The HD Homerun is a network based TV tuner compatible with Windows Media Center, its been around for a while in the US and this is the new DVB-T version that works with Freeview. The unit is a dual tuner devices that you connect up via an Ethernet cable to your network and by installing the drivers on the PC Windows Media Center thinks that the its a locally connected tuner. This is great if you can’t position the PC where your aerial cable comes in to the house and its a great solution to share the TV tuner. The retails price is £159 which may be a little steep for a dual tuner but the network functionality really does add some value

In this video I unbox the unit and run through the setup process. I did have issues with stuttering with some of the BBC channels which I suspect is a networking issues and I have not had time to diagnose yet, I have not got it working with Windows 7 yet I am still working on it…

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0 thoughts on “Video: Unboxing and a first look at a HD Homerun DVB-T Edition”
  1. Wow this looks cool, I live in Holland so we don’t have Freeview. But I really like the concept of network based tuners. If this takes of there is no physical hardware needed for mediacenter to run when using an extender only setup. In this case we could run a host based hypervisor (like virtual server or pc) on a homeserver with some decent hardware, and create a “one box” media solution… I really like this idea..

  2. Ha, I thought I noticed something familiar about your desktop, you’re using my Computer Status gadget, cool 🙂

  3. @spongebob
    We at mediapc4u have been selling the HDHomerun DVB-T for a little while now and i use one personally. I can say with some certainty that the BBC channels will be fine when using a signal booster. I removed my signal booster to try out and i also got some choppy pictures on BBC1, BBC3, C4 and ITV2. Once i put the signal booster back all was fine again.

    Hope this helps.
    Aleks
    mediapc4u

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