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

This is a quality product for tuning in & recording OTA TV. Paired with a Winegard Elite 7550 Outdoor HDTV Antenna & 2TB external hard drive I purchased separately, I was able to pull in 78 clear channels 37 miles from my local antenna farm. Five ATSC 3.0 channels scanned in, but only 3 ATSC 3.0 actually displayed pictures and sounds; none were broadcasting in 4K so far. I purchased the $35 channel guide & DVR recording capabilities (the whole point of buying this product) separately from SiliconDust online. Here is a rough cost breakdown for my setup: SiliconDust HDHomeRun Flex 4K $200, Winegard Elite 7550 Outdoor HDTV Antenna $150, 2 TB external hard drive; $70, SiliconDust DVR/Channel Guide 1-year service $35, two Onn TV Android boxes $40, 30-foot telescope mounting pole/hardware/coaxial cable/professional installation $460 equals $955 total, a lot of money, but a professional clean weatherproof performance ensemble. Cable TV with DVR (w/o internet) in my area is about $145 a month with NO premium channels, so ostensibly my breakeven is at 7.5 months. I did not want to further complicate my life with a Plex server and/or Channels guide, nor the associated extra costs and complexity, which is not necessary since the SiliconDust UI is top-notch/excellent. ONE CAVEAT: If your TV or streaming device is running Roku software (like mine & millions of others)—my SiliconDust HDHomeRun app was prone to crashing frequently, and the FF/rewind did NOT work AT ALL. I solved this problem by buying/installing two $20 Onn TV Android boxes from Walmart and using the free SiliconDust HDHomeRun Android app from the Google Play Store. Now FF/Rewind works as it should, and the HDHomeRun Android app does not crash. Some internet searching will reveal this is a common SiliconDust HDHomeRun/Roku problem/issue that SiliconDust has been unsuccessfully working on debugging for a long time. It should have been resolved by SiliconDust and/or Roku long ago, and I should NOT have had to figure out this workaround on my own. Still, this is a solid OTA tuner w/DVR capabilities with superb channel tuning and UI that I will give it 5 stars despite my Roku caveat.6 MONTH UPDATE: SiliconDust HDHomeRun Flex 4K is still a solid choice. I have really warmed up to the excellent UI. The FF/rewind is still working on my Onn TV Android box. I must report the SiliconDust HDHomeRun Onn TV Android app does not load easily, or as it should, like all my other apps. Restarting the Onn TV box is typically necessary, usually 2 times, to bring up the SiliconDust HDHomeRun UI. I am not sure if this is a SiliconDust HDHomeRun Android app issue, a Google bloatware issue, or both. I have yet to try an alternate launcher, which I have some reservations about. SiliconDust has still not fixed the aforementioned Roku app problem. A SiliconDust sad state of affairs. Customers should not have to figure out a Roku workaround. I have given serious thought to trying the newest Tablo (despite having so many problems with an old Tablo Quad, Tablo’s poor customer support, & no hardware repairs offered), or "rounding up" 2 older used model TiVo’s that work with an antenna. Why the latter? I have owned a Tablo Quad, a Silicon Dust HDHomeRun, and 2 TiVo (very old) Premiers—all fed by antennas. TiVo (the most expensive option that works best with a box for each TV) has the best UI, works flawlessly, responds the best by far instantly, and has a one-button auto commercial skip that actually works.12 MONTH UPDATE: I have now surpassed my breakeven point. I’m in the black with my SiliconDust HDHomeRun/antenna setup vs. cable TV cost by a wide margin. Admittedly, there is some loss with OTA programming vs. cable, but not by $0 vs. $145 a month margin. Not to mention, if I really want to see a program, I can easily find it and stream it. With the last SiliconDust firmware/app update, I have found that the previously discussed SiliconDust HDHomeRun app loading issues do not occur if the app is returned to the Live TV mode before exiting and not left in DVR mode. I have given up on the idea of “rounding up” a used older TiVo since my SiliconDust HDHomeRun is performing better after the latest firmware/app update. You’d also need a TiVo for each TV, and TiVo has really abandoned the OTA DVR business altogether. I recommend SiliconDust HDHomeRun and hold out hope that SiliconDust fixes the Roku app soon to accommodate the FF/Rewind function.

This is by far the best TV Tuner out there. Living close to an airport I've always had problems with multi-path interference from low flying aircraft or windblown trees so after learning about the how the new ATSC 3.0 tuners worked to alleviate these problems, I jumped at the chance to try the HD Homerun Flex 4k. It's true. The 3.0 tuners have alleviated the problem. But the thing with the Flex is the ATSC 1.0 tuners do a pretty darn good job of alleviating the problem as well. My Tv's tuner is terrible. I get breakups all the time on it. I had a Tablo that did a little better, but I hated how it took 5 seconds to change channels. I also had a Fire TV recast and its tuners were ok, but it downscaled the picture and the PQ was pretty bad. You could change channels faster, but it took a few seconds for the picture quality to get up to HD. The Tablo and Recast PQ had a compressed look to it.The HD homerun Flex 4k blows them both out of the water. The PQ is the same as if you were getting it straight from the antenna. I use the HDHomerun app, and I see no compression whatsoever. It really is an awesome picture. Changing channels is fast. The 3.0 stations take a couple of seconds longer. Right now, I don't see a reason to use the 3.0 stations because the 1.0 tuners do a fine job. In Orlando we get all the major Networks in ATSC 3.0, though the NBC station has turned on encryption. Silicon Dust says an update will be forth coming to allow viewing of DRM encrypted channels, but this isn't something you can bank on. Right now, ATSC is up in the air. It may all go away so who knows. None of the stations are doing 4k, it's all 1080. Be that as it may, I'm really happy with the 1.0 tuners on this thing.I use the HDHomerun app. People dis it all the time and use the Channels or Plex apps but those require a computer. I don't want to have a computer on. Plus, the Channels and Plex apps transcode and that can affect your PQ. The HDHomerun app does no transcoding. It's basically 4 tuners streamed wirelessly to your whole network. A decent router is required. If you can get 4k from your streaming apps you'll have no problem with this.I signed up for the $35 a year DVR and guide service. Less than $3 a month. I stuck a 256gb micro-SD card into a Micro/USB adapter and it works great. The recorded quality is a whatever the tuner received. No compression.If you use the HDHomerun app, go into setting and TURN OFF SLICE VIEW. Then you get the normal grid guide by hitting the up or down button. To close the guide hit the back button. People dis the app because of the slice view, which I admit looks pretty bad but it actually is great for touchscreens like a tablet or phone.Setting up is easy peasy. You can do it all from inside the app. Here's a hint, don't delete channels. Just click on the ones you don't want by getting to the red X. If you delete them, when the homerun does a scan, it will add them again.As you can tell I'm pretty happy with this product. I'm actually blown away. I could have gotten away with the 2-tuner dual flex for nearly half the price, but I got a $100 gift card from my employer so decided to put it towards this.If you're buying this for 4k, the tuner can do 4k, but nobody is broadcasting it. You can't really blame that on Silicon Dust.