SiliconDust HDHomeRun Flex 4K ATSC 3.0 NextGen TV: 2/4 Tuners HDFX-4K

This was a quick setup that was actually so easy it threw me for a loop. I had no choice but to get a replacement for my Amazon Fire TV Recast. Support was dropped for that and mine finally just failed.After reading reviews, I settled on the 4 tuner (4 x ATSC 1.0, with 2 x ATSC 3.0 capable). There are a couple of things to be aware of on this model and I'm going to go with them under the pros and cons, but suffice it to say, so far, I'm satisfied with it. I wasn't satisfied with my Recast unit from almost day 1, but read on.Pros1. Handles through ATSC 3.0 so it'll do NextGen channels if you have them in your area and your gear is capable of getting them.2. Has four tuners so you can record or watch programming on four different tuners, though only two can handle ATSC 3.0.3. The apps to facilitate getting programming from the HD Homerun appear to work well so far on both the Fire TV, Windows 11, and Android. Scratch that - they work. The Windows 11 app almost locked my system up solid while doing this review.4. The picture is not only good, on HD broadcasts, it's OUTSTANDING on both the Fire TV and via the Windows app, and it looks fine on the phone, but why bother with a phone when you've got a larger screen?Cons1. This doesn't come with a guide - if you want the guide and DVR capability you have to do the following:a. Shell out $35.00 for a year of DVR / Guide capabilityb. Shell out for an external hard drive - yeah, you heard that right - this comes with no hard drivec. While I have nothing good to say about my previous Recast unit, at least that came with a guide, DVR capability and a TB of storage for $179. This was $199 with no no disk or guide.3. That you even have to use an app to view it on the Fire TVs, but it's not an Amazon product4. While you may see that I did a scan and found 99 channels (I have 2 x HD OTA antennas) probably 10 to 12 of those cannot be viewed because they're DRM protectedSo, with those cons, why did I buy this one?First, read the reviews on the other units outside of Amazon. From what I could find online, the top models appeared to be the Silicon Dust HD Homerun models, the Tablos, and the ZapperBox. They each had their pros and cons and the ZapperBox also has a similar setup to the HD Homerun for recording and a guide. The Tablo would have been the more economical model in initial cost, that it came with storage, and has no charge for it's guide. Unfortunately, it's only equipped for ATSC 1.0 (I'd like to be ready for 3.0) and if you look at some of the reviews, no thanks, they're not very good. There was a greater than 20% return rate on the models I looked at on Amazon. I already had enough of that with my Recast unit.So that's why I went with the HD Homerun 4-tuner model.My photos include out of the box (the first 2), via the Fire TV app, and on my Windows 11 Desktop which uses an HDMI input into the same Fire TV as it's monitor. These photographs do not do the HD broadcast pictures any justice. You have to see them in person.Yes, I'd recommend this just out of taking everything into account including technology, customer service (I read ZapperBox now has customers IM or email them?), cost, and the aggravation I was hoping to avoid. It's my hope that in the future, some company will come out with something that's a bit more reasonably priced overall, like the Recast was, if only it had worked right out of the gate.

I’ve been a Silicon Dust HDHomeRun fan for quite a few years. I bought a HDHomrRun PRIME nine years ago to try leveraging my home network for TV distribution. Shortly after that I sent my cable box packing and relied only on the HDHomeRun along with Plex to pickup DVR duties. I did try out the HDHomeRun DVR when it first came out, even using the Kickstarter to get early access to it. However, in the end, I preferred the ease of use of Plex.Over the next few years, I found that I was watching less and less TV, for a number of reasons. I scaled back my service to the point that I was eventually just getting the local channels. All I was using it for was the local news and an occasional show like American Ninja Warrior. It was becoming harder and harder to justify the cost. It was about $30/month plus another $6/month for the cable card as part of a TV and Internet bundle.Fast forward to early 2023. While doing some tech upgrades in the house I found that I had an easy way to get a coax connection from my basement, where my entertainment center and most cable endpoints are, up to the attic. I decided to take the plunge, install an antenna in the attic, and then swap my HDHomeRun PRIME for a HDHomeRun FLEX 4K. Best decision ever!The antenna I put in the attic is an Antennas Direct ClearStream 4V. This is a big antenna designed to pull in stations from a long way away. As it is, I’m only about five miles from the Washington DC stations, so this antenna was overkill. I didn’t want to take any chances being that the antenna would be in an attic and the house across the street from me, in the direction of the transmission towers, is about twice as tall as my home. The antenna more than handled the situation and even picked up some stations I was not expecting, from Baltimore, that were not even in the beam width for how I had the antenna aimed.Now, we get to the HDHomeRun. When I hooked it up, is spotted 90 channels! A few of them seem to be ghosts as they report a signal with no content. Of the 90, I could tune in 82 of the channels. Plex had a few more issues and only knew about 67 of the channels, but it got the ones I cared about along with dozens I really didn’t care about.For my usage, I could have got away with a HDHomeRun DUO, two tuners being one more than I typically need on a given day. However, I’m trying to future proof and wanted to be ready for ATSC 3.0 (aka, NextGen TV). The DC area is fortunate to have ATSC 3.0 signals for all the major networks. The FLEX had no trouble receiving these signals.I’ve been able to fire up all four tuners at once using a combination of a computer, a phone, a tablet, and a Chromecast with Google TV. The HDHomeRun app runs on all of them. The app isn’t perfect, but it works. The only thing I would ask for in the app is the ability to get technical details on the stream. The only way I’ve found to get that is to go to the web interface for the HDHomeRun and look at the tuner status.Only two of the tuners support ATSC 3.0. That is good enough for a first generation product, especially since the ATSC 3.0 stations are only simulcasting the regular broadcast at this point. The FLEX 4K is smart enough to give preference to the non ATSC 3.0 tuners when tuning in an ATSC 1.0 signal, to keep the 3.0 tuners available if you need them.As for handling the signals it receives, the FLEX does a great job. For the local stations, the image is rock solid all the time. The interface shows 100% across the board, so I would expect no less. The Baltimore stations were the biggest surprise. The ones I receive, come in about 56% power but the symbol quality still shows as 100% and the image has been stable for them as well. Oddly, there are some stations that are on the same towers as the ones I get that don’t come in at all. WBAL, the NBC affiliate, is one of those. It is as if it isn’t even there. I don’t really care about the Baltimore stations, but this did leave my scratching my head.No product is perfect, and there are a few things I think could be done a little bit better. The biggest one would be to send the signal from a single tuner to multiple destinations. If two users tune in the same station, it still takes up two of the four tuners. With four tuners available, this won’t likely be an issue but it would be more efficient.The only other thing I don’t like about the FLEX 4K is the total lack of indicator lights. It is truly a black box and the only way to check the status on it is through the web interface. For contrast, my PRIME has a power light, cable connectivity light, and a separate light for each of the three tuners that come on when in use. You know what is going on with that box with a single glance.To wrap it up, my HDHomeRun PRIME will be looking for a new home. My cable provider has lost a video customer, although I did up my Internet speed with some of the savings. I’m receiving more stations than I did via cable and can watch them anywhere in the house via either the HDHomeRun app or Plex’s Live TV feature. Hopefully the HDHomeRun FLEX 4K will get to flex its muscle on some 4K content once the local broadcasters start providing it. Even while waiting for the next generation of TV, add me to the cord cutters club.