SiliconDust - PRIME Tuner with CableCARD for digital cable TV - Black

Q: Looking for a DVR for Daughter her student housing has cable but there is no box it comes though coax cable direct, no guide , no way to get cable card as its not needed to watch would this still work?

A: You would want to get the HDHomeRun CONNECT, since it also can do Clear QAM as long as her provider is giving her unencrypted digital cable TV.

Q: Can I use this with Optimum on a guest room TV fo watch cable channels, would I need a card from Optimum

A: Hey there. I don't know anything about Optimum, but if they are your cable tv provider and they offer cable cards (which they should, I think legally all cable companies in the US have to have that option for customers), then yes you just need to pick up this device and get the cable card from your company. Put the card into the back of the HDHR and you may need to call them up to activate it. Once activated, scan for your channels and boom, you're done (well, kind of). You'll need to decide what you what to do from there to then watch your channels (Fire Tv, Fire St, Roku, Chromecast, SmartTV, nVidia Shield, Apple Tv, and so on and so on). Depending on how fancy you want to get with the system there is a bit of a learning curve if you want to do things like DVR's and such. Good Luck. There are a lot of really great forums our there, and lots of wonderful people that are happy to help out. YouTube though should be your best friend. Watch a bunch of videos related to the equipment that you get, don't just watch one and done.

Q: I want a device that will replace the FIOS converter box on one of my smart tv's. If I purchase a cable card from Verizon will this box perform tuning functions for a tv?

A: I have replaced a FIOS converter box with my HDHomeRun Prime. I kept my multi-room DVR (so two channel recording and viewing) and with my HDHomeRun Prime I have an additional three channels to record or view from. The HDHomeRun Prime DOES NOT connect to your TV directly. With the $35 annual DVR service you can view any live or recorded program from the cable card on your home network (LAN or WiFi) on Computer, iPhone/iPad, or Android Phone/Tablet. I think there is an program to view on Linux too. I think you have more control on viewing recorded shows (can forward faster than with the remote). You can (I have) connected my computer to my big screen TV with Comcast/AnyCast device (normally $15 to 25) which transmit a screen to a TV HDMI plug via WiFi, so it's not much different from FIOS, but you have to control from the computer/table/phone instead of from a remote. I upgraded my Internet with the activation of the cable card, so the FIOS installer helped me configure the cable card. It WAS NOT intuitive, so be ready to not have it ready out of the box and working with the HD HomeRun service. Money wise, I think it has work getting rid of the box rental and purchasing the HD HomeRun Prime. My DVR was always full, and I think I've found a way to convert the saved files from the HD HomeRun service to a format to put on DVD-RW, tablet, or flash to watch at work or on the train. Think about getting a MyCloud NAS to save your recorded show to, as you have to leave a designated computer on all the time otherwise.

Q: can I watch Israeli tv with your product

A: The HDHomeRun Prime re-broadcasts over your WiFi home network all of the cable channels that your cable card provides. If you get or subscribe to an Israeli channel on your home cable then you'll becable to watch it on any device within WiFi range that has the HD App running on it. This is not a receiver. It just broadcasts your cable service over WiFi, and does it really well.

Q: Will this product work with satellite/DirectTV platform! ?

A: Satellite TV doesn't support the CableCard standard employed by cable operators. So the answer is no, and on top of that, if you were to switch to cable, you would want to ensure that cablecards can be accuired through the cable service provider. Xfinity and Time Warner (Charter Spectrum) cable services will provide them to the customer. The service provider may require you have a tuning adapter which they supply as well.

Q: can i use hdhomerun to replace my fiso dvr box

A: I had my fios originally set up with the quantum gateway router and fios DVR stb by the technician. From the Fios ONT box they had a coax going to a two-way splitter. There was also an Ethernet cable going from the ONT to the router. One of the 2 coax "out" from splitter went back into the coax on back of Fios router. The other "out" coax from the splitter went to directly feed my room wall outlets and my HDHomerun Prime. I think the coax from the back of the Fios Router grabs VOD and Channel guide from the router and feeds it back to the Fios STB through the splitter connection (two-way communication). I connected an Ethernet cable from the router to the HDHomerun Prime as well so it feeds the 3 Prime cable card tuners to the home network. The Prime did all recording for free to a storage device connected to a PC running Windows Media Center. It did not get affected by the Fios STB box and video quality of both live and recorded shows on WMC were at par with the Fios cable DVR box. The HDHomerun Prime is a 1-way communication device so it can't grab the 2-way VOD and Channel guide signal from Fios. You can watch and record a combined 3 shows at once, i.e. engage no more than 3 tuners simultaneously. I ended up returning the Fios STB and quantum router a couple of weeks later. I installed my own Linksys 1 gigabit router instead. I fed an Ethernet cable from the ONT box to the Linksys router. Then I fed an Ethernet cable from the router to the Prime. The coax from the ONT then went directly to the Prime as well. The Linksys is just a router and NOT a modem. Fios doesn't use a modem; the coax that was at the back of the Fios quantum gateway router is used to pull online VOD and Channel guide in the form of coax signal and fed to the coax network through the splitter. No Fios equipment needed, just the M-Card for the Prime @ $4.99/month and it still works flawlessly just like the Fios DVR box and Quantum gateway router.