I’ve been a cord cutter for years. I’ve done OK with Antenna, Netflix and Hulu Plus. I recently updated my antenna and I get fantastic picture now; before it could be occasionally spotty.
The next logical step for me is to get a DVR. I’m a little ticked off though because the OTA DVR market seems to really suck. So many of the options want you to add on a subscription fee. :dubious: That’s what I’m trying to get away from! The Tablo and Tivo offerings both get fairly high marks; but that comes at a cost.
The only real contender is the Channel Master; but I’m not wild about it either.
Do any of you have any experience with OTA DVRs? What do you like? What do not like?
My needs are simple, but could be talked into other features. For example I don’t think I care about broadcasting from my unit to other devices in my home. I basically just want something to record shows, and easily play them back on my tv at a time of my choosing.
Sometimes Tivo offers the OTA Romio with lifetime for about $300. You might find a Tivo with lifetime on craigslist for $250 or less. Tivo works great for OTA. Ebay also has them.
You can find many simple PVRs for under $50 on amazon by searching for “PVR converter box”. Walmart also has them in the store. You supply your own external HD for recording and setup shows by time and channel like an old VCR. Some will have simple guide data from what comes encoded in the OTA signal. I’ve heard that the cheaper DVRs may have more issues with freezing and sometimes not recording your shows. But if you’re looking for simple capability, that might work for you.
I tried out a DVD recorder a few years ago for the same reason. Purchased a DVD Recorder/VCR Combo and a few re-writable discs and was happy with it for a couple years. Then it broke and I found out it would almost as much to repair as to replace. With so much content available now online I never bothered.
Thanks to cable companies switching from mpeg2 to mpeg4, Series 3/HD TiVos are now entering the used market in even greater numbers. You can pick up one with lifetime subscription for a reasonable price.
Of course, for a few bucks more you can get a lifetimed Series 4 (Premiere) and have the cable option available for the future.
You really, really want a DVR that comes with program service.
Note that many recent TiVo models do not come with an OTA tuner. Always double check that.
Did not care for the Tablo - I’m not sure the exact cause, but because a) it doesn’t have an HDMI port and b) my Roku doesn’t have a wired internet connection, the picture had to travel through my wifi connection. I live in a condo building in a fairly dense part of Seattle, so there may be considerable interference. But it would buffer periodically (more often than a service that uses the actual internet, like Netflix!), which was quite irritating. If that isn’t a problem with you, you don’t ever have to actually subscribe unless you want to watch remotely (away from your home.)
OTOH, I’m quite fond of the TiVo Roamio. I bought the lifetime subscription, and no issues so far. Also, it has Netflix/Amazon/MLBtv, so the only thing I still need the Roku for is ESPN/SlingTV.
I either used to have a Phillips and now have a Magnavox or the other way around. The first one lasted for years and the second one has lasted for years. Or maybe one is/was a Toshiba. No bells and whistles other than a digital tuner for OTA and a hard drive. I think it’s 500 gig and I’ve never come close to filling it up, as far as I know. It can be kind of a pain to find what you’ve recorded unless you have some idea of what date it was, or go through the steps to add a title to it, but I don’t record much “must have” stuff. You can edit what’s been recorded (if you want…I never do) record directly to DVD or record what you’ve recorded to DVD. And play standard DVDs.
p.s. You can blame the same people who didn’t want us to have VCRs for not allowing the DVR market to flourish.
I use Windows media center. Just add a tuner card to a windows 7 or 8 machine and you have a DVR with a guide. You can either hook the TV directly to the computer via HDMI, or use an XBOX 360 across the network to view. Of course the machine must be left on all the time, but there are no monthly fees of any kind. You can also use Remote Potato software to remotely schedule recordings, etc.
I previously mentioned that sometimes Tivo puts the OTA Romio with Lifetime on sale. It’s once again on sale at $300 Not only does it record OTA, but it can also support streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and some others. This model is OTA-only and does not support cable input.
Got a Tivo Roamio OTA w/ Lifetime sub earlier in the year and serves our purposes well. Very easy to use. Recommend. Price may drop soon as Tivo has just come out with the Bolt.
One caveat–we have all the included apps (netflix, pandora, &c) up and working fine,–EXCEPT the MLB app-- crashes the Roamio every time. There’s other devices that have a better MLB app (we use our ROKU 2)