for what channels it can see. Here was my first surprise: Not only did I receive the local ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox channels, I also received the subchannels, something I don't have with DirecTV. These channels broadcast a lot of older movies and shows and tapped into my nostalgia of 80s TV sitcoms.

After confirming the channels that are available, you're asked to enter your zip code so that Plex can download a guide to know what shows are being aired at what time. You're also able to deselect any channels that you're not interested in, although I don't see any benefit to putting blinders on in this case.

That's all there is to it! Plex takes you to a guide that looks similar to cable and satellite providers, allowing you to see exactly what shows are on what channels and at what time. If you see something interesting, you can click on it to get more information, to watch live, or to record the episode for future view.

If you want to bypass Plex, you can always download the HDHomeRun app and watch live TV from anywhere in the world.

Plex DVR

Aside from easy access, one of the big selling points to streaming services like Hulu and Netflix are the fact that they're commercial free. I had this functionality built into my VCR in the late 90s, but the networks and studios have constantly sued DVR manufacturers that try to include this feature.

For now, at least, this functionality is included in Plex DVR. If you look under the DVR Settings, you'll see an option to 'Remove Commercials.' Instead of just skipping them, Plex will actually analyze the recording and cut the commercials out of your recordings. Not only is this a great time saver, it also reduces the size of the files on your NAS device, so is a good feature to use. In my testing, it seemed to work great on the major networks, but not quite as good on the aforementioned subchannels. On the bright side, the feature seems to err on the side of caution, as I never lost more than a couple of seconds of a show, although the risk is there.

In addition to removing commercials, there are other features you can enable. You can choose whether you want to only record HD, in which case Plex will skip all non-HD content. There's also the option to automatically replace any SD items in your library with an HD version, as well as whether you want to allow partial recordings in case weather impacts your antenna signal. Finally, there's the option to start recording a certain number of minutes before and after the program is scheduled to run.

While not strictly related to just the Plex DVR feature, the search feature in the interface is extremely useful for finding content to record. Instead of having to try to find the content on the guide, simply type it into the search window, and you're presented with content, whether it's an upcoming episode or series you'd like to record, an episode already recorded on your Synology NAS device, or music and movies you may already have stored. The search box also looks at online content from TIDAL, as well as podcasts and Web Shows that match the term, and the results are broken down based on where the content is located; 'Live TV & DVR' means it's not on your device but can be recorded, whereas things in your 'Library' are available to consume immediately. Finally, you can also search for actors or musicians by name and see the same type of results: A search for 'Fillion' will bring up the TV shows Castle, The Rookie, and Firefly, as well as the movies Monster University, Serenity, and Blast from the Past.

A typical one hour TV show in standard definition takes just over 1Gb of storage, while a show in HD will take nearly 5Gb of storage (with commercials removed), if using the standard settings. If you're worried about storage space, you can configure Plex DVR to automatically delete a show either one day or one week after watching it, but since I'm hesistant to automatically delete content, I'd personally leave it off and just do it manually.

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How do I watch it?

So now that you have your SiliconDust HDHomeRun saving shows to your Synology NAS device, how do you actually watch the shows? The answer is simple: The same way you'd watch anything on your Plex server. Plex has apps for practically any platform, from mobile devices, to gaming consoles, to Roku and Amazon Fire TV, and even Oculus VR. The Nvidia Shield is supposed to make a good Plex client as well. Some of these platforms have a fee associated, but if you have Plex Pass (which you need to use the DVR functionality anyway), they're all free. This makes watching as easy as using your cable box.

You can also share your content with friends and family. Doing so is as simple as sending an invitation and selecting which libraries you want to share. Once the person accepts the invitation, they'll have full access to stream to their own devices.

Conclusion

While I didn't cancel my DirecTV subscription, I did use the combination of Plex and HDHomeRun for a couple of months, and found very little to complain about. I never missed a recording, the picture quality was just as good as my satellite, and it was easy enough for my wife and daughter to use. Being able to watch TV from anywhere, like my daughter's dance lessons, was a great way to pass the time, and recording old 80's sitcoms that I enjoyed as a kid was the cherry on top.

This process also made me analyze our TV watching behaviors. One thing that surprised me was the fact that most of the shows we watch are actually on local TV. There are some, like AMC's The Walking Dead, that aren't, but it seems that much of this content can be replaced with a few streaming services that will still end up being cheaper than our current monthly bill, so it is something we'll have to explore as a family.

If you're looking for a way to cut the cord, the combination of Plex and HDHomeRun sitting on a NAS device like the DS1019+ is a great way to meet your goal. Instead of paying over $100/month on cable or satellite, you can pay $240 for a lifetime Plex Pass subscription and an HDHomeRun Quatro, install Plex on an existing NAS device or a server and have access to all of the local channels, including those you may not have known were even available.

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If you don't care about cutting the cord, but instead want a flexible interface that lets you watch your cable (but not satellite) programming anywhere in the world and also provides far more storage than your cable company provides, the HDHomeRun Prime and Prime 6 options sound like they will fit the bill, although I haven't had a chance to test them.

Do you have any cord-cutting recommendations? Share them with us in the comments!