OTA recording

[Gankaku]

Hello everyone! New here to this forum.

I researched (but obviously not good enough) and bought an Avermedia EZRecorder to record over the air shows.

Problem is, there is no way to get my antenna into the box. There's only hdmi in/out when my tv only has hdmi in.

So would you please tell me a few things?

1. Is there a way I can hook up this EZ recorder to tape OTA, or is this box only for video game and cable tv box recording? I can get other equips if necessary. If I can, what equipment and how to hook up? I have Samsung Smart TV.

I was also looking at the HomeRun equipment but wasn't sure if that would do OTA.

I cannot hook anything to my PC (different room) but everything (PC, TV) is on my network.

2. If I cannot use this Avermedia equipment for taping OTA, I'm wondering if there are any other projects I could use it for? I never plan on buying cable tv again so that's out, and I use my PC for gaming. Maybe I need to send the equipment back if it doesn't fit my needs.

Thank you for your help!

[jagabo]

As far as I know the Avermedia EZRecorder doesn't have an OTA tuner. So you would have to capture HDMI from a device with a tuner. You could hook it up to one of the Silicon Dust devices with a tuner but why bother when you could just record the transport stream directly from the Homerun device. There are other inexpensive devices for recording/viewing OTA signals. Like the Homeworx PVRs.

https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-Homeworx-HW180STB-Converter-Recording/dp/B00IYETYX8/

[usually_quiet]

You could hook it up to one of the Silicon Dust devices with a tuner but why bother when you could just record the transport stream directly from the Homerun device.

The EzRecorder and the HDHomerun tuner would both need to be connected to a wired home network. The AverMedia EZRecorder is supposed to be able to record streaming video using its Ethernet connection, but there is no way for it to control any of the current the HDHomerun tuners. Something else attached to the network would need to control the tuner.

Even the HDHomeRun Scribe Duo, which is a yet-to-be-released dual ATSC tuner with attached storage that Silicondust demoed at CES 2019, requires a compatible Android device, compatible iOS device, Xbox One or a home theater PC running software to watch and schedule recordings.

...but as you wrote, directly recording the stream from the HDHomerun turner with the device controlling it makes much more sense.

[usually_quiet]

I was also looking at the HomeRun equipment but wasn't sure if that would do OTA.

I cannot hook anything to my PC (different room) but everything (PC, TV) is on my network.

The HDHomerun CONNECT DUO and HDHomerun CONNECT QUATRO are OTA tuners. Silicondust makes different versions of these with digital tuners appropriate for the specific country in which it is sold. The HDHomerun requires an Ethernet connection to your router to be visible to your entire home network. If the TV is a DLNA device connected an to a wired network, you may be able play recordings stored on network attached storage or a PC using the TV, if it has a built-in media player. A TV's WiFi connection can work for streaming video stored on a PC or network attached storage, but not as reliably.

[dellsam34]

You need an OTA DVR such as the channel master, just plug a flash drive or a usb hard drive and record the original stream from the broadcaster no conversion, no HDMI involved, Then transfer files to your computer if you choose so.
Don't spend too much money on older set top boxes, the coming version ATSC 3.0 (IP streaming based, not OTA) will not be compatible with older tuners, you will end up with a door stop. The channel master DVR I linked should be compatible with the new version since it has the streaming capability.

[usually_quiet]

There is no need to worry about ATSC 3.0 yet. The FCC has decided that broadcasters can switch to ATSC 3.0 at their leisure. Wide adoption of ATSC 3.0 is still a long way off. I think there is one TV station in USA broadcasting with it over-the-air as a test case, WRAL-TV in Raleigh-Durham, NC.

[Edit] There were a few more test areas for ATSC 3.0 added last year while I wasn't paying attention: Phoenix, Dallas, Cleveland, and Lansing, Michigan. Even so, since the switch is voluntary, it will still take a while for every US market to have a UHD over-the-air broadcaster. Few UHD TVs sold in the USA include the required tuner.

[Gankaku]

Oh good. This channel master box looks like what I need. I've not come across this. I'm glad I asked here.

Just don't want a tivo or tablo because of the subscription fees and I want the stuff saved on my own drive and accessible as I like, not through their apps only.

And I didn't know about the upcoming switchover to ATSC. I will read up on that.

So looks like I will be sending this avermedia box back. Thanks.

[jagabo]

Oh good. This channel master box looks like what I need. I've not come across this. I'm glad I asked here.

It's about the same as the $28 box I linked to earlier. Maybe it's a little less buggy.

[TooOldToChange]

Considered getting the channelmaster stream unit, but decided to stick with the DVR+.

I've had a couple of the channelmaster DVR+ units for a few years. Good boxes. They have unfortunately quit making them, and only sell the streaming version now, which has the usual number of 'new unit' problems.

Nice thing about the DVR+ is that you get a 2 week guide free of charge. Not sure how long this will continue. Hopefully for a while, as I think the new stream unit uses the same guide. But the beauty of the DVR+ is that it can also use the guide that broadcasters provide, so it will be (admittedly less) useful when the free provided guide goes away. The less useful OTA guide broadcasters provide is sporadic, between a few hours to a few days of info. Also, the time sync provided by the broadcasters is not always the most precise. You can also set manual recordings like the old VCRs and magnavox DVR/DVD units. It is a 2 tuner unit, and has chase play, skip ahead/back, etc. I have found the tuner to be less sensitive than most of my TVs and other tuners. Or at least not as tolerant of reception issues.

DVR+ came with either an internal 1TB drive, or no drive. Hook up a USB drive and it will format it to Ext whatever. You can take the external drive and hook it up to your computer, but will need to run the Ext2Fsd program to see the files. Then you can run a program (DVR+Lister, see link) someone wrote to extract the videos, otherwise they just show as random, broken up files with numbered names. ChannelMaster's promise of making these recordings available over the network never materialized.



You can still find the DVR+ on ebay. I think they were about $249 shipped when new, occasionally having discounts. Used prices have risen after production stopped.

But the Homeworx or iView boxes would be the cheapest. They only use the OTA EPG. Only have one tuner. BUT, they record to your external NTFS USB drive, and the files are readable by the computer as-is. My experience has shown them to not be very reliable as far as making the recordings scheduled, and other glitches. They have their place.

https://www.avsforum.com/forum/42-hdtv-recorders/2963228-official-channel-master-strea...-s-thread.html

https://www.avsforum.com/forum/42-hdtv-recorders/1481183-channel-master-dvr-owners-thread.html

https://www.avsforum.com/forum/42-hdtv-recorders/2039802-dvr-lister-channel-master-dvr.html