The transcoder can spit out up-to 1080i h.264 video (“heavy” profile) or up-to 720p h.264 video (“mobile” profile). The SiliconDust HDHomerun EXTEND has a built-in transcoder and it works decently.
Yes, it is not as integrated as the Tablo solution, but it brings crystal clear OTA TV and also does not downsample 5.1 audio to 2.0 like the Tablo. The interface is beautiful, switching channels is nearly instantaneous, so channel surfing is totally doable here. So, what am I doing? There is an app for iOS and tvOS named Channels that brings live TV to any iOS or tvOS device. Yes, I understand Plex is really about collecting and organizing media and being just a DVR makes sense in this framework, but having live TV would still be nice. Tablo has live TV, but it is quite slow as the Tablo transcodes the incoming signal before sending it to the device – taking some 15-30 seconds when switching channels before video is presented. Here are some thoughts about Plex DVR, hitting on some of the concerns I brought up when Plex DVR was announced: I have been testing the Plex DVR for about a month now and have turned off the Tablo. What Plex DVR does is allow people with an antenna and SiliconDust HDHomerun device to capture OTA broadcasts into their Plex library and play it back when they want. But, getting media into Plex is either difficult (recording OTA broadcasts then moving them over to a Plex server) or illegal (Torrenting) or a bit of both (ripping one’s own optical media).
This is one of the problems that Plex has, it is a great media server that collects, sorts, presents and plays media. I also liked that Plex was getting into a business of helping people gain media legally and easily. Yes, I liked that there was more competition on the market (to give Tablo a nudge). So, back when the Plex DVR was announced, I was super skeptical about the product.
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