Elgato announced the $199 HD Homerun this morning which is a very cool, though limited product.
I love the idea! A centrally located two tuner, HD DVR accessible from any networked computer and ready to share content with my AppleTV, iPod or iPhone. Unfortunately due to one substantial limitation, this box will not be sitting in my equipment rack anytime soon…
The Good – Record two separate HD inputs across your home network. The HD HomeRun sits wherever you’ve got a 100/1000base-T Ethernet connection and a cable box, which is a great option for people like me who have a wired home and a central place for all my gear.
The main negative with this box is that it only works with ATSC and ClearQAM signals meaning you will not be controlling your cable box, but rather working with the unencrypted and freely available signal. This negative is a deal breaker. I have no intention of starting to work with antenna based HD at this point.
Today, I can access our DVRs from any TV thanks to a rather complex installation and networked video. I’d love to export shows from the DVR for use on the AppleTV (more permanent) or to the iPhone, but I can actually do that now with the EyeTV 200 I have currently collecting some dust. Of course I would have to have a computer sitting next to both the cable box (or at least a wired coax connection) and the EyeTV. The HD Home run solves that connection issue by being able to be sit away from my computer, but adds a new wrinkle by only working with Coax connections so there’s no easy way to export from my cable DVR rig. So close…
