CAD's useless guide to setting up OTA antenna + DVR using hdhomerun & Plex

Objectives
* Free OTA HD
* DVR capabilities
* Multiple tuners
* Channel Guide
* Watch live TV anywhere in the world.

Requirements
* Antenna (*and hardware to hang it if you're not putting it in your attic)
--> mast - lowes has top rail for chain link fencing for $11 for 10' section. use a hacksaw to modify length if necessary. you want TOP RAIL, not POST RAIL which is significantly larger
--> mount - eave mount made most sense for me; no need to put a hole in my shingles so i bought the winegard eave mount which was only like $30 and is supposed to be the strongest eave mount available
* coax cable (50-100ft on amazon for like $12).. MEASURE LENGTH AND MAKE SURE YOU CAN GET WHERE YOU NEED TO GO INSIDE YOUR ATTIC FIRST
* Hdhomerun device (they make 2 tuner & 4 tuner). so far the little $35 refurb unit i purchased seems perfectly suited for me, no need to buy anything else.
* PC/server you can leave running. Doesn’t have to be particularly fast but you’ll want the biggest hard drive you can afford. (bigger hard drive = more recordings)**
* Ethernet switch
* Plex (free) + plex pass ($3/mo and you can get a month trial for free). Plex pass does all the magic; pulls in the channels, handles the DVR, etc.

**Can someone who uses nvidia shield talk about that option?

Helpful tools
* HDHomerun app
* Dioptra app
* antennaweb.org website
* tvfool.com website
* titantv.com website


Step 1 Selecting Antenna & coax cable
Go to antennaweb.org type in your address. You will get color-codes telling you what kind of antenna to buy. *SHOP AROUND*. If it’s a channelmaster or something you can generally find a refurb or amazon open-box for half of what a new one goes for. I think I paid $30 for mine. I was recommended a CM4221. You’ll also need to buy coax. I bought 50’ of coax for $10 on Amazon as their preferred item. If you have a longer run, consider 100’.
2 IMPORTANT THINGS HERE
1. Try this with the '30ft antenna height' option checked and unchecked because the type of antenna and number of channels you can receive both ways can vary dramatically.
2. NOTE THE DIRECTION IN DEGREES OF THE MAIN SIGNAL AT THIS TIME!! YOU WILL NEED THIS LATER. Mine is 26 degrees for every station except one. Set this to memory or write it down. Don't forget this number.


Note how many channels you will be able to receive. Its likely a lot more than you realize. Go to tvfool.com and you’ll get the full listing. IMPORTANT – Each “channel” you see may contain 3-4 ‘sub channels’ so for instance I see 10 channels when I look but yet I’m getting 46.

Step 2 Antenna location
Figure out where the antenna needs to go. If you can put it in the attic that’s the simplest way to go. I’m 20+ miles away from downtown (as the crow flies) with lots of hills between me & the broadcast signal so I needed to put something up.

Step 3 Hdhomerun
hdhomerun boxes are as easy as it gets and work directly with plex. You plug it in, then plug in the coax (coming in from antenna) and then run an ethernet cable from the box to your switch. That’s it. No configuration required. Plug and go. They have many different shapes & sizes but really it comes down to 2 factors:
1. 2 tuners vs 4. How many things do you want to be able to record at the same time? 4 works best because you can have 2 or 3 shows recording and still be able to tune into a live TV station so think this through
2. Uncompressed signal (cheaper) vs h.264 compression built-in. I have the cheapo uncompressed signal which means I’m probably going to chew up space on my hard drive like crazy. So far I haven’t really recorded much though and it seems to work just fine. I recommend maybe going with an older/simpler HD homerun device initially then maybe upgrading if you really like it.

Step 4 Installation
If you need to put the antenna outdoors, you can either stick it in the ground (lots of work) or connecting it to a chimney or eave. I bought the WINEGARD eave mount ($30) which is considered the strongest to hold up to winds, etc. The eave location works well (recommend putting it in back of house) because you can fish the coax in between the vents without having to drill a hole through your shingles like if you mounted the antenna on a chimney. MAKE SURE YOU CAN GET TO THE INSIDE OF THE EAVE IN YOUR ATTIC. You may want to take a walk up into your attic first to make sure. Here’s everything I took up to the roof with me:
* Drill with drill bit to predrill the holes so you don't crack the wood when screwing in those large bolts
* Correct sized wrench.
* a level
* A couple of cable ties to attach the coax to the pole to keep it from putting too much stress on where you screw it to the antenna
* YOUR CELL PHONE

I used a hacksaw to cut mast to 8’ which, when combined with the eave mount leaves antenna about 5’ over the eave. If you have a hacksaw it takes maybe 1-2 minutes to cut the pole. Very easy.
Also consider painting the pole with a matte paint at this point if you don’t want it to stand out too much. They make ‘camouflage’ paints that help it to blend into the background.
You’ll need to go up into the attic & fish the other end of your coax down the wall in the room you want your hdhomerun to live in. You can tell by light fixtures, etc. in the attic where your rooms are and there’s probably already a hole in the joist where the electrical or other goes into the wall.
IMPORTANT Don't tighten the antenna yet at this point.

Step 5 Calibration
While you're still on your roof, pull out your phone and launch diaptra and using the number you wrote down earlier, face the antenna that direction. If you do this now, you'll save potentially having to get back up on your roof again later.

Diaptra screenshot


Now tighten the mast down.


Step 6 Plug it all in
Connect coax, power & ethernet to hdhomerun. Fire up Plex (assuming you've already paid for plex pass) and it should see the hdhomerun device automatically and begin pulling in the channels and channel guides for everything at this time.

Also at this time, its not a bad idea to run the hdhomerun app and as you tune in channels using plex (either via computer or the plex app on your tv) you will see various data points about the signal for that channel appear so you'll have a pretty good idea how well that channel is going to work for you.

quote:

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Use the Signal Strength for a rough idea of direction, but align the antenna for the highest Signal Quality, ignoring Signal Strength. When aimed correctly, Symbol Quality will show 100%, indicating no errors in the output. Splitters and amplifiers can introduce noise which will lower the Signal Quality, even if the Signal Strength increases.

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BONUS I read if you run out of tuners (find the 2 are constantly in use) you can simply add a coax splitter and plug in a second hdhomerun and BOTH will show up in plex and will double the amount of tuners you have actively recording.


Anyway, TL;DR here's everything I learned while attempting to set up OTA and most of this i learned later on so i think it will be helpful for someone new to this to get an idea of everything they might need before starting on this project.