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Comment by _factor | Hacker News Reader

For reference, I just pointed my antenna in the attic towards the nearest metropolis, picked up 108 channels, sent them to an HDHomeRun box that sends them to Plex which handles the guide data and DVR to an SMB share.

It took a couple hours in the evening, most of which was just fiddling with the antenna mount and scanning the channels. It’s a lot easier than it used to be. Granted I planned and ran ethernet to the attic years earlier, but it’s not rocket science.

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How does ethernet to the attic help with this?

The coax and the network have to meet somewhere and for this person (maybe no existing coax runs in the house or to the attic?) it was easier to have them meet in the attic instead of say in a utility room or closet.

I think the only concern might be subjecting the HDHomeRun to attic temperatures in the summer.

In a signal limited environment somewhat far from the local metropolis the coax run from the attic to wherever can make the difference between channel and no channel, fixed most simply by bringing the box to the attic. There are alternatives that sometimes work.

I ended up running coax to my network cabinet and put the HDHR there, because my attic gets significantly hotter than the maximum rated operating temperature of the HDHR.

I'm also long-term concerned about how Plex as a company is moving away from its server product and towards FAST (free, ad-supported TV), a feature I almost never use. I'd love to see Jellyfin get some equivalent features.

I did the same. Digital antenna in the attic with a coax to my cabinet in the basement. Been working great for years, although I don't use it for much beyond watching the bears play live.

I'm also quite displeased with plex's new direction. Would love to see some real competition.

Yeah I am definitely not a fan of the new Plex app either

Yes, that is where I am confused. Surely, attic temperatures are not ideal for the HDHomeRun device.

I was concerned by this and humidity also, two summers in (one extra hot) and no issues yet. It even handles the MPEG2 transcoding locally for good measure.

The versions of HDHomeRun that support 4K only have ethernet for networking. This has been a limiting factor for me in terms of reception.

Nothing a $40 wifi-Ethernet module couldn't patch up.

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