Cutting the Cord - 64-bit Hardware & Apps

In my last blog post I wrote about the coming updates to MacOS that requires all applications to be 64-bit compliant. After searching through my Go-To applications I discovered that my current cord-cutting applications will fail when 64-bit is implemented. Bummer! Adding insult to injury my always reliable SiliconDust HDhomerun CONNECT recently died. The question before me was: What hardware do I buy and will the software work with the next MacOS? 

History

I have posted before about my desire to shed my dependence on Comcast and reduce my cable bill. Long ago I purchased an Elgato EyeTV tuner. It was a firewire tuner that worked great with my G4 MacPro. When it stopped working I moved on to SiliconDust but continued to use Elgato EyeTV software.

Unfortunately Elgato has moved on and they no longer sell TV tuners or software. They are now focused on their Eve Home IOT hub. Even the Turbo.264 Software I used to edit my MPEG files is no longer sold in the App Store. 

"Thank you for contacting Elgato Systems. Unfortunately, Elgato no longer provides support for the Turbo.264 HD QuickTime component nor for 3rd party API access to Turbo.264 HD hardware encoding, for both business reasons and technical limitations."

Both Elgato Hardware and Software tools have been sold off to Geniatech. And it seems Geniatech is more focused on the European market than the US market.  OK then, what now? I needed to replace both hardware and software and make sure it was 64-bit and fit my workflow.

The Hardware

One of the reasons that I bought my first SiliconDust tuner was that it was network connected and I could access the 2 tuners from any Mac on my network. In looking at the Geniatech products and other TV tuners available most had USB connections. One box and accessing that from any Mac on the network is feature now rely on so I figured my best option was to stick with SiliconDust. 

Since I wanted an Ethernet tuner not USB and only wanted/needed 2 tuners it came down to the old HDhomerun Connect model the newer HDhomerun Duo or the HDhomerun Extended.  

The HomeRun Extended has the ability to transcode video to H.264 on the fly so you can stream your content.  I don't really need that and since it's more expensive my choice came down to the CONNECT or the Duo.

The CONNECT model is and older hardware & cheap. It's often available for sale and Amazon and other online sites normally have it for under $70. There doesn't seem to be a real functional difference between the CONNECT and Duo models. Even the Silicon Dust web site seems to indicate they are almost the same. So why pay for a new one?

Glad you asked. 

*** IMPORTANT***

This took me a quite a few emails but here's the key difference between the CONNECT and the DUO. The old CONNECT model, when using SiliconDust HDhomerun software, is unable to do a channel scan!! The only way to scan for channels is to use a Windows computer.

"A channel scan must be run in Windows when using old HDHomeRun devices with the app. The old devices do not have the ability to run a channel scan locally nor the ability to store a channel lineup, so the Windows program must be used. Newer HDHomeRun devices have additional capabilities and can run the scan themselves, so Windows is not needed for them. If you do not have access to a Windows PC then we would suggest going back to an earlier version of EyeTV that does support the HDHomeRun.

- Silicondust Support"

OK SiliconDust HDHomerun Duo it is. 

Software

Now that I had my hardware I needed 64-bit TV tuner software that worked. As previously mentioned I used EyeTV as my tuner software for a long time and it is now supported by Geniatech. Unfortunately Geniatech Support tells me that all HDHomeRun product are no longer supported on EyeTV.

"We just discontinue (sic) support of the HDHomeRun products permanently.You can consider the eyetv u 6 but we can not make sure if it can meet all of your requirements completely. Plese check this link: https://www.geniatech.us/eyetv/  

Geniatech EyeTV Support Team"

If you do rely on EyeTV please be aware that version 3.6.9 (7520) still works with High Sierra & SiliconDust hardware. So don't upgrade! If you do upgraded you will find your EyeTV is bricked. It doesn't recognize any SiliconDust hardware. 

The good news is that you can downgrade the software and get it working again. Here's the link to version 3.6.9 (7520) download site if you want to grab it. 

SiliconDust does have tuner software that works with the Mac. It's a bit different than EyeTV but it works. If you have the newer Duo version of hardware you can use Mac and follow the online instructions to scan the airwaves for channels in your area and watch live TV. Basically you use a web interface (http://my.hdhomerun.com) that scans the local network for your HDHomeRun Tuner. 

Click on the "Channels" link in the white box to the left and it will take you to a configuration page based on the IP address of the tuner on your network. This site allows you to upgrade Firmware, and scan for channels. In large urban areas it's not a bad idea to rescan every few months as new channels are added frequently.

Once you have run the scan restart the HDHomerun application and you can now watch live TV.

Of course it's never that easy. The downside of the free HDHomerun software is that there is no DVR functionality built in. To get the ability to record your shows you will need to pay $8/mo. Wow! 

Conclusion

So in the end I bought a SiliconDust Homerun Duo network tuner and will use the SiliconDust TV software when Apple requires 64-bit applications. But now I need hunt down the best 64-bit compatiable DVR software for my Mac so I can record the programs I want. 

I'll get into that next time.