For TV sets that don’t support Dolby AC-4, Silicon Dust has a clever cloud transcoding service that flips the audio into a compatible format. While all the HDHomeRun apps all support Dolby AC-4, VLC Media Player doesn’t, which means I don’t get any sound when watching NextGenTV channels through VLC.
NextGenTV channels use the Dolby AC-4 audio format, which is not as universally supported as older formats, such as MP3. There is one problem as far as ATSC 3.0 goes, although it has nothing to do with the HDHomeRun Flex 4K. Still, it’s good to know that I’ll be ready to receive ATSC 3.0 channels once the programming and technology mature. In terms of new content or features, I gained two channels that weren’t already available over the air, including a local news channel, but otherwise the pictures didn’t look much different from what I was already receiving. The HDHomeRun Flex did a great job finding and decoding ATSC 3.0 channels from three broadcast towers in my area. ATSC 3.0 channels could eventually provide 4K HDR broadcasting and several other enhancements to the existing ATSC 1.0 format, but for now they are mostly relaying existing local HD channels in high-definition. You might have seen local broadcasters promoting these stations under the “NextGenTV” brand name. One of the main reasons I wanted to try the HDHomeRun was to gain access to ATSC 3.0 broadcasts. These latter channels are prone to occasional breakup on my Sony TV’s internal tuner, but the HDHomeRun 4K tuner appears to be a little more sensitive and manages to receive them without any problems. I live in the Washington, D.C., market, but I can also receive several channels from Baltimore. I have an external antenna, and within two minutes the box had detected 91 channels, including 14 in the ATSC 3.0 format. The Flex 4K’s four tuners allow it to tune in to for different channels at once.
and Canada, and two of those tuners also support the new ATSC 3.0 format that has started popping up in some TV markets. All four support ATSC 1.0, the standard digital broadcast format used across the U.S. I’ve been talking about “the” tuner, but the HDHomeRun Flex 4K actually has four tuners. You can also scan channels through the app, but I found the web interface to be easier and faster. This brings up a basic UI that allows for channel tuning, along with a status page and a system menu. I made the three connections to the unit, waited a few moments for it to register on my home network, and then accessed it via a web interface.
Getting the unit up and running was simple. The rear of the HDHomeRun Flex 4K boasts a coax TV antenna connector, a power socket, ethernet, and a USB-A port.
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