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Using with VLC (Windows)

Per the instructions in the SiliconDust forums, I downloaded and installed VLC media player and the HDHomeRun Config utility. I also downloaded and installed the latest firmware for the device, which is currently 20061127 ("Upgrade" tab in HDHomeRun Config). If your home network does not include some sort of router, i.e., you use multiple IPs from your ISP, you'll definitely need to load the latest firmware, else you won't be able to connect to the box.

All of the instructions were pretty straightforward. Upon plugging the box into my network and turning it on, it grabbed an IP address from my DHCP server (static DHCP in my case). I don't see any way to set a static IP address on the unit itself, but some suggestions are listed here.

Since I don't have digital cable, I plugged an antenna (the same amplified indoor antenna I use with my DirecTV HR10-250) into the tuner 0 input (the one not next to the ethernet port) on the HDHomeRun and used the "8vsb" selection next to "Channel" in the HDHomeRun Config. A simple click on the right-arrow button to the right of "Scan" was all that was necessary to scan for OTA channels. The best channel I found for

both signal strength and HD content was KTSC DT, which is a PBS HD channel. In order to use VLC with the HDHomeRun, it was necessary to click "Launch VLC" from within HDHomeRun Config.

Here is a screenshot of the HDHomeRun Config on the PBS HD channel:

Here is a snapshot (CTRL-ALT-S in VLC) I took while watching a space program in VLC (picture scaled to fit, click image for full size and quality).

I found the picture quality to be better than any DVD I've watched on my laptop, though I did notice an occasional "blip" on the screen. Given the signal strength on that channel, I found that a bit surprising, but the blips weren't frequent enough to be annoying, and they were only in the picture and not the audio. I also noticed occasional "scan lines" in the picture. I am curious as to the performance with digital cable, but I currently have no way to test it.

I noticed one thing missing in VLC: options under the Navigation menu. The instructions at the Silicon Dust forums state "Use 'Navigation' menu in VLC to choose program to watch." The Navigation dropdown was empty on my system. I posted a question concerning this in the forums, and I received a reply from "jafa" in five minutes:

The new release of the hdhomerun_config GUI detects and manages the programs itself - use the program pull-down box in hdhomerun_config to select the program.

Nick

To me, that's a very good indication as to the support for this device.

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