Live TV and DVR

What live TV and DVR at home means

Broadcast TV still arrives free through the air in many countries. An aerial (antenna) picks up the signal and a tuner turns it into pictures. Normally the tuner is inside your TV, so only that TV can watch.

A network tuner moves that job into a small box beside your router. Every TV, phone, tablet and computer in the house can then watch live channels, and a DVR (digital video recorder, which saves programmes as files) records them on a schedule. You can pause and rewind live TV, keep recordings as long as you like, and pay no monthly bill for the basics.

Check your reception before anything else

Everything depends on which channels reach your address, and how strongly. Before buying anything, use the reception checker for your country, listed lower on the page. It shows which transmitters you can reach and how strong each signal should be.

Then check two more things:

• The right model for your country. The US and Canada use a broadcast standard called ATSC. The UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand use DVB-T and DVB-T2. A tuner made for one doesn’t work with the other.
• Your aerial. If a TV in the house already gets a good picture from the aerial socket, that aerial will do. Otherwise, an indoor aerial can be enough close to a transmitter, and further away a loft or roof aerial pointed at the transmitter makes the biggest difference.

How it works

The number of tuners inside the box matters. As a rule of thumb, each tuner handles one channel at a time, so a two-tuner box can show or record two channels at once. Recording one programme while two people watch other channels needs three.

What it needs

• An aerial, and a cable from it to wherever the HDHomeRun will sit.
• An HDHomeRun for your country, connected to your router with a network cable.
• Somewhere to keep recordings. A USB hard drive plugged into the HDHomeRun is the simplest. A computer that stays on works too, if you’d like recordings to sit in Jellyfin or Plex. An hour of HD takes a few gigabytes, and more in the US, where broadcasts use an older, less efficient video format.
• The free HDHomeRun app, on most phones, tablets, streaming boxes and computers.
• A TV Licence, in the UK, to watch or record live TV on any device.

How the HDHomeRun fits in

• Live TV on every screen, through its own free app or any other app that supports it.
• Recording with no server. Plug a USB hard drive into the box and its app records to it. Recording single programmes is free. Automatic series recording and a longer programme guide are a paid yearly add-on.
• Pause and rewind live TV.
• Works with media servers. Jellyfin, Plex, Emby and Channels DVR all use its tuners, so recordings can sit beside your films.
• No computer to keep running if you stick to its own app and a USB drive.

The easy way to set it up

None of this needs the terminal. Start with the simplest route, and add a server only if you want one.

Without a server:

1. Connect the aerial to the HDHomeRun, and the HDHomeRun to your router with a network cable.
2. Install the HDHomeRun app on a phone, TV box or computer. It finds the box and scans for channels.
3. To record, plug a USB hard drive into the box, then open hdhomerun.local in a browser and format the drive from the box’s own page. Formatting erases everything on the drive.
4. Pick programmes from the guide and record them.

With Jellyfin, so recordings join the rest of your library:

1. Install Jellyfin on a computer that stays on. Media servers covers the no-terminal ways to do that.
2. In Jellyfin’s dashboard, open Live TV and add your HDHomeRun as a tuner. It’s usually found by itself. If not, type in its address.
3. Add a programme guide. In the US and Canada that usually means a Schedules Direct membership; elsewhere, an XMLTV guide file.
4. Match the guide’s listings to your channels, then choose programmes to record from the guide.

Channels DVR, among the options below, also installs with an ordinary installer on Windows and Mac, and includes its own guide.

Questions people ask

How many tuners do I need?

One for each channel you want to watch or record at the same time. Two suits one or two people. Four covers a household that records a lot.

Can I watch away from home?

Jellyfin plays live TV and recordings away from home over Tailscale, the same way it plays films. Channels DVR has its own option for watching while you’re out. See remote access.

Can it record cable or satellite?

Not satellite: the HDHomeRun is for aerial TV. The current model for the UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand also takes unencrypted digital cable, but pay-TV channels are encrypted and need the provider’s own box. Satellite needs a different kind of tuner, such as a SAT>IP box, which Tvheadend can use.

Can it skip the adverts?

Channels DVR finds adverts in recordings and skips them automatically, and that’s one of the main reasons people pay for it.

Do I need a TV Licence?

In the UK, yes, to watch or record live TV on any device, including through these apps. Other countries have their own rules, so check yours.