Is Homerun really necessary?

All this does is use the house wiring from the router to the HDHR device (or wherever). I don't see how this would solve the OP's question. He would still need to connect the HDHR to the/an antenna. What am I missing?

Not referring to the Op. Just saying it's a way to add a second antenna without running cables all over the house

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I am still missing how one would connect an antenna cable to this device.

I have two Hdhomeruns that I could put in different areas in the house. Each with their own antenna

I believe the implication is to install an antenna, HDHomeRun tuner, and power line ethernet adapter at one end of the house, and a power line ethernet adapter near the network equipment—including the machine running the Channels DVR server—to facilitate OTA reception.

Again, I am lost. How would the location of the machine running the CDVR server facilitate (make easier) OTA (antenna) reception? The OTA signal requires a coax cable from the antenna to the HDHR device and the converted signal from the HDHR to the Server uses an Ethernet cable -- length (usually) unimportant. None of which addresses the two antenna/two HDHR device issue.

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What he is saying is that you don't need to run the coax very far. Could have different antenna on different sides of the house even. You can do one HDHR per antenna, the HDHRs don't have to be in the same place. And then use ethernet (or powerline ethernet adapters) to connect the HDHRs to a DVR.

This isn't how I do it. I am just stating what I think @Richard_smith was trying to get at.

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Correct

Yeah, I agree. Although I do have all my HDHRs in one place and just a different coax from each antenna going to its own HDHR, I spent time setting up coax and ethernet drops in my house when I bought the place. But for someone who doesn't have a house with ethernet wiring and doesn't want to worry about hiding the cabling, that is great solution... as long as the powerline connections are reliable (I have never used powerline before). There are also cable runways you can get at home improvement stores. These are commonly used by people who want to do something like a power, ethernet, or coax run without having to fish wires through the walls.

While I appreciate all the advise for HD antennas, I like the advise given by "tyuhl" at the top of this thread. I checked into Locast and I really liked what I saw from them. I live up against the base of the mountains and getting all the local stations has always been hard. No good line of sight to most of the towers. Even with the rotor some stations came in with a grainy quality and had distortion. If the Turner channels, TNT & TBS, are the only ones that won't come up in the Channels guide, I can deal with that.

But I have a stupid question, since I have not used streaming services before. If I set up a media server computer or a NAS, how do you connect various TV's in the house to it (I have 3)? Via ethernet cables to the TV's? Or do you need a media streaming devise like the AppleTV to be a go between? And how could you get the AppleTV content into the Channels guide or is that even possible?

You put a streaming device, like an Apple TV, on each TV. Ethernet is the most reliable way to connect these. Then you open an app on the Apple TV which pulls the channels and content from the server. This is what Channels does.

How do you "hook" the two HDHR together?

You don't. You connect both to your local network, and Channels will see both devices and combine their lineups.

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One last stupid question, just to make sure I have things straight... Does Channels DVR install on your Media Server or NAS, or does it install to the streaming device (AppleTV)? Can you use different streaming devices on different TV’s on your home network? Say an AppleTV on one television and Fire TV on another television?

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It installs on your NAS, PC. The only Streaming device it can install in is a Shield. Yes you can watch on any device inside or outside your home (depending on your upload speed/ power of your device).

You need the Channels app to install on each of your clients. And then the server software goes on a NAS or PC.

If you are going to use a NAS for the server, just make sure it is supported by Channels. I don't have my server installed on a NAS, but from what I've read the biggest issue I've read about is to make sure that the NAS processor is powerful enough and there's enough RAM installed on it.

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A decent processor is important, as most NAS machines use under-powered and under-performing ARM chips. If you ensure your NAS has an Intel/AMD processor, you'll be fine.

RAM really doesn't play much of a role, so don't worry about focusing on that aspect.

(The role of the processor is pretty non-important, really. The only real processor intensive tasks the DVR does are commercial detection and transcoding.)

I agree. Using a splitter as a combiner creates unpredictical problems. It simulates A kind of multipath interference. Use two of the Channel Master CM-4220 bow-tie/reflector screen antennas as they have a wide antenna pattern with good front-to-back ratios. You should to use 2 antenna preamps in most cases. Use CM-7777 if there are no nearby TV stations or CM-7778 if there are.

Let's try one comprehensive answer.

TVE is a back end system used by networks to use cable provider credentials to validate your access to their content. Networks may have different agreements with each cable provider to provide access. For example, direcTV credentials can be used to access Turner networks but YTTV cannot. There websites that have list of access.

Channels dvr software runs on a device(pc, Mac, NAS, Linux, Shield) in your home to receive and combine all the content. You can view the content on that device, via a web browser, mobile device, smart tv, or streaming device via the app.

So to watch on a TV, that TV needs to be a smart tv with the app or connected to a streaming device with the app.

Locast is great but you have to be a paid user of Locast for Channels dvr to work properly. Before you pay for a year of Locast , be mindful of 2 things. Locast is being sued to shut down. If they lose in court, they will not be around soon(so maybe pay by the month for now) . Locast uses internet data to bring to bring the content into your system. If your internet plan has a data cap(not speed limit) this may not be right for you. My plan with Comcast is 300mbs with a 1TB cap. If I go over 1 TB, I get charged more.

If you already have one antenna set up, I would try setting up additional antennas in different directions to receive the channels you want. Either use a combiner and one HD Homerun or run additional coax cables inside and use multiple Homeruns.

I love direcTV guide and DVR but not the cost. I pay Channels $8 month and can watch on any device or TV I want, have better DVR control, can record more than 2 shows at once, and can skip the commercials.

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