Comcast wants $18/month to hook up a Dvr, tivo is about $15/momth. Are there cheaper alternatives? I’d prefer one where I just name the shows and it records them but one that I have to manually program would be fine too in a pinch.
EyeTV
I recently got a Channel Master DVR+.
It ONLY records off the antenna (called OTA for ‘Over The Air’). Not sure if that’s acceptable for you…
The picture(s) are better with rabbit ears than I had with DI$H (I had Di$h so long that it wasn’t HD).
It includes a free program guide - which needs an internet connection (LAN cable or WiFi). The guide isn’t as complete as the guide with Di$h - Di$h would give the episode # and some info of that episode, DVR+ guide JUST gives the same show info for all episodes
It DOES record all programs with a given name. One thing I miss from my Di$h DVR is that it had an option to only record new shows. I read that Channel Master is working on this.
I did buy an HD antenna - I could get all channels with the rabbit ears, but I couldn’t get them all w/o moving the ‘ears’ for either the low or high # channels.
You can buy a used TiVo with lifetime subscription for something around $350 for a Premiere (Series 4) model. I would suggest avoiding the earlier Series 3 versions since they can’t handle mp4 channels cable companies are rolling out. A Roamio is newer and nicer but is going to be more for a used lifetime model.
The AVS Forums has some threads about what is available in general plus long threads on specific models.
There’s almost no other brands other than TiVo that have Cable Card support which avoids having to manually tune a cable box as well as dealing with recording HD properly.
I would love to find a good Tivo alternative, but every one I’ve researched has been clunky or had fatal flaws.
I thought giving up my DVR would be the worst part of giving up cable, but I don’t miss it with the alternatives I’ve got now.
I use my Roku ($80 one time cost) for:
Hulu Plus ($8/month)- favorite the shows I want to watch and they show up in my queue typically a day after airing. ABC, NBC and FOX shows plus quite a few shows off cable channels are available.
Plex (free)- I downloaded the Plex server and watch through my Roku app. I get my CBS shows here. They don’t queue up like Hulu, but all the Primetime shows are grouped together and it’s easy to navigate. Since CBS is the only broadcast network we can’t get on Hulu, we typically keep the TV tuned there and I end up watching a lot of the CBS programming in real time if we are home.
Netflix ($8/month)- for shows I want to catch up on. There isn’t any current content save their original programming (which is generally fantastic), but if you can wait a season, then you can binge watch to your hearts content.
For all other programming I can’t get through these Roku apps I use a Chromecast ($35 one time cost) and the network’s website and cast the shows to my TV. Primarily I watch FX and SyFy programming this way. We also used Wiziwig.com to get live sports feeds to cast onto the big screen.
If all else fails, or I simply can’t wait, I can buy content from Amazon and stream through the Roku as well. Amazon has a lot of older HBO content plus tons of other stuff for no extra charge if you have Amazon Prime. Other content is various prices.
If this all seems complicated…it sort of is at first, but now that I’m used to it it’s easy for me to manage and there is always ALWAYS something to watch since my Netflix queue has 150 shows/movies in it. I’ve found that this setup is pretty perfect for my needs.
Windows Media Center. Seriously. There is no service charge and it comes free with Windows (at least Windows 7). It has support for OTA and cablecard tuners, and will also work various dish tuners using a remote relay. It really is a great application.
I was under the impression that Roku does everything the chromecast does, and more. So if a person has to choose between a smart TV addition (Roku, chromecast, amazon stick, etc) the roku is best.
Also why did your roku cost $80? Did you buy the roku 3?
As far as my DVR, the only shows I really liked watching were Daily show, COlbert Report and Rachel Maddow. For the first two the websites offer streaming of the episode the night before, for the last I can just download a video podcast in the morning.
However I am not in town sometimes for sunday nights animation shows (simpsons, bobs burgers, american dad, family guy). I’d like to record those for when I can’t watch them. However those are over the air broadcasts.
Roku cannot cast content from my laptop to the tv. That’s the only thing I use the Chromecast for. I do have the Roku 3. The Fox shows are available next day on Hulu. Add to favorites and they will automatically show in your queue when they become available. You can watch at your leisure. I like not having the end of shows cut off if they run over the timeslot too.