HDHomeRun FLEX DUO vs Cable

[Grumpus]

Can anyone out there confirm that the SiliconDust HDHomeRun FLEX DUO works with basic cable channels?

I am moving into a very small apartment here in the western US which provides Xfinity basic cable 'for free.' There is a small box attached to one of the walls with two type-f sockets, one labeled 'to cable modem' and one labeled 'to tv.' My cable modem is working fine. I'd like to take advantage of the tv channels, given that I'm paying for them indirectly anyway. But since the apartment is really quite small, to save space I'd like to dispense the the actual TV set and stream the video to my MB Air. Xfinity provides the Xfinity Stream app, but it's IOS-only and I don't have a suitable IOS device.

The HDHomeRun FLEX DUO looks like it could work, but I'm having trouble verifying that that it works with cable channels. The SiliconDust web site has been less than helpful. This YouTube video shows setting up a CONNECT DUO, and in the channel setup there seems to be a drop-down selector for 'antenna' or 'cable' (after 3:30). The CONNECT DUO has been replaced by the FLEX DUO, so while the video makes me hopeful that the FLEX DUO would work, I'd like to be more sure before parting with my money. Can anyone confirm that the FLEX DUO works with cable?

I'm aware of the HDHomeRun PRIME which uses a 'cable card' but I'm reasonably sure that the video is unencrypted by the time it reaches the Xfinity box in my apartment so that doesn't quite fit my use case.

As far as I can tell, Apple TV can't do what I'm looking for, but it would be good to find out that I'm wrong about that. I'm grateful for any suggestions.

 

[rui no onna]

The HDHomeRun should work with unencrypted/ClearQAM. Whether the cableco still provides ClearQAM or not is iffy.

I’m in the Los Angeles area with Charter/Spectrum and I’ve long given up on ClearQAM. I just have my HDHomeRun connected to antenna for the local channels. Interestingly enough, it seems Charter was recompressing the streams from local channels since antenna gave me better quality (less blockiness) versus ClearQAM.

The FCC seems to have dropped the unencrypted requirement for local channels so I wouldn’t be surprised if the “to TV” socket actually required a set-top box.

 

[Grumpus]

The FCC seems to have dropped the unencrypted requirement for local channels so I wouldn’t be surprised if the “to TV” socket actually required a set-top box.

Thanks for the reply. I was finally able to speak to an actual human being at Xfinity and although I didn't ask specifically about the HDHomeRun I was told that no other equipment is required to use the 'to tv' port. There is also an HDMI port on the side of the box that I hadn't noticed before. So the signal coming out of the box is probably unencrypted. At this point I think I can only order an HDHomeRun and try it out. I'll report back.

 

[bozzykid]

Thanks for the reply. I was finally able to speak to an actual human being at Xfinity and although I didn't ask specifically about the HDHomeRun I was told that no other equipment is required to use the 'to tv' port. There is also an HDMI port on the side of the box that I hadn't noticed before. So the signal coming out of the box is probably unencrypted. At this point I think I can only order an HDHomeRun and try it out. I'll report back.

I'm pretty sure most cable companies encrypt most of the channels these days. About the best I would expect would be the locals and perhaps a few random channels.

 

[brucewayne]

https://www.xfinity.com/stream/ go to this site, log in with whatever your primary email is on your internet service, and watch directly without all the hdprime nonsense

AppleTV has an Xfinity Stream app also, I've been using it since it was released in August with no issues at all

 

[Grumpus]

https://www.xfinity.com/stream/ go to this site, log in with whatever your primary email is on your internet service, and watch directly without all the hdprime nonsense

AppleTV has an Xfinity Stream app also, I've been using it since it was released in August with no issues at all

I knew about the Stream app but I was unaware of the stream web site link, thank you for pointing that out - it's the perfect solution for me.

 

[Honza1]

I have prior generations of HDHomerun devices and all do indeed work with unencrypted QAM. If you buy from distributor with sensible return policy, you can try it and see. It takes few minutes to verify. Your problem is likely more the xfinity than HDHomerun. Unencrypted QAM is going extinct, I would not be surprised if the support had no idea what it is. Availability was always being intentionally obscured and cable boxes pushed on customers simply for control.
If you are close to broadcast tower, simple in room antenna may get you better signal for free with TV broadcast for the broadcast networks.

 

[Grumpus]

I have prior generations of HDHomerun devices and all do indeed work with unencrypted QAM.

Thanks for verifying that. The input to the wall-mounted Xfinity box may indeed be encrypted, but at this point I'm fairly confident that the output is unencrypted. Other building residents have their TVs directly connected to the 'to tv' port. The solution suggested by @brucewayne works great, and with a few exceptions (like PBS) I don't even have to be connected to my home network to use it, so I'm happy to save the cost of an HDHomeRun box.