We reported a couple of months ago that SiliconDust released an HDHomeRun app for the Roku. It was a very early beta, and it was basically only useful for watching live television. They’ve released a major update to that app, and the biggest new feature is that it now includes DVR capabilities.
The complete list of features includes more than just DVR functions. They are:
- DVR playback
- Fast forward and rewind
- Stop a recording you’re watching on one device and pick it up on another
- Progress info: Episodes and movies that have been stopped midway will show a progress bar indicating where they stopped
- Channel recall – if you hit the back-circle button, you’ll switch to the last channel you were watching
- A new, updated theme that’s a bit easier to read
- Episode info on playback and live TV by hitting the OK button
So as you can see, there are many quality-of-life improvements also. Channel recall is a great feature to have when you’re trying to watch two shows at once (like two sports events, or flipping to a baseball game during commercial breaks of your favorite sitcom.) If you only made it partially through a recording, even if it was on another device, there is a progress bar displayed in multiple areas of the user interface to indicate that. You can also hit the OK button on your Roku’s remote at any time to get episode information.
All of these new features require you to update the firmware on your HDHomeRun tuners. Browsing to my.hdhomerun.com from any device on your home network will allow you to accomplish this.
While this app is far more feature-rich than it was back in June, it’s still a beta. With that comes some limitations. For the most part, it only supports over-the-air (OTA) antenna tuners. SiliconDust says that some cable subscribers, with an HDHomeRun Prime, may be able to use the app. We presume that any copy-protected cable channels aren’t supported. Some cable providers only copy-protect premium channels, while others copy-protect all channels.
Another limitation that is still around from the initial release is that audio may not work in all cases. The app outputs audio using Dolby Digital, so if your TV or audio device don’t support Dolby Digital you won’t be able to hear anything. They have noted that all Roku TVs have Dolby Digital support baked right in.
For those of you using the new HDHomeRun Roku app, what are your thoughts? Do you like the theme changes? Are there features from their apps on other platforms that you’re hoping they’ll implement soon? Sound off in the comment section below.
Source: SiliconDust Blog
