OTA Recorder

[Photog_7]

Many of us would not be on this forum is TV reception was also something of a hobby in addition to a necessity. Myself, I have been interested in it since I was a kid in rural Florida mounting rabbit ears outside my bedroom window.
Of course I was excited about ATSC 3.0 and even briefly owned a TV with the built in tuner. I thought the picture was slightly better than 1.0 especially considering they had to squeeze in the channels that were moved to make room for 3.0.
I am loosing interest in 3.0 due to the complexity of DRM and uncertain future. The one change that could turn me around would be if all the digs-nets were to be offered in at least wide screen 720p rather than "too blurry to watch" 480i.
The internet is less than ideal where I live and streaming is unreliable. At this time I am on the least expensive package with DirecTV but I can not justify that expense forever. I suppose it is a hobby in itself trying to keep up with the available and ever changing options.

I agree about the fuzzy pictures, but remember that most TV shows from the 80's weren't shot in HD or widescreen. The notable exception was the original Law & Order, which had the foresight to shoot in HDTV before most anybody owned the sets to watch it that way. It has certainly paid off financially though. The reruns seem to be on 24/7 somewhere, and they look as if they were shot yesterday.

 

[videobruce]

I have 'time-shifted' ever since 1978. I wouldn't be w/o it.
From VHS, S-VHS, then HDD's starting with the DVR Sony had before they dropped the Guide, basically making that useless.
I did have a CATV DVR for a very short period of time, but I didn't like not having the ability to bypass/lockout channels.
I wound up biting the bullet and went TiVo inspite of their "Lifetime Service". But I found, buying a used one that already had the service was not a big deal. I have had or worked on (setup for others) probably at least eight of them over the years, ending up with the Series 6 Roamio OTA (Over The Air) model which is what appears to be their last OTA version. Anything after that are CATV only which is a real stupid move.

In spite of many mis-beliefs, recordings made from OTA stations CAN be xfered to a PC with the correct programs (TiVo Desktop & VideoRe-Do), which will convert their file format to a common MP4 which can be edited (to get rid of the commercials, or anything other reason).

AND, their Guide goes out TWO WEEKS w/o leaving the DVR and searching elsewhere or using some other device to find programs. Also, with their Series 6, if the HDD goes bad, all one has to do is swap drives, their O/S is stored within the DVR and it will automatically 'load/format' the HDD by itself, no command lines working in Linux anymore like previous models (Series 3, 4 and 5)

 

[videobruce]

To update the above, I don't like monopolies, ESPECIALLY when they own almost all the patents to a specific device, in this case DVR's. Which is why there aren't any other true one piece (all in one)TV DVR's available new anymore. Note I stated "all in one". All the others , you need one or more 'other' hardware pieces to make them work. Namely, a separate HDD and depending on which one you are looking at a Computer.

Their series 6 Roamio model 846500 or 846510 (depending on the size of the HDD) can be had for as low as $250 on eBay IF you are lucky. At that price, it won't be there long. I saw one get sold in less than one hour around 5am if you can believe that. A more common price is between $300 and $350 (w/ Lifetime Service of course). 90% or more of the units for sale do NOT have Lifetime Service which runs separately around $500. Or you can buy it monthly which all of those had before the owner put them up for sale. (not sure what the monthly cost is).

Anyway. below are screen shots of the Guide (that goes out 2 weeks) and the important System Information screen showing the Service level (note the yellow arrows). Look for that shot in their ad, if he didn't include it, ask for him to post the Menu shot. I always ask if he is the original owner and if he has the original box and how long has he had it. Confirm the size of the HDD, many have put larger drives in the DVR (2 or 3TB with some).

Oh, the number of channels( the main channel and the sub-channels) available in my market is around 80 (eighty). No, I'm NOT exaggerating, depending on where you are, and mostly where your antenna is (outdoor of course)