SiliconDust HDHomeRun PRIME - Owner's Thread

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Jim Fox

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#21

Post by Jim Fox » Wed Sep 14, 2011 5:07 pm

Hi Lovemyram4x4, Yes, Verizon sent the fully addressed UPS label with the Cable Card, along with an RMA number for each of my set-top boxes. I just looked at the UPS website moments ago and the tracking information says it will arrive at the NJ Verizon warehouse today. The biggest hang-up I saw in the tracking was that my box sat in the little UPS store in the mall from Tuesday until the following Monday. I'll watch my next Verizon bill to make sure the credit on the two returned set-top boxes is applied at the proper time.

I've found in the past that Verizon has great technology and good tech support IF you can get to the upper levels, but unfortunatley at the bottom level, the customer service people aren't at all technical. I've also had very bad experiences with the billing department, so you have to watch your monthly bill like a hawk. Every time you change a service or hardware, things usually get screwed up on the bill.

I've been using my HD Homerun Prime for almost a week now and it's still getting along great with all of the PCs on my network via Windows Media Center. I may have just been lucky so far, but I highly recommend this Cable Card Tuner. I expect my electric bill to go down, since the two very hot running set-top boxes were left on 24-7 so the attached DVRs could change the channels when necessary via IR Blasters. My main Media Center PC is left in sleep mode when it's not in use. It comes on to record and then switches itself back into sleep mode when it's finished recording.

twiseva

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#22

Post by twiseva » Fri Sep 16, 2011 1:38 am

So to add to the FIOS install experiences ... I simply ordered the cablecard right on their web site and it arrived 2 days later (no notifications :-) before the HDHR). In addition the card indicated there was 'autoactivation' which failed -- however, there was a website to activate. No calls to support. All done within 1 hr from start to finish! Much smoother than expected.

For me this is the final part of the puzzle. HD goodness on three tuners.

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TheReaper

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#23

Post by TheReaper » Thu Dec 01, 2011 10:22 am

It's been a week and a half with no problems, so I will add myself to the FiOS success stories.

I went to the local FiOS center, and picked up a cable card. It took a while for the service person to enter everything and finally print me a receipt with the activation code. I went home, downloaded the latest SD drivers and followed the SD online instructions and got to the step of bringing up the HDHR Prime status page. I then logged into my Verizon account, hunted around a bit, but finally got to the cable card activation page. Entered my activation code, and then the numbers from the SD status screen (almost muffed this as one number was already on the page). I pressed the button and then waited 20 minutes for the card to activate. Once the card was activated, I finished the HDHR Prime setup (and my 2 hdhr qam tuners). I then went into Media Center and set up my tuners, tested, then closed Media Center and ran hdhomerun_wmc_sync.exe for hdhr qam channels. Then I went through the task of combining the qam channels from the 2 HDHRs with the cable channels from the HDHR Prime.

So I now have 3 cable tuners and 4 qam tuners working fine. :D
<- My Media Center PC

BBB3000

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#24

Post by BBB3000 » Fri Dec 09, 2011 8:10 pm

I just installed the HomeRun Prime last night. I noticed that channel switching is pretty slow, at least compared to my Fios boxes. Anyone else notice this?

What about random messages saying you aren't subscribed to that channel or that the tuner is not available? The software seems really buggy to me..

ckensto

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#25

Post by ckensto » Tue Feb 07, 2012 4:46 pm

While I wasn't having issues after network tweaks with the 20111025 firmware, the new 20120128 seems better. Even less frequent pixilation or sound drop outs and crisper channel changes etc. I'm on Verizon Fios.

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UCBearcat

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#26

Post by UCBearcat » Wed Feb 15, 2012 3:56 am

Random question... Can a Media Center Extender be used to extend a WMC PC that is using the tuner(s) from a HDHR Prime?
The reason I ask... I would like to have just one "main" HTPC that handles all tuners, and then use extenders where needed for live TV. I know this is possible w/ the Ceton InfiniTV4, but I was wondering if there was a noticeable lag considering the network traffic that would be involved with this.
The way I'm seeing this... HDHRPrime sends video stream to PC. PC then has to send the stream right back out on the LAN to the extender. Whereas, with the Ceton, everything is done internally, and there is only one stream out on the LAN.

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mcewinter

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#27

Post by mcewinter » Wed Feb 15, 2012 2:45 pm

Yes, this how MC works by design with any tuner.

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UCBearcat

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#28

Post by UCBearcat » Wed Feb 15, 2012 5:17 pm

Thanks for the quick response to my question. My assumption was that it should work. I was just concerned with all of the extra network traffic. I didn't know if there would be any noticeable lag since there will be a few extra hops when using a HDHRPrime with extender as opposed to the Ceton PCIe card.

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mcewinter

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#29

Post by mcewinter » Wed Feb 15, 2012 5:52 pm

Prior to the Prime's arrival there was all sorts of talk about traffic and what effect it would have but I see no complaints on the matter since the product came out.

bmblank

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#30

Post by bmblank » Wed Feb 15, 2012 7:00 pm

I haven't noticed any issues. I can stream ota hd content to an xbox (wireless). I haven't tried with multiple Xboxes though.

barnabas1969

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#31

Post by barnabas1969 » Wed Feb 15, 2012 8:40 pm

Just curious if any of you folks with the SD Homerun Prime have had similar issues to the one in the post linked below.

http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... f=5&t=1438

Thanks.

Edit: To clarify... this is a problem on the Ceton InfiniTV PCIe card. The strip of garbage appears across the screen for a split second every once in a while... it is not continuous. I'm just wondering if the SD tuners have similar issues.

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mcewinter

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#32

Post by mcewinter » Wed Feb 15, 2012 8:44 pm

barnabas1969 wrote:Just curious if any of you folks with the SD Homerun Prime have had similar issues to the one in the post linked below.

http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... f=5&t=1438

Thanks.

Edit: To clarify... this is a problem on the Ceton InfiniTV PCIe card. The strip of garbage appears across the screen for a split second every once in a while... it is not continuous. I'm just wondering if the SD tuners have similar issues.
I've never seen anything like that...although I do not subscribe to HBO or SHO.

crawfish

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#33

Post by crawfish » Wed Feb 15, 2012 8:55 pm

mcewinter wrote:I've never seen anything like that...although I do not subscribe to HBO or SHO.
I've never seen it either using my Prime, and I watch several series on SHO, including the one in the screenshot.

barnabas1969

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#34

Post by barnabas1969 » Fri Feb 17, 2012 9:44 pm

Do either of you have Switched Digital Video (SDV)? It seems to only happen on the SDV channels.

crawfish

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#35

Post by crawfish » Sat Feb 18, 2012 6:44 am

I have the Motorola MTR-700 connected in front of the Prime.

barnabas1969

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#36

Post by barnabas1969 » Sat Feb 18, 2012 4:32 pm

crawfish wrote:I have the Motorola MTR-700 connected in front of the Prime.
That's good to know. Ceton has known about this issue for at least 6 months and it's been 3 or 4 months since they said that they had replicated the problem. If they don't fix it soon, I may jump ship and buy an HDHomeRun. If their new "Q" system has the same issue, the average consumer won't live with a problem like this. I assume the "Q" contains a 6-tuner version based on the same hardware, so I'm sure it has the same issue.

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STC

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#37

Post by STC » Sat Feb 18, 2012 7:04 pm

[I was going off topic so I have linked to my reply: http://thegreenbutton.tv/forums/viewtop ... 639#p12639 ]
By the Community, for the Community. 100% Commercial Free.

Want decent guide data back? Check out EPG123

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UCBearcat

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#38

Post by UCBearcat » Sat Feb 18, 2012 7:30 pm

Add me to the list of PRIME owners. Picked it up on newegg for $170 US before they sold out. So far, most of my time has been spent dealing with Time Warner.
The software install was pretty painless and the prime upgraded its f/w automatically.
Called to order the CC. Went to local store to pickup, but when I got there they didn't have a TA to go along with it. So, that is supposed to be mailed to me in 5 days. When I got home, I spoke to a level 1 tech to pair the card, but he was clueless. I even asked him if he needed the Host ID or anything, but he said no. So he dumped me to their 800 self install line. 45 minutes of hold later... The next level tech knew exactly what he was doing. He had the card paired (activated) within 3 minutes.
Since I don't have the TA, what I can do is limited. The level 2 guy told me that there were very few channels that are not on switched digital. I can't wait for the TA to arrive so I can finish the setup.

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UCBearcat

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#39

Post by UCBearcat » Sun Feb 19, 2012 3:48 am

Just curious. How quickly does (or should) the Prime release the tuner when it isn't in use? I'm not recording anything, and I closed Media Center about 15 minutes ago. When I check the Prime web inerface, it shows that a tuner is currently tuned to a channel. Is this normal? I would expect the tuner to release if not in use by anything.

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Scallica

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#40

Post by Scallica » Sun Feb 19, 2012 1:37 pm

UCBearcat wrote:Just curious. How quickly does (or should) the Prime release the tuner when it isn't in use? I'm not recording anything, and I closed Media Center about 15 minutes ago. When I check the Prime web inerface, it shows that a tuner is currently tuned to a channel. Is this normal? I would expect the tuner to release if not in use by anything.
When you looked at the tuner status page, did you see an IP address listed at the bottom next to Resource Lock? If there is an IP address there, that means the tuner is still streaming. How about the green tuner status light on the front of the device?

You should always press the STOP button when you are done with live TV. If you close or X out media center abruptly, the Prime won't get the "stop streaming" command and will continue to stream after WMC is closed, thus jamming up that tuner.
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