Confusion (and my research notes) on all these utilities, versions, and download pages

[Flyoffacliff]

I got a Flex 4k to replace my Fire TV Recast before. I will say the hardware on the HDHR is much better and seems to pick up more channels more reliably, the software and documentation is a confusing mess. Even the phyical box seemed to ship with a quick start guide for the HDHR Connect, which seems to have been slowly discontinued and replaced with the Flex, but all these models are a whole other topic.)

All the Kbs about the Windows apps seem to be in various states of outdated. Let's start with this page:
https://www.silicondust.com/support/downloads/

This page contains a download link for “Windows” and “Windows 10”, with no explanation on what the difference is between them, nor does it indicate that the Windows 10 version is compatible with Windows 11, making it appear to be no longer supported. Therefore, I used the old (non Windows app) EXE installer. Despite the file being named the latest version (from December), it installed a version from October! And there was no option to update it inside the app.
So I tried the other link to the Windows store page... We got an update button there, which means it recognized the EXE installed version. I updated it and ended up with 2 up-to-date versions opened at the same time somehow, in different windows. The one version had larger font sizes but was otherwise the same.

So then I look around more and find another list of download links on this page:
https://info.hdhomerun.com/info/getting_started

Here there is no mention of the EXE version, just the Windows store version. This link just went to a loading page that said app not found on the Microsoft website. But it's working today so I guess it was just a Microsoft issue that needed fixed. Just one more thing to add confusion. At least this download page is updated to note that the Windows Store app works with Windows 11.

I later found a 3rd download page, once again complete with it's own information and formatting!
https://info.hdhomerun.com/info/downloads

I think this one actually started to clear up the confusion a bit. There are 5 “apps”:

1. Device Web UI: Shows tuner status and a basic log, as well as a channel list. But don’t click any of the channel’s in the channel list! It will start a continuous and endless download of the channel’s content to your computer, in a useless file.

2. HDHR Config UI: Despite the confusing name of this utility (it’s not used for any kind of configuration at all!), it is useful because this is the only location there is a signal strength meter I think. It's somehow missing from the main app, even a simple good/bad indication. That's all this utility is. When starting the app, there are more tabs for a few seconds and disappear.

3. HDHomeRun Setup: This utility contains other features that are not part of the main app. The ability to manually rescan for channels and see a list inside something called the channel editor (which does not provide any form of editing, that seems to have been migrated to the main app). There is also DVR setup located here.

4. There was another app I found (can’t find the name now) that shows the channel names from the web UI inside the application, but clicking the channel names actually starts a live preview through some legacy Windows Media Center plugin)

5. Main app: For watching TV, managing recordings, and changing other settings. No WMC integration.

I am guessing that SD is in the process of slowly combining all these legacy utilities that use the old Windows Media center plugin (which I'm guessing will be removed in a future version of Windows 11? I thought it already was) into the new app. I think the Microsoft store version is only the main part, part 5 from my above list. While the Windows installer is for the few things left in the legacy utilities that have not been migrated over yet. The old windows installer will install the new Windows store app if sideloading is turned on, otherwise it will have to be installed manually.

I'm guessing that in order to use the previous utilities and features, you need to downgrade the device firmware. They seemed to publish the latest version online but not the binary files for previous versions.

[nickk]

The only thing you need is the HDHomeRun app. Install the app, launch it, and TV should start playing.

The "HDHomeRun Software for Windows" gets you other optional things for Windows 7 and newer:
It will install the HDHomeRun App for Windows 10/11 if you are running Windows 10/11 and side-loading is enabled.
It will install the Windows BDA drivers needed for old BDA based apps (some 3rd party apps).
It will install the record engine so the PC can be used for recordings (default off).
It will install HDHomeRun Setup used for BDA configuration and Record engine configuration.
It will install HDHomeRun Config GUI which is a useful diagnostic utility for looking at physical channel information.

We will fix the Downloads page to say 10/11. Versioning - we have a new app release due out next week so we will review at the same time.