Stop Overpaying for TV! HDHomerun + Plex Review (Stream and Record OTA TV)
I remember so clearly when YouTube TV first launched. It was a refreshing concept: forty-something dollars a month, no contracts and finally an affordable way to watch live sports without completely breaking the bank. Fast-forward to the end of 2025, and the price is now hovering around eighty dollars a month. Suddenly, it is not much cheaper than just having regular cable installed in your house.
Worse yet, you always face the risk of losing access to major Disney-owned channels like ABC and ESPN. If a dispute happens, suddenly, Monday Night Football is just off the menu for you. It is frankly insane how much these services cost now and how unreliable they can be.
A few years ago, the rising costs pushed me to explore the world of over-the-air (OTA) television). I even posted a video about a device called Air TV, which grabbed an antenna signal and streamed it to other devices via Sling TV. It was okay, but I have since found something much better that completely future-proofs my setup: the HDHomeRun Flex 4K.
Why Upgrade to the HDHomeRun Flex 4K?
The Air TV setup was functional but clunky, and critically, it was not compatible with the new broadcast standard. That lack of compatibility is the main reason I upgraded to the HDHomeRun Flex 4K.
The most important feature of this tuner is its compatibility with ATSC 3.0. The current OTA streams (ATSC 1.0) will eventually be replaced by this new standard, which delivers significantly higher quality. ATSC 3.0 promises better picture and better audio quality, ensuring your hardware is ready for the future of free TV.
Simple Setup and Four Tuners
Setting up the HDHomeRun is remarkably simple. You literally just plug it into the wall for power, plug it into your router or switch via an Ethernet cable, and plug in your standard over-the-air antenna.
I grabbed a basic antenna from Home Depot, attached it to the side of my house, and I was done. Once everything is hooked up, you just navigate to a the settings page by entering heading to HDHomeRun.Local. From there, head to Channel Lineup and click Detect Channels and the device instantly scans for every available station in your area. For me in Knoxville, Tennessee, it pulled in all the local affiliates, including several HD (ATSC 3.0) streams that look much better than they did on the old Air TV setup.
The Flex 4K also boasts four tuners. This means you can either have four different ATSC 1.0 streams or two ATSC 3.0 streams running at once. That capacity is way more than enough for a typical family to watch different channels or record multiple shows simultaneously. You can always check the tuner status on the web page to see which ones are in use and their signal strength.
Watching Live TV: App vs. Plex
The HDHomeRun gives you two excellent ways to watch your new lineup of free local channels on nearly any device.
1. The Standalone HDHomeRun App
There is an HDHomeRun application available for mobile devices and most smart TV platforms.
No Setup Required: The app is incredibly easy to use. It automatically detects the HDHomeRun on your home network; it does not even ask you to create an account.
TV Interface: The TV app is quick and intuitive, allowing you to scroll through a guide and jump into channels much like traditional cable. A cool feature is that you can pause live television at any point and resume later. While the TV interface is fine, I will say that the scrolling on the phone app is a little unintuitive.
DVR Functionality: The back of the box has a USB port, allowing you to plug in an external hard drive or flash drive to enable DVR functionality. This requires a small fee of about $35 per year, which is still an incredible bargain compared to streaming subscriptions.
2. The Power of Plex Integration
If you already have a Plex server running, this is where the HDHomeRun truly shines. I run my Plex on a fantastic UGREEN NAS and adding the live TV functionality felt like the ultimate final step in cutting the cord.
Insanely Simple Integration: Within the Plex settings, you click "Live TV & DVR," and Plex automatically finds the HDHomeRun on your network. If it doesn't pop up immediately, you can simply enter the network address manually. The entire setup process took me about 30 seconds.
Plex Pass is Key: To get the most out of this setup, you will need a Plex Pass ($7 a month). This gives you the full two-week program guide and, most importantly, Plex’s superior DVR functionality.
Advanced DVR: With Plex Pass, you can schedule recordings from the guide by clicking the little record button. When you record things, you can tell Plex exactly where you want them to be stored in your library. It even gives you the ability to skip ads on recordings!
Remote Viewing: This is a major selling point. While the standalone HDHomeRun app restricts you to watching content only on your home network, Plex Pass gives you remote viewing access to both your live TV and your DVR recordings from anywhere in the world.
The live TV through Plex is a little slower to fire up than the HDHomeRun app, but I am happy to tolerate that extra beat since it is running through my server and offers so much more functionality.
Final Thoughts on Cutting the Cord
I think this thing is absolutely fantastic. I have been enjoying having the live TV available right inside Plex. The ability to schedule recordings and have them seamlessly saved into my Plex library is a game changer. If Nova or Nature are airing, they are just being saved and will be in my library when I come back, alongside all my other shows. It is absolutely awesome.
Even with the initial cost of the HDHomeRun unit (about $200) and optional fees for the DVR or Plex Pass, the long-term savings compared to an $80/month streaming service are massive. More importantly, it gives you peace of mind that you will still have access to key content like Monday Night Football without having to worry about if Disney is going to pull their shows off of YouTube TV or not.
If you are interested, click my link to the HDHomeRun. If you click on that link and make a purchase, I will earn a commission. It is a great way to help support the what I do here channel and it does not cost you a dime.