Until now, I was not aware of any sort of background channel scan(s) occurring. Are these triggered internally within the HDHomeRun device, or does external software (e.g. HDHomeRun app for Windows/Mac/Linux etc.) trigger the background channel scans?

By the device. https://info.hdhomerun.com ...

Read it and weep. Doesn't this mean that without major changes Silicon Dust tuners will NEVER be able to handle encrypted signals?

https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/pearl-tv-tells-fcc-huawei-chipset-reason-for-inability-to-decrypt-3-0-programming

This Ex Patre letter to the FCC is complete ...

Plex can get confused if, for example, the tuner's IP address has changed. When it performs its discover it sees the same device but at the new address. For whatever reason it seems to disregard what it considers to be a duplicate. That's my experience at least.

Depending on your router's ...

Plex can get confused if, for example, the tuner's IP address has changed. When it performs its discover it sees the same device but at the new address. For whatever reason it seems to disregard what it considers to be a duplicate. That's my experience at least.

Depending on your router's ...

Are you able to access the tuner from hdhomerun.local in a browser? If so, the System Menu will show its IP address. You can also use its device id to access it. For example, your device ID is 1000abcd, you can access it at 1000abcd.local.