Tag: hdhr

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HDHomeRun Faulty Power Adapter

For quite some time, I’ve been hearing about people having faulty power adapters on their HDHomeRun on the Microsoft distribution alias. Turns out when I wanted to show VonLobster, I got the dreaded “Unable to locate tuners” error message.

I looked at my HDHR and notice all the LEDs were off. A closer look revealed the power LED was actually blinking green, but very dim. I looked at the power adapter and it was blinking red.

Later that night, I went to SiliconDust, hoping to contact customer support in regards to this issue. From what I’ve heard, it’s pretty simple to get them to replace it for you free of charge. Turns out if you go to their Submit a trouble ticket page, this issue is so big, that they actually streamlined it:

SiliconDust is offering replacements for the SW20-S050-15 power adapter shown.

A failing power adapter may result in one or more of the following symptoms:

  • Flashing power light on the HDHomeRun or failure to power on.
  • Flashing red light on power adapter.
  • Zero signal-to-noise quality (snq) on all channels.

If your HDHomeRun included this power adapter please see this page for a replacement power adapter.

If you go to their Power Adapter Replacement page, all you need to do is enter your HDHR device id (located on the bottom/back of your HDHR unit). They then verify if your HDHR unit actually came with a faulty power adapter and if it did, it prompts you for your name and address.

After submitting that info, I should be getting my power adapter in 3-5 days. I guess it’s good timing since new seasons for TV shows are just around the corner.

Update: Got my replacement power adapter today and once again, QAM HDTV on Vista Media Center works again 🙂

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Some New Toys

It’s been awhile since my last post, but this post is going to be short and probably only a summary. I’ve recently obtained some rather new cool toys to play with.

First of all, I finally took the plunge and purchased an HDHR (HDHomeRun). For those who don’t know what this thing is, it’s a dual external QAM/ATSC tuner for your PC and is the easiest way to get QAM channels on your Media Center. I’ve had Media Center for awhile now, but I’ve really ever used it to watch videos and stuff. I finally wanted to play with the TV settings and like I said, took the plunge. I got it for a $160 shipped (deal is still available, inquire if you’re interested), only to find out a few days later a rumor of an employee discount. I’ll probably talk more about this later.

The next toy I got is my new Lenovo Thinkpad X61 Tablet. I had actually ordered this back in mid-December, but due to a UPS fiasco and them delivering my package to some other address, Lenovo to build another one and that’s why it took so long for it to arrive. Then there was the fact I was no longer in Monterey Park, and had to change the shipping which was more complicated than I originally thought. Anyway, I had been holding out for a portable laptop for some time since my IBM Thinkpad X31. I really wanted a X-series Thinkpad with a better screen. They decided to put a better screen on the Tablet, but not the regular X-series, so I finally made up my mind to get it. I was also contemplating on waiting for Apple to release the MacBook Slim (or what I had called it), but finally gave up on waiting for it. When the MacBook Air was announced a few days ago, I justified to myself that most 1st generation Apple products have a lot of problems.

Anyway, this morning I was having some sort of dream. I can’t remember what exactly the dream was but it involved a doorbell ringing. Doorbell ringing?!?! I jumped out of bed, ran to the window and saw the UPS truck. I ran down the 2 flights of stairs as a kid would do on Christmas morning to greet my UPS guy and signed for my package. I’ve played with it for awhile really nice. I’m still not that accustomed to the tablet features, but it’ll probably come bit by bit. It comes with Vista Business and definitely needs more RAM. Fortunately, a 2GB stick is on its way. I’d go into the specs later with its official post.

Yep, life is good. 🙂