The answer to my OTA prayers
So I’m no newbie to DTV, having entered into the hobby 20 yrs ago when running EyeTV (by El Gato) on a MacBook Pro (dongle had its own small antenna and inserted into laptop by a USB dongle. I’ve also owned RCA880 DVR, a basic TS recorder which allowed users to import unencrypted video files from USB flash storage for editing.
Long story short: I bought a 4-tuner Tablo about 6 months ago, and since I live in a fringe reception area behind a hill that’s 30 miles away from the towers (so no line of sight: did I mention I’m also indoors?), I’ve struggled to orient my antenna (VHF/UHF Winegard 7694) to pick up any useful reflected signals.
I used my old Sony Bravia to monitor antenna signal strength (it updates in real time) as I changed orientation and placed parasitic rods, but it was incredibly time consuming, esp since the Tablo device doesn’t offer real-time signal analysis metrics. Despite the difficulty and somewhat flying blind, I was able to pull in 109 virtual channels, but constantly looking for a better approach (I’d lose channels if someone sneezed: it was THAT brittle living on a digital cliff).
So my 6 mo old Tablo hard-broke a few days ago (not user-repairable) and since I had new UHF and VHF antennae arriving the next day, I made a difficult decision to look at other available alternatives, and pulled the trigger on HD HomeRun 4k.
The fact Silicon Dust (makers of HomeRun) allows devs to access to such info is a YUGE advantage, as it allows tech-savvy users to make difficult tasks much easier (eg I’ve found I had to use pre-amps in series after finding one alone didn’t cut it, and this app quantified my gut assessment (most users live in urban areas 5 miles away from tower, and incorrectly assume they need more power, when they actually need better alignment and orientation to make the most of the strong signals in their neighborhood by using an app like Signal GH).
At only $2.99, this app is money well-spent.
Long story short: I bought a 4-tuner Tablo about 6 months ago, and since I live in a fringe reception area behind a hill that’s 30 miles away from the towers (so no line of sight: did I mention I’m also indoors?), I’ve struggled to orient my antenna (VHF/UHF Winegard 7694) to pick up any useful reflected signals.
I used my old Sony Bravia to monitor antenna signal strength (it updates in real time) as I changed orientation and placed parasitic rods, but it was incredibly time consuming, esp since the Tablo device doesn’t offer real-time signal analysis metrics. Despite the difficulty and somewhat flying blind, I was able to pull in 109 virtual channels, but constantly looking for a better approach (I’d lose channels if someone sneezed: it was THAT brittle living on a digital cliff).
So my 6 mo old Tablo hard-broke a few days ago (not user-repairable) and since I had new UHF and VHF antennae arriving the next day, I made a difficult decision to look at other available alternatives, and pulled the trigger on HD HomeRun 4k.
The fact Silicon Dust (makers of HomeRun) allows devs to access to such info is a YUGE advantage, as it allows tech-savvy users to make difficult tasks much easier (eg I’ve found I had to use pre-amps in series after finding one alone didn’t cut it, and this app quantified my gut assessment (most users live in urban areas 5 miles away from tower, and incorrectly assume they need more power, when they actually need better alignment and orientation to make the most of the strong signals in their neighborhood by using an app like Signal GH).
At only $2.99, this app is money well-spent.
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No longer works
I’m having a problem with the app connecting to a HDHR Quatro. It used to work, but no longer does. It sees the HDHR, but won’t do a scan and quickly disconnects. There are no issues connecting to it via its web page or Plex. The problem exists using this app on iPhone, iPad, and AppleTV. Unfortunately there is contact information for developer support. Disappointed.
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Incredibly useful
I had been grinding through optimization of my antenna setup using spreadsheets and hdhomerun_config when I discovered this app. Wow! Incredibly comprehensive data represented visually in real time. The ideal tool for what I want to do at a very reasonable price. Great app. Highly recommended!
Superb diagnostic tool
I rarely spend the time to write a review, but this is the app that convinced me to spend the time. I was trying to use the HDHomeRun-supplied tools to tune the antenna and test reception and just found it totally inadequate. I read some online forms of people having similar issues and they recommended this software. I couldn’t be happier. It gave me everything that I needed in a quick simple easy to use interface that I needed to optimize my reception
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What happened to Canadian Channels?
First off I love this app.
I use it all the time to check my signal strength for my OTA antenna, but when I first got it the map showed Canadian stations so I was able to use it to point my antenna better. Now, after the last update (I want to say) the Canadian stations aren’t on the map. This is a feature that I hope comes back. Had to knock of a star for that.
I use it all the time to check my signal strength for my OTA antenna, but when I first got it the map showed Canadian stations so I was able to use it to point my antenna better. Now, after the last update (I want to say) the Canadian stations aren’t on the map. This is a feature that I hope comes back. Had to knock of a star for that.
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Excellent tool for “OTA TV Hobby”
I joke about over-the-air TV being a hobby. Years back I had mixed luck and was constantly tinkering to improve marginal reception.
At his point tinkering is minimal and I’m lucky to have very good reception. This utility has been essential to getting my antenna optimized and signal stable.
One nit. My one ATSC 3 station seemingly takes a bit of time for my hdhr box to lock the signal. The experiments feature maybe samples a bit too short a time showing randomly 0% or 100% for a signal that in reality is a solid 100%. I bet increasing the experiments sample time a bit would eliminate this false alarm.
At his point tinkering is minimal and I’m lucky to have very good reception. This utility has been essential to getting my antenna optimized and signal stable.
One nit. My one ATSC 3 station seemingly takes a bit of time for my hdhr box to lock the signal. The experiments feature maybe samples a bit too short a time showing randomly 0% or 100% for a signal that in reality is a solid 100%. I bet increasing the experiments sample time a bit would eliminate this false alarm.
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Unusable
Completely non functional. Can’t detect HDHomerun unless IP manually entered. Then it promptly forgets it. If you do manage to get the scan to run it promptly freezes the app. Don’t waste your money. There is a reason there is no free trial.
So handy!
Does what it says on the tin. Hint: if you aren’t able to see your HDHR, make sure you granted Local Networks permission when it asked during startup.
I’ve used this to verify my setup is doing the best it can to cope with passing aircraft and to verify the cables and connectors are behaving themselves (with a shake test).
I have just a few minor suggestions that would make the app even better:
* an option to keep the screen on in the graph view
* a “passive” mode so it only graphs what the tuners are actually doing (without turning on any tuners beyond what’s active)
* allowing tuners to be enabled and disabled for graphing right from the graph screen
Overall quite a time saver and well worth the price.
I’ve used this to verify my setup is doing the best it can to cope with passing aircraft and to verify the cables and connectors are behaving themselves (with a shake test).
I have just a few minor suggestions that would make the app even better:
* an option to keep the screen on in the graph view
* a “passive” mode so it only graphs what the tuners are actually doing (without turning on any tuners beyond what’s active)
* allowing tuners to be enabled and disabled for graphing right from the graph screen
Overall quite a time saver and well worth the price.
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Not able to Locate HDHomeRun
Based in all the reviews I thought I found Gold! Unfortunately the software can’t find my HDHomeRun 4k Flex - neither with auto discovery nor IP address. The HDhomeRun app in my phone finds it just fine and I can stream channels. Can’t find support to see how to fox - seems like I am out $2.99 - maybe this only supports older devices…
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Doesn’t support fractional channels, otherwise kind of works
I have hd pbs on channel 2.1 (and many others like it) but it isn’t able to support/find them.
WVEC Hampton, VA is UHF now
This was a VHF station on ch. 11 (displayed as 13). Now they are a UHF station on ch. 35. Much better signal.
WVEC 35.1 - 35.8 (displays as 13.1 - 13.8).
Old FCC data is used in the app.
WVEC 35.1 - 35.8 (displays as 13.1 - 13.8).
Old FCC data is used in the app.
Great App
This is a great App. Instead of running “Detect Channels” in HDHomeRun after redirecting the antenna in order to determine signal strength, this App will allow you to do so for all active HDHomeRun Tuners second by second so you can easily determine the best direction for your antenna.
Doesn’t work for channels 4 and 5 (NBC and FOX) in the DC area.
Doesn’t work for channels 4 and 5 (NBC and FOX) in the DC area. This was very confusing until I double checked the frequencies being dialed in on the tuners and they were off by >400MHz.
Thank Gawd I Found This App!
Tyler (The Antenna Man) referenced this application and I quickly found it and purchased it. Signal GH fills a missing void in the HDHomerun software and it works like a dream. I had previously been using a Samsung TV for OTA tuning and it was a very sensitive tuner. The HDHomerun is decent but not nearly as sensitive and I needed to move my antenna to restore some of the stations I used to get with my Samsung TV. This app is CRUCIAL to anyone trying to fine tune antenna placement with any HDHomerun.
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app no longer works
App says no tuners found, no “about” tab to contact author, 2 tuners are working but app says none found and no option to do anything but refresh which does not work, I wonder if the app stopped working in IOS 18? It worked before but not now, tried reinstalling
This app saved me a couple hundred $$$
I've been pulling my hair out trying to fix a couple if signal quality issues with my OTA antenna. I thought I had tried everything. Moved antenna incrementally only to resolve one problem and create another. I decided to try this App out before ordering a new Channel Master Pro plus the preamp. To my surprise, I set up the app to monitor my problem channels and went outside at the antenna. Watching the channel signal quality and signal strength on my iPhone, I slowly moved my antenna. Wow! Just turning it 1.5"-2" on the mast fixed everything. Hard to believe such a small change affected the reception so much. Thanks to this app I could easily see what was happening. Amazing helpful app. Thanks so much.
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Worth every penny
This app is amazing. In less than five minutes, I was able to make very small adjustments to my attic antenna to get 100 percent signal, symbol and quality on ALL of my over the air channels using HD home run. There is no way I could have done it without this app. In fact, I assumed some channels simply would not come in. Wrong. This app gave me feedback on tiny antenna adjustments so that I could get all stations. Really cool.
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GREAT!
This app makes troubleshooting and optimization a breeze! From problematic tuners to problematic cable connections, to Splitters, preamps and antennas, getting complete data from the actual point of usage, after passing through the Entire system, makes diagnosing and resolution a quick matter. THANK YOU!
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Not Happy
App freezes and has to be restarted to unlock. We receive way more channels than what shows up in the app. App provides no value.
Highly recommended if you have an HDHoneRun and need data to best choose and position your antenna
I don’t normally leave reviews but this app is great. It does exactly what it says, which was what I needed to help me troubleshoot choosing and positioning my antenna. I’m in the Toronto area, so can confirm this works for Canadians as well.
