AVerMedia HD HomeFree Duet vs HD Homerun

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › AVerMedia HD HomeFree Duet vs HD Homerun

SATTV

1670 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 658

ID Verified

#88372 14-Aug-2011 22:21

Hi All,
Has anyone used both of these devices and can let me knpw which is the better?
The Avermedia and a few $ cheaper but I would rather get the most robust unit.
http://www.computerstore.co.nz/F200.aspx
vs
http://shop.hdhomerun.co.nz/

Look forward to your feedback

Cheers
John

I know enough to be dangerous

1 | 2

109 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 4

#507987 17-Aug-2011 15:22

John, did you make any decision on this?

Steve

nickb800

2735 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 829

Trusted

#508061 17-Aug-2011 16:22

I was suprised that when they finally got more units of the hdhomerun in stock in NZ that the price was the same ($199), given the gains that the NZD had made. Still looks like the better unit though, much more community support too.

SATTV

1670 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 658

ID Verified

#508279 17-Aug-2011 22:32

Hi Steve,
Not made a decision yet.
I know someone with a HD Homerun and he is really happy with it.
I guess it is in the want to have not need to have at the moment, I am glad see there are some options.

I know enough to be dangerous

steadysteve

109 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 4

#508335 18-Aug-2011 07:59

i am in a different position - i need to get some system in place soonish!

the attractive thing about the Homerun is, to quote from another thread: everything is "on the network"...

so, to my understanding, the machine can be accessed from other computers and vice versa. that seems far superior to another option of having an isolated freeview recorder that can hardly talk to any other device

reven

3748 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 874

Trusted

#508365 18-Aug-2011 09:35

i recently purchased the hdhomerun (new version at $199, old one was around $350 i believe), im really happy with it. only complaint would be the device is too light, so it pops up and doesnt sit flat on my table due to the weight of the cables.

but the device it self is really good, works well with many pvr software and you can have multiple hdhomeruns on the network for more tuners

also actually i would like to be able to assign it a static ip address, through its webinterface, but you cant. (so two very small complaints).

for $199 i think its a good buy

Privoxy

132 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 2

#508371 18-Aug-2011 09:47

reven:
also actually i would like to be able to assign it a static ip address, through its webinterface, but you cant. (so two very small complaints).

for $199 i think its a good buy

Use the DHCP client on your router?

Geekzone support

Support Geekzone with one-off or recurring donations Donate via PressPatron.

reven

3748 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 874

Trusted

#508375 18-Aug-2011 09:53

Privoxy:
reven:
also actually i would like to be able to assign it a static ip address, through its webinterface, but you cant. (so two very small complaints).

for $199 i think its a good buy

Use the DHCP client on your router?

yeah my crappy router doesnt have that. would like it to be on the hdhomerun device, most network devices let you set the network settings manually if you wish.

steadysteve

109 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 4

#508389 18-Aug-2011 10:15

good info, reven, thanks

so it finds all the freeview channels? what about epg options?

steadysteve

109 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 4

#509286 20-Aug-2011 08:46

i'm thinking that i really only want to watch tv in my lounge, so why go the homerun way? my wired network is pretty robust, but as someone pointed out on another thread, HD can be demanding on a network

would probably make more sense to go for a solid PCI-e solution...

any thoughts?

PANiCnz

999 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 161

#509334 20-Aug-2011 13:25

Depending on what backend you use theres not reason you can't stream Freeview from your HTPC to another PC anyway.

THe Homerun is just a nice idea if you dont want to have to turn on the HTPC every time even when your not using it.

gooki

33 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 4

#514256 31-Aug-2011 09:55

Just have to chip in here.

I purchased the HDHomeRun last week - arrived within two days (fantastic fast shipping).

Got the HTPC up and running over the weekend - couldn't be happier. I'd put off implementing a HTPC because of size, noise and reliability issues. But the wife finally said get rid of the TiVo, so out it went and in came the HDHomeRun. At the same time I managed to replace a lot of other components (Apple TV, Google TV, TiVo, DVD player).

I've used the dual tuner Nova, and a cheap USB DVB-T stick in the past. The Nova won't fit in my HTPC (ION ITX), and the USB stick requires additional resources that I'd rather not have to give up.

So a quick list of pros and cons for the HDHomeRun.

Pros:
- Dual tuners
- Good sensitivity tuners
- Small, elegant box (much nicer to look at than the old ones)
- Easy to setup
- Stable (note only tested for 4 days), definitely more stable than my TiVo box
- Can be accessed by more than one PC with minimal setup
- Acceptable price

Cons:
- It's light weight means once you've plugged in all the cables it's back heavy and doesn't sit flat. Some double sided tape works well.
- It's another box to power

A quick pick of my setup:

My fancy aerial is just a whip antenna on top of the TV. HDHomerun is the black box to the right, on top of the router.

Geekzone

Want to support Geekzone and browse the site without the ads? Subscribe to Geekzone now (monthly, annual and lifetime options).

steadysteve

109 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 4

#514281 31-Aug-2011 10:21

thanks, gooki, nice info.

so you are saying that the htpc doesn't have to be on because you can watch TV on another computer if you want?

what about epg issues?

i've always liked the look of the ion itx - are you happy with that?

gooki

33 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 4

#514307 31-Aug-2011 10:42

Correct, no need to keep my HTPC powered on if I want to watch TV on the netbook (HP Ion). It also means my wife can watch TV in bed with the netbook while I watch TV in the lounge.

As for EPG, each machine will have to be setup with their own EPG system, unless you run a server.

For me my lounge HTPC is setup to pull the full EPG, and my netbook just uses the now+coming next EPG data that is broadcast over the air. I don't need the full EPG here as I know exactly what I want to watch if/when it comes time to watch TV on the netbook.

With that said once my EPG app trial expires I'll buy it (It's cheap, less than $20) and install on both machines, simply because well I paid money for it so why not.

Yeah I'm happy with the Ion ITX, It's the Zotac dual core model. I purchased it a few years back and it's spent most of it's time just serving up media to my Apple TV. Nice to finally put it to better use. I haven't used it for movie playback year - I simply don't have the time, but I'll test it out and report back (I started converting a couple of hundred HDDVDs to 720p M4Vs earlier this year).

I would like more power, but only to do real time transcoding of video to my ipad. But this is something I'm happy to giveup for the next few years.

FWIW I actually leave my HTPC on 24/7. When it's not decoding video it draws about the same amount of power as my TiVo did in standby.

reven

3748 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 874

Trusted

#514312 31-Aug-2011 10:48

gooki:
With that said once my EPG app trial expires I'll buy it (It's cheap, less than $20) and install on both machines, simply because well I paid money for it so why not.

what epg app are you runnning? the epg collector (free open source app) works fine with a hdhomerun and the latest version can import the listings directly into windows media center.

i was using guidehound (good software) with the epg collector before it supported importing into windows media center. but i have stopped using windows media center and just use epg collector to generate an xmltv file and import that into another PVR (i switch PVR apps far too often...)

gooki

33 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 4

#514317 31-Aug-2011 11:00

reven:
gooki:
With that said once my EPG app trial expires I'll buy it (It's cheap, less than $20) and install on both machines, simply because well I paid money for it so why not.

what epg app are you runnning? the epg collector (free open source app) works fine with a hdhomerun and the latest version can import the listings directly into windows media center.

I too was using guidehound.

I did not know EPG Collector could import directly into WMC, In which case I may well switch. Thanks.

I'm still tempted to give MythTV a go, as I'm not sold on "Windows". but WMC7 seems to be working well if I just let it do it's thing. Ideally I wanted to use XBMC, but it has no internal PVR app and I can't be bothered integrating MythTV with it at the moment.

1 | 2