[bob1000]

I want to file this away for future use.

I have two 4 tuner lifetime Premiers. One is to service an assortment of Minis. The other is for main TV and the little Tivo recording I still do. (I use Playon Desktop as my home DVR.) I assume one Premier will break eventually. This research is for the replacement Tivo. I don't want to be figuring this out a the last minute.

I'm using Comcast and on a 2 year plan. It's cheap using the Minis. I'm assuming it will be about 4 years before technology makes streaming everything the best way to go.

In an emergency or if there's a great sale on Edges (I have whole house ad blocking and I read this works on Tivo forced ads)

1) Get a used 6 tuner lifetime Roamio at the necessary time and use it until it dies
2) Get a 6 tuner Edge if one is available at a good price, a sale with cheap lifetime, and ditch the Premiers

Suggestions?

 

[gigaquad]

The Roamio will take ota signals if comcast drops cablecard service, which they want to do real bad. And with the roamio you can transfer movies from your own library, unlike the edge.

 

[bob1000]

The Roamio will take ota signals if comcast drops cablecard service, which they want to do real bad. And with the roamio you can transfer movies from your own library, unlike the edge.

I've read that cablecard is at risk. When it goes, Tivo will die. I'm assuming Comcast will keep offering it until it costs more for Comcast to rent them used than not.

Cablecard got me thinking about the future. Comcast gives me great Playon Desktop variety. Plus, for some reason, I have complete ad blocking on the downloads from Comcast. Even without that, Playon offers real good ad blocking on its Roku and Fire players. But, technology is not evolved enough to get rid of Tivo. Not for a few more years.

Tivo makes live TV very easy and convenient. Streaming isn't there yet.

 

[dbpaddler]

The Roamio will take ota signals if comcast drops cablecard service, which they want to do real bad. And with the roamio you can transfer movies from your own library, unlike the edge.

Only the Roamio basic does OTA or cable. The Pros only do cable. The basic isn't built as well as the Pro, but it's more future proof post cable card.

Sent from my SM-N981U using Tapatalk

 

[bob1000]

Only the Roamio basic does OTA or cable. The Pros only do cable. The basic isn't built as well as the Pro, but it's more future proof post cable card.

Sent from my SM-N981U using Tapatalk

I recently played around with Locast. It's all locals and for $5 / month it supposedly removes the locast ads. Reports are a little sketchy about the locast ad removal. There's supposed to be some kind of DVR that can hook into locast, but I haven't looked into it. Waiting for the tech to mature and for a real need. Channels DVR is another option but it has a cost and I have no need at this time.

It's not that I dislike Tivo. It think it's great and I have an investment in it that's working well and it fills a need. I'm thinking ahead and with a blank slate. The Roamio and Edge possibilities are high on the list given the tech that exists. Plus it does live TV perfectly well.

 

[dbpaddler]

I recently played around with Locast. It's all locals and for $5 / month it supposedly removes the locast ads. Reports are a little sketchy about the locast ad removal. There's supposed to be some kind of DVR that can hook into locast, but I haven't looked into it. Waiting for the tech to mature and for a real need. Channels DVR is another option but it has a cost and I have no need at this time.

Edit: sorry, didn't see your channels dvr mention. And yes, no need to pay for it at the moment, but it does do everything oyud need if you were to cut the cord, and with Google TV having an open API for live guide, hopefully they'll add that in as well.

I found Locast to be crap. Image quality is garbage. It is a constant donation nag. If it is your only option for local channels, I could see it. Otherwise I would put na antenna outside and do locals.

The tech is very mature. Channels DVR is a phenomenal software solution. It can access a network antenna like an Hdhomerun. It can do Locast. It can do TV_Everywhere if you have cable credentials access. These days, everyone shares. Someone springs for Netflix, someone has cable. Spread the love.

Locast should be your last resort. Even if I was in the sticks, I would put the biggest long range antenna and amp on my roof before I'd deal with Locast. Heck, I'd build an antenna tower if I had to.

And Tivo's Stream 4k can do Locast if you're really that desperate. It's a focus of theirs for some God awful reason.

If I were sticking with tivo, I'd get a lifetime roamio pro on ebay. Hell, I'll sell you mine. Haven't wiped it and listed it yet. If you wanted to stick with tivo post cable (not that cards are going away anytime soon), then I'd get a Roamio basic so you could just go OTA if your cable card became defunct.

If the cable card does go away, resale value will most likely plummet quick. The audience needing them will be few and the supply will be many. Tech recycling will overflow quick.

Sent from my Surface Duo using Tapatalk

 

[bob1000]

dbpaddler,

Thanks for the Channels DVR info. I was considering it for a fallback if I ever had a problem with Playon or if it offered capabilities beyond Playon that I needed. The price is good if enough economical sources are available for it to tap into.

Others say similar things about locast. Maybe in a couple of years.

Nice to know Tivo Stream is working to be a good product. I can imagine Tivo Stream with a functional locast and various other streaming sites with the ability to download to a home server like Playon and the ability to block ads on home server recordings as a bullseye winner. Maybe someday. Maybe Tivo could buy Playon or Channels DVR and integrate the technologies with Tivo Stream.

 

[convergent]

dbpaddler,

Thanks for the Channels DVR info. I was considering it for a fallback if I ever had a problem with Playon or if it offered capabilities beyond Playon that I needed. The price is good if enough economical sources are available for it to tap into.

Others say similar things about locast. Maybe in a couple of years.

Nice to know Tivo Stream is working to be a good product. I can imagine Tivo Stream with a functional locast and various other streaming sites with the ability to download to a home server like Playon and the ability to block ads on home server recordings as a bullseye winner. Maybe someday. Maybe Tivo could buy Playon or Channels DVR and integrate the technologies with Tivo Stream.

I don't use Locast, but I do an antenna and HDHR (2 x 4 tuners for total of 8) and TVE connection to Philo for $20/month to supplement and am quite happy with Channels DVR. Its comes out to $26/month including the cost of Channels and has been great. My problem with Tivo Stream 4K is that it doesn't seem to support an antenna, Locast isn't available in my area, and they only seem to work with Sling for the non local content. So Channels DVR works out to be great for me. I have 2 x 10TB external drives connected to a 2012 Mac Mini, and 2 x 4 channel HDHRs. I am recording everything I want to watch ever, so almost never have to watch anything live and have built a good library of movies that have great commercial skipping. Even though we have Disney+, I find that my wife often just watches movies with the kids in Channels and doesn't switch. At some point we could probably ditch Channels after we have most of the Disney movies in library, but we are on our daughter's account for Disney+ so doesn't cost us anything.