Help: OTA Antennae Reception Excellent on TV But Not With Plex+HDHomerun

Live TV & DVR
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This has been a long-standing issue, but one I’m just utterly confounded by: my house came with an old-school external antennae on the roof. If I plug the COAX cable into my TV directly, it gets great reception and a ton of stations. However, when I plug it into my HDHomerun Flex 4K, it’s…unpredictable. Sometimes it runs fine. Lately, it will only detect a handful of stations and, even then, when I got to watch them via Plex, out of the 15 stations it detects, only 2 will play. The rest I just get an “Error attempting to tune the selected channel.” This happens on my new Google TV and previously on my Roku TV. I just can’t figure out why the reception is totally fine when plugged directly into the TV and craps out when trying it through the HDHomerun/Plex. Any suggestions? Do I need to try a different recommended Tuner box listed on the Plex site? Everyone always raves about HDHomerun being the best, and when it works it’s FANTASTIC. But this inconsistency is just driving me nuts. Help!

Server Version#: 1.40.2.8395
Player Version#: ?
Tuner Make/Model: HDHomeRun Flex 4K
Guide/Lineup name: ?
Using XMLTV?: ?
Channel number/Name: N/A

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When is the last time you ran the HDHomeRun Software and checked to see if the tuner is up to date?

I check my 2 HDHR devices (Extend & Quatro) about once a quarter and have found they usually have an update every other time I check.

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Don’t forget that your TV has only one tuner. The HDHomeruns all have at least 2 or more. i.e. the signal of one antenna must now be shared among them.
i.e. it is perfectly possible that you’ll need a signal booster with the HDHR, even if you have sufficient good signal with a TV on the same antenna plug.

2 Likes
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Caution to be observed not to over amplify. Some boosters are adjustable and can assist in maximizing the signal suitable for multi device outlets.

1 Like
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Thanks everyone! First, yeah, I pretty regularly check for new HDHomerun firmware updates (the last I show is from December 2023). In the past that has typically helped. Should I roll back to an older firmware version?

I hadn’t thought about the number of tuners in the Flex 4K being a problem, but will keep that in mind. I did stumble across Silicon Dust’s converter thingy to block out LTE and 5G signals for improved reception. It arrives today so I’ll follow up if that helps my reception issue.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08QDWP43V?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

The thing I find really strange is that one of the channels most impacted is one that, for years, has come in perfectly fine and strongly. I can’t figure out why it would work great for a long time and then suddenly just…stop. It’s so weird.

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