#12 in External TV tuners
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Reddit mentions of SiliconDust HDHR5-4US HDHomeRun Connect Quatro 4 Channel Tuner Bundle with Blucoil 10-FT 1 Gbps Cat5e Cable, 5-Pack of Reusable Cable Ties
Sentiment score: 2
Reddit mentions: 2
We found 2 Reddit mentions of SiliconDust HDHR5-4US HDHomeRun Connect Quatro 4 Channel Tuner Bundle with Blucoil 10-FT 1 Gbps Cat5e Cable, 5-Pack of Reusable Cable Ties. Here are the top ones.
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WATCH MOVIES IN DIFFERENT GADGETS SIMULTANEOUSLY - The SiliconDust HDHomeRun CONNECT QUATRO is a simple way to watch live HDTV on Media Devices. It features 4 tuners, which allow you to enjoy watching a variety of television shows in four different gadgets by using an Ethernet connection.OFFERS GREAT SIGNAL SENSITIVITY - The CONNECT QUATRO receives Over-The-Air TV programs without any problem. Plus, it has an excellent demodulator performance.PROVIDES HD VIDEO QUALITY - Say goodbye to grainy TV programs and conveniently watch your favorite shows in full 1080p resolution with the CONNECT QUATRO Tuner!WORKS WITH EMBY - The Emby media server has client app support for live TV on Roku, PS 4, iOS, Android, and Windows web browser. It lets you watch media files in different viewing devices.INCLUDES - SiliconDust HDHR5-4US HDHomeRun CONNECT QUATRO 4 Channel Tuner. Blucoil 10-Foot Cat5e UTP Cable with RJ45 Connectors - 24 AWG Wire Copper. Blucoil 5-Pack of Reusable Velcro Cable Ties.
Specs:
| Height | 7 Inches |
| Length | 10.5 Inches |
| Width | 3.5 Inches |
This is a really good option. Pair it with whatever antenna you'd like. It allows for two simultaneous streams. Meaning if you use Plex like I mentioned, you can stream two live TV broadcasts at a time.
If that's too expensive, you can go on eBay and find similar Hauppauge tuners for $20 used. Real cheap. Works well.
If you want something a little nicer, you can't go wrong with a HDHomeRun. It'll sit on your network and allow anything to connect to it. That model only gives you 2 streams as well but there are better ones available.
If you want cable, you're going to have to go with a HDHomeRun Prime box. They discontinued the first model because they're supposed to be releasing a new model soon™, meaning you'll have to either wait or seek it out on eBay. The old box supports 3 streams, the new 6. Just a warning, it'll be a hassle setting it up. Calling your cable company and begging for them to give you a card for it and such. Heck sometimes the support agentsdon't even know that's an option. But once you do have everything set up and working, it's rock solid and very performant.
I am running Plex on a FreeNAS server with a HD Home Run Quatro tuner box. The HD Home Run has 4 tuners, meaning I can watch / record up to 4 channels at once (although I rarely go above 2). Plex works pretty much flawlessly with the tuner box. As long as they are both on the network, the Plex can find it and tune into the channels. Pulling down the TV guide was simple as well. Any issues I've had have come exclusively from the very specific network setup that I have in place for the HD Home run and FreeNAS server. My server has two ethernet ports, so I figured since I would be watching all live TV via Plex anyway, why not just hide the tuner box "behind" the server using the 2nd ethernet port. Setting up the network configuration in the Server was tricky and still gives me problems from time to time, but basically the FreeNAS server has a direct 1 GB ethernet line to the tuner box for recording TV and it doesn't use up any bandwidth on the rest of the network.
Right now my tuner is connected to my cable provider (who provides free channels with any internet package), but none of the channels are HD and I only care about maybe 5 of them. I'm hoping to build a large OTA antenna so I can start picking up OTA HD broadcast channels in the area.
My biggest complaint is that I have been struggling to reliably strip commercials out of my recordings. The FreeNAS version of the Plex does not automatically remove commercials so I've had to try to configure external processes to pull the recordings down and cut commercials using comskip or MCEBuddy, but haven't had much luck with that. If you are running Plex on Linux or Windows, I don't know if you will have better luck with this or not.