| Manufacturer: SiliconDust | Model: HDHomeRun Dual |
| List Price: $149.99 | Website: SiliconDust |
When I think of computer TV tuners, I get this picture in my head of what one is supposed to be. Namely, a TV tuner is either
- PCI/PCIe
- USB
based and connected to one computer. I never really paid much attention to external tuner devices as they seemed more Television Connected then PC Connected devices. I usually associated *any* external device in the same general class of such devices as TiVo, Boxee, Popcorn Hour, and others.
Perceptions can be very difficult to overcome and only the right marketing can get through to perception-impaired consumers like me.
Yes, I can be quite tunnel-visioned when need be! During my “Transform Your Windows Home Vail Into a Media Center” series, I would keep getting these comments: Use a HDHomeRun. It takes a while to get through to me, but I finally took a real close look at HDHomeRun and once I got past their irrational marketing concepts, I finally figured out what a HDHomeRun really is.
The HDHomeRun is an Ethernet based TV tuner. Nothing less and nothing more. Being Ethernet based, it has one tremendous advantage over other types of TV tuners, it can connect to any computer in your LAN (Local Area Network); not just a single computer. It also easily gets past the PCI/PCIe and USB limitations of a virtual operating system!
In my own pathetic defense, even their own marketing people don’t seem to understand what a HDHomeRun is.
Watch – Pause – Record – HDTV
Transform any computer into a
home entertain system!
I would think that the first thing you would want to tell people is “what is this product?”!
Network-based HDTV Tuner
Turn any computer in your
home into a TV
The black-lettered marketing BS at the top says nothing about the actual product and it makes SiliconDust try to compete against the set-top cable box. They ain’t gonna win that battle and their true competition are those PCI/PCIe and USB tuners. The much smaller and harder-to-read white lettering comes much closer to telling it like it is. Why are they embarrassed to tell it like it is? If they had simply told me what their product was, my 7-part series would have been 1-part.
Enough about marketing. I do hope you understand what a HDHomeRun truly is now (at least I do!) and it is time to move on. Maybe… It is most definitely time to discuss what I think is truly a great concept and a great product.
What’s In the Box
The first 2 box shots tells it all. The marketing misdirection and the this-is-what-it-REALLY-is.
The back of the box does a great job of explaining what this product is. Unfortunately, many a consumer may never get past the verbiage at the top of the front of the box.
It is interesting to note that most products I get for review (or even purchase) are rarely cellophane wrapped these days. It is quite interesting to note that the HDHomeRun comes packaged that way. Good? Bad? I don’t know. It is simply an observation.
Burrowing down, we come to the contents. Nicely packaged with the exception of one item. The CD liner is literally glued to the packaging. You have to remove it to get to the CD and it gets practically destroyed getting it off.
The contents, a CD (above), two coax cables, a Quick Start Guide. power cable, Ethernet cable, and
the star of the review, the HDHomeRun.
