Cord cutters: Has anyone tried Tablo, or SimpleTV as OTA DVRs?

ParticleMan said:

I believe you need a cable card for each tuner, correct?

I am incorrect. Multistream CableCARDs can handle multiple tuners.

earlster said:

Apollo,

CC certainly has some drawbacks as you mentioned, no pay-per-view and on demand. As for program guide, that should come with the TiVo. But of course TiVo will also charge you a monthly fee,  

just not as much as $600 a year (are you sure about that number, that seems excessive just for the equipment rental fees).

Looks like the TiVo Roamio DVR's allow recording of up to 6 simultaneous channels, depending on the model. https://www.tivo.com/shop/roamio#/roamio

 Yes $600/yr. APPROX>  We have 2 HD  DVRs @$17  + 1 STB @12 = $46 /mo. equip fees.

This is 1 issue... will have questions re:  TiVO in a short time.

Why do you have 2 DVRs? Why not one multiroom DVR and 2STBs?

THANKS  ParticleMan,

First readings were totally unclear about multiCCARDS.

Will do more research to check this out.

RE:  TIVO 

What does the $12.50 monthly service get you in addition to your fios fees/services?

ParticleMan said:

Why do you have 2 DVRs? Why not one multiroom DVR and 2STBs?

 We do a lottttt of recording AND I store a lot of content.  Each DVR can record 2 and play 1 already recored.  There are times when 4 items are being recorded; we also have whole service.  BTW, my DVR is the large capacity type- got it bc orig model was getting too full with my storage.

Apollo_T said:

THANKS  ParticleMan,

First readings were totally unclear about multiCCARDS.

Will do more research to check this out.

RE:  TIVO 

What does the $12.50 monthly service get you in addition to your fios fees/services?

 I can only guess, but I think it gives you the program guide, advanced scheduling features (all new episodes of xyz), and the ability to stream content to your smartphone while not at home.

For my 'tablotv' this same service costs about $5 a month, so TiVo is clearly not the cheapest place around, but they have a reputation of doing things right.

This is my circumstance- End of this year our vzn fios hd package expires.  I'd like to learn about various other plans, services, hardware etc. available.  I get the feeling that I'm not alone in this.  I'd love to get a group of us together with a 'guest' speaker who will discuss at least one option.  My idea would be infocentric- NOT a group sales call.  An example would someone who has had satellite tv for a few years, that feels comfortable laying out the major points  pros and cons ball park figures etc.

How can we get this done?

@earlster, I am following this thread with interest.

If I do not want/need a DVR or HBO or sports, would cutting the cable and adding a OTA antenna be enough?

I currently have a smart TV that can stream Netflix and Amazon, as well as the HDMI cables for laptop tethering.  I would like to ditch Verizon's TV package but retain basic live network TV  most importantly all three local PBS channels.

I am amazed the the OTA antennas work well theses days.  I have such vivid memories (no pun intended) of bad reception.

OTA PQ is far superior to cable, including FiOS.

We cut the cable years ago. We bought an inexpensive Hauppage USB TV tuner and we record HD TV directly to our computer's networked hard drive.

I am considering this digital antenna. We happen to have a tall tree right outside the house where the TV is located.  I could mount this in the tree instead of on the roof and hope that it is hidden a bit  

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AVWKUXE?tag=digitren08-20

kmk, that plan could work for you. You are on the side of the hill that faces NYC. You could try the antenna in the window first and then extrapolate by assuming reception improves after you mount it to the tree.

Hi,

Our dining room tv is SD hooked up to fios hd system.  I'd like to try an OTA antenna w/ this tv.  If anyone has a modern OTA one that you've outgrown please talk to me.

Thanks

Apollo_T, not likely, since the kind that work have been on the market only for a short time.

Thanks Tom,

I thought that there may have an old style SD superceded by current HD ones.  Amazon has HD antennae for $40.  I thought they were $100+ and looked diff from what's on the site.

To further complicate matters Azn has a tivo OTA HD dvr for $50.  What I don't understand is the required $15/mo service.  If it's OTA what does their monthly fee buy us?

http://www.amazon.com/TiVo-Roamio-Streaming-Media-Player/dp/B00OLDNNRO/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1430784997&sr=8-6&keywords=ota+antenna

Same thing w/ their TIVO Roamio DVRs.  After buying one ($400) there's a required $12.50 monthly fee.  What's that for?  Is this in addition to vzn fios tv fees?  or in place of?

The $12.50 allows you to use the TiVo software , get updates and programming information.  It's not a device that's usable without the fees.  The only fee it offsets is the Verizon set top box or DVR fee, and you need to pay for a cable card monthly.  No matter what service you use TiVo with, you're still going to have to pay them.

Thanks qrys,

This sounds like I'd be buying $400 hardware; then paying $5 Cablecard (to VZN) + $12.50 (to TIVO) in order to offset $17 to vzn; for the first set up.  Second room requires a tivo mini $150 hardware, then paying 0 cablecard + 12.50 (to TIVO). 

So I would be spending $550 on hardware; and $30/m in fees to save $34/m in dvr rental fees.  That';s a whopping $4/mo. savings.  It would only take 138 months to break even.  Gee that's only 11.5 yrs.  What am I missing here?

I think with the Roamio you only have to pay one subscription fee (for the main unit). So that would get you around $16 a month savings with a significant upfront investment.  It's still a long time to make up the cost. 

I can't imagine why antennas would need a new design going from SD to HD, but I could be wrong.

I don't think there are any real differences in the technology involved, but the digital signals generally require better reception than analog did as the signal doesn't gradually degrade.  So an antenna sold as a Digital or HD antenna is usually just a better antenna. 

The analog-to-digital conversion is done in the TV set, after the signal is received. Radio waves are still sine waves, i.e. analog.

http://techchannel.radioshack.com/differences-hdtv-antenna-regular-antenna-1273.html

Re:antennae

I asked based on the assumption that HD was a later devel than SD so there was an evolution in antenna dsign that followed evolution in definition.  It was an assumptiom- My bad.

It makes sense, Apollo_T, so there's no need to apologize. On the other hand, you made the mistake of using the biological plural. The plural of an electrical antenna is antennas. *emoticon*

Apollo, if you are as heavy a TV watcher, recording multiple shows concurrently and saving them for long time spans, then switching to a TiVo will probably not save you a lot of money. If you want to be adventurous and delve deeply into configuring Linux computers you could look into Kodi (formerly XBMC) and MythTV, but those are options that require a lot of learning and hand holding. In fact too much for my family.

Rumor has it, that Microsoft will add DVR functionality to XBox One at some point in the future, that might be an option once available.

Am I overwhelmingly right in the following;  Tivo is all about hardware replacement with virtually no content component?  While fios is a delivery system and content package with a hardware paqckage?  So going to tivo would deliver the same program bundle via diff hardware.  The only real difference might be the channel numbers.   And the same would be true for comcast screwees?

Also, with regard to the sd/hd antenna issue- our sd tv is used just for the nightly news- about 30 mins/day.  So I'd like to get rid of any unnecessary boxes and attendant fees,  It's next to an east facing window.  Would an antenna here work to receive the very little content that we use?  Obviously it doesn't have HDMI ports.

Unless it has changed Tivo is just a DVR that you pay for by subscribing. It doesn't affect your channel sources or choices. It will record whatever is piped into your home.

OK. My confusion came from having basic comcast AND their equipment.  Then going over to vzn HD fios AND their equipment so i associated the 2, service + equipment as the only business model.  So I thought, until yesterday, of tivo as another service + equipment business as well.  Now I got it.

THANKS

BIG earlster,

We cross posted earlier.  "Linux computers"  you mean there are computers anmed for a Peanuts comic strip character???

Apollo T(echnotwit)

Apollo_T said:

BIG earlster,

We cross posted earlier.  "Linux computers"  you mean there are computers anmed for a Peanuts comic strip character???

Apollo T(echnotwit)

Kind off. There is an operating system with a name mashed up by it's original developer (Linus Torwalds)and the name of an operating system that he re-created (Unix).

As for the inspiration of his parents naming him after a comic strip character, or that just being a common name in his home country, I wouldn't know.

Linux was created as a free (both in terms of liberty and cost) operating system and is one of the most common 'open source' pieces of software out there.

It's a great concept, but since it's based off of Unix, you'd find it harder to use than Windows or OSX.  You need to be very comfortable with a command line, and there's a steep learning curve.