Using HD HomeRun to record two OTA ATSC channels?

[Ian]

Hi,

I've tried to search but couldn't find an example detailing what it takes to do this.
I want to get an HDHR and record OTA HD on both tuners, tuning to different channels. I know the HDHR can tune both tuners separately but what would it take to have them both tune ATSC?

Do I need two HD antennas or can I hook both tuners up to the same antenna? Surely it's the latter, possibly with some sort of MUX device?
Assuming I can use just one antenna, what would the physical connection be from the HDHR to the antenna?

Finally I live a bit out in the country, but antennaweb.org says I am about 15 miles away from the broadcasters and I only need a "small multidirectional" antenna. This may be overkill, but what do you antenna experts know about the Winegard SS-2000?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16882172011

I like this one because of it seems to have good gain and looks a little more modern (I just can't put one of the fishbone-looking antennas on my new house at this point). Not worried about the price premium...

Thanks folks!

[Conejo]

The SiliconDust HDHR has two F-type Coaxial Cable connectors for receiving OTA ATSC 8vsb and/or Cable QAM broadcasts. Software that comes with the unit allows you to set what each tuner receives and both can be set to the same ATSC setting and tune individually. The HDHR then sends the captured digital contents to your computer via an Ethernet LAN cable where you'll need an application, such as SageTV, to captures the digital data stream and save or play the data.

Do I need two HD antennas or can I hook both tuners up to the same antenna?

You can use One or Two antennas -- this is of course depending on the signal level of the stations you are trying to receive. Some people have success using an single antenna like an OMNI or semi-directional, others need an inline amplifier to boost the signal while still others need two antennas wired together or wired separate because the stations are too distant and out of a single antenna's field-of-view. You then make the coaxial connection to both inputs in the HDHR and use the software and a PC to set the ATSC mode and test what you can receive.

Antennaweb.org is usually pretty close on calling what you can actually receive, expecially if you're within 15 miles distance.

[garyellis]

for what its worth....I just built a HD antenna and connected it to my HDHR..The connection worked perfectly and the HDHR/software found the stations. Unfortunately, my signal strength was around 65%, so, no picture would come through. Silicondust says the signal needs to be 90% to get consistently good video.

I was happy to get 65% though, since I just propped it up against a chair on the first floor near my HDHR installation. I assume when I move it up to the actic and rotate it a bit, I should get significantly better signal...If I get close to 90%, then I plan to split it, like you asked. Then I plan to throw out Time Warner Cable and get dish network HD only plan.

we'll see...let me know how your project goes..

Gary Ellis

[Ian]

Thanks Conejo!
I'm guessing/hoping that, since I live outside of town, most of the signals would be directionally from the same area.
The antennaweb.org results showed distances from about 11 miles to almost 15 and I bet most of these signals are coming from the same area where the tall "radio towers" are.
so I'd like to try a single antenna.

I'm assuming though that a single antenna is going to have a single coax connector. So I need something in between the two HDHR ports and the single antenna coax. Would this be just a simple splitter?

Edit: Gary you posted about a minute before me so I didn't see it. I will let you know how it goes.

Any comments on the Winegard SS-2000? I don't think I can convince the wife that anything other than a sleek-looking antenna is going up on our new house.

[OneThomas]

I guess I am very fortunate.... I am using a 15+ year old RCA "Rabbit Ears" table/tv-Top antenna (sitting in one of the windows in my apt.) split into both ports on the HDHR for OTA ATSC - and getting great reception for the channels I am interested in. I've thought about trying one of the supposed "digital" antenna's to see if I get anything better, but if it ain't broke.....

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by OneThomas

I guess I am very fortunate.... I am using a 15+ year old RCA "Rabbit Ears" table/tv-Top antenna (sitting in one of the windows in my apt.) split into both ports on the HDHR for OTA ATSC - and getting great reception for the channels I am interested in. I've thought about trying one of the supposed "digital" antenna's to see if I get anything better, but if it ain't broke.....

Its sad, I bought a big giant antenna for my attic. Unfortunately it can not pull down FOX. My crappy un-amplified attenna that sit next to window pulls it down perferectly. It is a bit of a crap shoot. What I need to do is move my big attenna to another part of the attic (and check my connections), but I don't want to crawl up there....

[OneThomas]

Ouch - big antenna can't do what the little one does... That sucks! I guess I should mention that in my setup, I am on the 20th floor - and the cable run isn't over 10 feet (between the "Rabbit Ears" coax cable, splitter, and 2 attached coax cables).

[sandor]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

Its sad, I bought a big giant antenna for my attic. Unfortunately it can not pull down FOX. My crappy un-amplified attenna that sit next to window pulls it down perferectly. It is a bit of a crap shoot. What I need to do is move my big attenna to another part of the attic (and check my connections), but I don't want to crawl up there....

attic mounted antennas can be a bad bad idea, especially depending on the construction materials used in your roof, etc. in my old place i lost almost 20% of signal strength (using the same antenna) inside the attic vs. roof mounted.

in my new place, i simply re-purposed an old (approx 25 year old) antenna that was already mounted on the 4th floor roof - ran new coax down to my condo and it works fine with a 4 way splitter to 2 HDHR units.. "digital" antennas are a crock.

[Conejo]

A 'larger' antenna isn't always the 'best' antenna.

Larger usually means more directional, rejecting signals from the sides and back but pulling in that one hard to reach signal at a greater distance.

You could try diplexing your antennas together into a single cable. So, if you have a hard to receive station then use the large directional to pick that up and combine its cable to a smaller indoor antenna for the locals. You can even put a booster/amplifier in the mix if the signal levels are too low to split into the multiple digital tuners.

Originally Posted by sandor

"digital" antennas are a crock.

I laughed when 'digital' headphones came out.

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by Conejo

A 'larger' antenna isn't always the 'best' antenna.

Larger usually means more directional, rejecting signals from the sides and back but pulling in that one hard to reach signal at a greater distance.

You could try diplexing your antennas together into a single cable. So, if you have a hard to receive station then use the large directional to pick that up and combine its cable to a smaller indoor antenna for the locals. You can even put a booster/amplifier in the mix if the signal levels are too low to split into the multiple digital tuners.
I laughed when 'digital' headphones came out.

Tonight I am going to see if that little set of antenna can pick up all the stations (outside of the one hard to reach one) since this morning I was getting drop outs on all my channels.....

[phelme]

I was using a Terk HDTVa powered antenna for a while with my HDHR and it worked OK, most of the time. It took a while to find the sweet spot where it would get all the HDTV signals in the SF Bay area and the amplified portion helped A LOT. I'm about 45 miles from the antenna arrays and so on windy days it would get iffy.

I don't use it anymore since Comcast recently started broadcasting most local channels in HD and ironically, with cable being more reliable here, I switched to that on both HDHR inputs.

[pjpjpjpj]

I’m using homemade antennas with my HDHRs, and they work fairly well in my attic. I say “fairly” because I get the occasional dropout here and there; but I have never tried outdoor antennas, so I don’t know if that’s attic interference (multipath and what have you) or just my location, or weather or whatever. I have no complaints (other than my HDHR power supply dying, which was a problem that they fixed and is a whole separate thread!).

Ian – the HDHomerun comes with a splitter and two short pieces of coax, so you only need one antenna. The splitter does give you some signal loss though. If you have stations in different directions, you may need two antennas, but you *usually* can not join them together with a splitter (you need to connect each to its own tuner). Some antenna designs are multi-directional (typically bi-directional, forward and backward), but the less “directional” an antenna is, the less overall reception you’ll find. Try this thread if you are curious about homemade antennas, which are really pretty easy and a lot of fun (note that the original post has some errors, later corrected): http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9613

And read here for the basics: http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/basics.html

I have two HDHRs, each with its own antenna, as I get half of my stations from “local” South and the other half from “distant” North. If the North stations had been a little stronger, I could have used a bi-directional antenna and gotten everything with one, but that also means I would have had to have split the signal 4 ways, which greatly increases signal loss. Someday I may go to the trouble of an outdoor antenna on the roof, in which case I likely will get all of them perfectly with a single, bi-directional antenna.

Note that the longer your coax cable (from antenna to tuner) is, the more signal loss you will see. Amps help but can also amplify noise and interference in the line as well as signal (the amp should always go at the antenna, NOT farther downstream). But the advantage of the HDHR is that you can locate it in your house close(r) to the antenna, rather than it being a PC card that is wherever your PC is. I put my HDHRs on a shelf in a linen closet, directly below my attic, and was able to limit my coax from the antennas to 10’ or less. The network cables from there to my PC are each 100’ long, but that’s effectively lossless.

Also, rather than antennaweb, try www.tvfool.com – it has better data about ground elevations and whether you are in line-of-sight (LOS) or have hills between you and the towers. It’s interesting to put in varying heights at your house (say, 7 feet assuming first floor, and then maybe 20 feet for an attic?), and see how it makes a difference.

P.S. In case you did not gather from above, there is no such thing as an "HDTV antenna". An antenna is an antenna (a piece of metal designed to pick up waves of a certain frequency range), and the only thing that makes it get HD is having it plugged into an HD-capable tuner.

[Taddeusz]

I bought a $10 RCA "HD capable" antenna from Wal-mart when I got my HDHR. Works great! You have to realize that the only thing different about the TV signal being received is that it's digital. Everything else is the same so despite what the companies making the antennas would have you believe you don't need anything but a set of rabbit ears to get an OTA HD signal.

[pjpjpjpj]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

...a $10 RCA "HD capable" antenna...

I suppose we have to realize that it's easier for them to put "HD antenna" on the box, than to NOT do it and have the store workers (and customer service reps on the phone) explain to a million customers that, "YES, it WILL get HD."

[Ian]

Thanks for all the replies so far folks!

I will have to go the outdoor installation route because my roof is lined with insulating foam at the rafters in the attic, so the signals would be blocked a lot by that.

I will do some more research on where exactly the towers are located geographically from me and pick a good antenna for that. I'm hoping to just use one anyway. We are still about 3-4 weeks from completion of our house so I won't have any results to share for a bit but I really appreciate the responses.

Ian