Set up the HDHomeRun Device on Windows 7 Platforms

This page lists the steps to configure a HDHomeRun device to run with the RI.

These instructions were tested with HDHomeRun Dual ATSC Tuner, Model No: HDHR-US. The CD was labeled "HDHomeRun Installation CD April 2008".

Physically connect the HDHomeRun to the network and the cable plant

  1. Make a note of the device ID found on the sticker underneath the device. In these notes we use 1015CDA4.
  2. Plug in the device. There is no power switch. A green status light on the left of the front panel shows the system is "on".
  3. The device has two tuners. Connect the cable RF to Tuner 0 on the left, rear of the device.
  4. Connect to the internet with a wired connection, not a wireless connection.

Install the software

  1. Load the CD
  2. Select the option to "Install HDHomeRun Software". The other software is not used. We did not use the website instructions.
  3. Run the HDHomeRun Setup Wizard to install the HDHomeRun software and the VLC Setup Wizard to install the VLC software
  4. When the installation is completed, HDHomeRun starts the Setup GUI

Configure the device

  1. From the start menu: All programs -> HDHomeRun -> HDHomeRun Setup
  2. A list of devices discovered on the network is displayed in the left sidebar of the application. Select your device (deviceID-tune) from the list, for example, 1015CDA4-0
  3. The right side has two tabs (tuner and Lineup). The default is the tuner tab. Select "Digital Cable" for the Signal Source and "Vista MCE" for the Application.
  4. On the Lineup tab, select country and zip code (for Cablelabs use 80027). Checkmark "Connect to the Siliconduct Lineup Server". Click "Apply".
  5. From the start menu: All programs -> HDHomeRun -> HDHomeRun Config (GUI)
  6. A list of devices discovered on the network is displayed in the left sidebar of the application. Select your device (deviceID-tune) from the list, for example, 1015CDA4-0
  7. On the tuner configuration tab on the right side, select "QAM" for channel and "1" for channel number.
  8. Click "->>" to start the scan. Scan progress is displayed in the status section which includes channel (QAM) , program (1.0), signal strength (100%), signal quality (100%), symbol quality (100 %), raw channel rate (should be non-zero number), network rate (is initially 0, when VLC is running the network rate should be non-zero). The first discovered channel was number 61 and it was found 95 seconds after the scan began.
  9. Select "Launch VLC" from the HDHomeRun Config GUI. VLC will automatically be started and display the channel. On the front panel of the device a second status lite is on to show that tuning was successful. When you stop VLC it turns off.

Verify operation of HDHomeRun Device:

  1. Select "Launch VLC" from the HDHomeRun Config GUI
  2. Select File -> Open Network Stream
  3. Verify that the UDP protocol is checkmarked (usually the default setting). There are two ways to access the "Network" tab. Either click the "PLAY" button which will display the "Network" page, or select File, and Open Network Stream .

Note: The HomeRun device always needs to have a process at the specified target otherwise it will exit immediately. This means that the process capturing the output from the HomeRun device needs to be started prior to entering the commands for the HomeRun device. The HDHomeRun Manager must be up and running. The commands listed in step 6 can then be run.

Now that you have verified that the HomeRun device is streaming and you can receive output, you are ready to run with the RI. The most common method is to use the TuneTest Xlet.

Configure the RI to tune with HomeRun Device:

Make the following changes to $PLATFORMROOT/platform.cfg

1. Make sure the following parameter matches the IP of the machine you are running on (it won’t work with 127.0.0.1):

RI.Platform.IpAddr = 10.36.16.191 (for example)

2. Make sure you have specified tuner type as HomeRun:

RI.Headend.tunerType = HDHR

3. Comment out ATE frequency so it won’t get confused:

#RI.Headend.ate.frequency = 603000000

4. Make sure there is only one set of RI.Headend.tuner.0 properties - the rest should be commented out (i.e. for RTP, etc.)

5. Setup to use tuner 0:

RI.Headend.tuner.0.tunerNum = 0

6. Setup tuner 0 port to match the port specified in HomeRun target command:

RI.Headend.tuner.0.TunerRxPort = 4140

7. Setup tuner 0 Streamer to match the ID of HomeRun device used in HomeRun commands:

RI.Headend.tuner.0.StreamerPort = 0x101507A0

8. Setup tuner 0 Streamer IP to match the IP of the machine you are running on:

RI.Headend.tuner.0.StreamerIp = 10.36.16.191

RiExerciser Xlet config.properties

1. If the RI is not already configured to run RiExerciser, start it using the following commands:

> cd $PLATFORMROOT
> ./runRI.sh -setup -xlet RiExerciser

2. Hit <CTRL> C to exit the RI.

3. In $OCAPROOT/bin/$OCAPTC/env/qa/xlet/config.properties edit the tuning property sets to ensure it uses the one(s) that match(es) the channel(s) available on the HD HomeRun stream.

    • Make sure it does not use the java tv channel map

use_javatv_channel_map=false

    • Make sure the frequency matches the value identified during the HDHomeRun channel scan (see "Configure the device" section above):

gen_channel_freq_0=447000000

    • Use a program number which has video. The program number is identified during HD HomeRun channel scan (see "Configure the device" section above):

gen_channel_program_number_0=2

    • Set the qam value to "8" for 64 QAM and "16" for 256 QAM:

gen_channel_qam_0=8

Note: The channels in config.properties can be defined by gen_channel_freq/gen_channel_program_number/gen_channel_qam or by digital_channel_sourceId/digital_channel_name/digital_channel_num.  The settings above assume the gen_channel_freq/gen_channel_program_number/gen_channel_qam format.

You should now be able to start up the RI and see video streaming from the headend via the HDHomeRun Device.

HDHomeRun documentation

Technical documentation for the HDHomeRun can be found at http://www.silicondust.com/hdhomerun/hdhomerun_tech.pdf.

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