Why no Tivo for me, for now

1622 Views 13 Replies 14 Participants Last post by trip1eX, Jun 8, 2011

aca2983

Discussion Starter · Jun 6, 2011

I was considering Tivo Premiere, but I decided not to take the plunge. My situation is odd and not like most peoples but in case anybody cares here is my reasoning:
- primary motivation, to record a few OTA broadcasts shows I like, and have something to watch on the rare occassions I'm bored.
- not a heavy TV watcher, want to eliminate the monthly cost of my DishNetwork Subsription and DVR service cost
- Have antenna on roof, can get good DT signals, 39 channels
- still have analog CRT TV. HDTV flat screen not important, not seriously considering purchasing for two years or so after I have secured stable FT job, at which time I will trash/donate ALL my ancient electronics and start fresh.
- have a Samsung Blue Ray with internet functions. Can get Netflix or PPV movies via this if I wish.

I decided to buy a Magnavox MDR515H HDD/DVD recorder. Basically it works like a VCR where you set up records by time/date. Thats plenty fine for me. If I could have just purchased an old-school VCR that could tune DTV, thats what I would have done, but such a solution doesn't exist. It costs $250, which i figure is roughly the price of Premier ($99) and 7 1/2 months of Tivo monthly service. Yes, this machine only records SDTV, but thats not an issue for me b/c I don't have an HDTV TV.

For now, this solution works for me, fits my budget, and satisfies my desire to own the box outright and not have recurring monthly fees. In the future when I have a new TV, and more time to watch one, I might consider Tivo again. I ordered the box this weekend and should have next week.

I missed out on the Tivo free slide remote offer last month. I was all set to buy, then I found out that offer was cancelled, so I held off again. I do like the idea of a remote where you can enter text more rapidly.

Anyhow, if you're a cheap person like me who really only needs to record a few things, this box might work for you also.

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classicsat

· #2 · Jun 6, 2011

You do't need an HDTV to use one of the HD TiVo.

However, if I were in a position to be OTA only with good digital OTA reception, I would likely opt to build an HTPC with a dual ATSC tuner card, being 95% of what broadcast TV I watch occurs in the evening, so can be powered for only then. It would also play online content available.

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magnum68

· #3 · Jun 7, 2011

aca2983 said:
I was considering Tivo Premiere, but I decided not to take the plunge. My situation is odd and not like most peoples but in case anybody cares here is my reasoning:
- primary motivation, to record a few OTA broadcasts shows I like, and have something to watch on the rare occassions I'm bored.
- not a heavy TV watcher, want to eliminate the monthly cost of my DishNetwork Subsription and DVR service cost
- Have antenna on roof, can get good DT signals, 39 channels
- still have analog CRT TV. HDTV flat screen not important, not seriously considering purchasing for two years or so after I have secured stable FT job, at which time I will trash/donate ALL my ancient electronics and start fresh.
- have a Samsung Blue Ray with internet functions. Can get Netflix or PPV movies via this if I wish.

I decided to buy a Magnavox MDR515H HDD/DVD recorder. Basically it works like a VCR where you set up records by time/date. Thats plenty fine for me. If I could have just purchased an old-school VCR that could tune DTV, thats what I would have done, but such a solution doesn't exist. It costs $250, which i figure is roughly the price of Premier ($99) and 7 1/2 months of Tivo monthly service. Yes, this machine only records SDTV, but thats not an issue for me b/c I don't have an HDTV TV.

For now, this solution works for me, fits my budget, and satisfies my desire to own the box outright and not have recurring monthly fees. In the future when I have a new TV, and more time to watch one, I might consider Tivo again. I ordered the box this weekend and should have next week.

I missed out on the Tivo free slide remote offer last month. I was all set to buy, then I found out that offer was cancelled, so I held off again. I do like the idea of a remote where you can enter text more rapidly.

Anyhow, if you're a cheap person like me who really only needs to record a few things, this box might work for you also.

Heard you loud and clear Mr. Fred Flintstone

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daveak

· #4 · Jun 7, 2011

aca2983 said:
If I could have just purchased an old-school VCR that could tune DTV, thats what I would have done, but such a solution doesn't exist.

Wow. Well, if you would be OK with doing a VCR then you did pick a good solution for you. I just cannot fathom going back to manually program times and days for the programming I want to watch from the TV. I am OTA as well, but my TiVo is a needed device that has spoiled me for watching programming.

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replaytv

· #5 · Jun 7, 2011

If I was in your shoes I would have gone with a Series 2 Tivo with lifetime and would have saved $100 or more.
But is not too late if you want a Tivo recorder for the bedroom or kitchen, or return that Magnavox and get a couple of Tivos.

But to be fair, I do like the advantage I see with non Tivo recorders is that you can edit the programs to record on DVD and then mail or take them over to friends' houses. I have a Pansonic and a Polaroid that can do that. But they are very difficult to use. The design is terrible as is the documentation.
Course, I like that some Replay TVs automatically fast forward through commercials too.

Anybody got a DVR that does everything? (to include the features above?)

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mattack

· #6 · Jun 7, 2011

aca2983 said:
For now, this solution works for me, fits my budget, and satisfies my desire to own the box outright and not have recurring monthly fees.

You can do this with Tivo too... just buy a lifetime (for the Tivo) subscription instead of paying monthly. Over time, it pays for itself.

BTW, I do not completely disagree with your solution of a "VCR-like" recorder. I have a Toshiba XS-32, and use it DAILY alongside my Tivos.. in fact, it usually is the input my TV is on, and I use its input to switch between Tivos.. (Plus I very often dub from Tivo to it to watch using its faster-than-realtime function.)

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JimboG

· #7 · Jun 7, 2011

aca2983 said:
I was considering Tivo Premiere, but I decided not to take the plunge. My situation is odd and not like most peoples but in case anybody cares here is my reasoning:
- primary motivation, to record a few OTA broadcasts shows I like, and have something to watch on the rare occassions I'm bored.
- not a heavy TV watcher, want to eliminate the monthly cost of my DishNetwork Subsription and DVR service cost
- Have antenna on roof, can get good DT signals, 39 channels
- still have analog CRT TV. HDTV flat screen not important, not seriously considering purchasing for two years or so after I have secured stable FT job, at which time I will trash/donate ALL my ancient electronics and start fresh.
- have a Samsung Blue Ray with internet functions. Can get Netflix or PPV movies via this if I wish.

I decided to buy a Magnavox MDR515H HDD/DVD recorder. Basically it works like a VCR where you set up records by time/date. Thats plenty fine for me. If I could have just purchased an old-school VCR that could tune DTV, thats what I would have done, but such a solution doesn't exist. It costs $250, which i figure is roughly the price of Premier ($99) and 7 1/2 months of Tivo monthly service. Yes, this machine only records SDTV, but thats not an issue for me b/c I don't have an HDTV TV.

For now, this solution works for me, fits my budget, and satisfies my desire to own the box outright and not have recurring monthly fees. In the future when I have a new TV, and more time to watch one, I might consider Tivo again. I ordered the box this weekend and should have next week.

I missed out on the Tivo free slide remote offer last month. I was all set to buy, then I found out that offer was cancelled, so I held off again. I do like the idea of a remote where you can enter text more rapidly.

Anyhow, if you're a cheap person like me who really only needs to record a few things, this box might work for you also.

Cool story bro.

Hope you take the Metro everywhere you go, because if your eyesight isn't good enough to tell the difference between fuzzy analog and HDTV you shouldn't be driving.

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Series3Sub

· #8 · Jun 7, 2011

There are still "old school" VCR's out there (not many) and you could get your self an inexpensive ($30) DTV converter to analog for your VCR input, all with no monthly fees. You would have saved your self quite a bit of money compared to the route you went. I would say that you aren't so cheap, after all. You got a "tooken" and grossly overpaid for what you claim you want. Sorry for huge loss of $$, but live and learn.

Also, should you ever decide that you want to view HD on the OTA, then I would recommend buying a TiVo on ebay for much less $$, or going ahead and taking advantage of the current 0$ down at $19.99 per month if you don't want to spend any money up front.

Happy TV watching.

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ncbill

· #9 · Jun 7, 2011

As Premieres add more and more features the older ATSC-capable units will never get I suspect a used TivoHD off ebay will be more attractive for someone like this.

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atmuscarella

· #10 · Jun 7, 2011

aca2983 said:
I was considering Tivo Premiere, but I decided not to take the plunge. My situation is odd and not like most peoples but in case anybody cares here is my reasoning:
- primary motivation, to record a few OTA broadcasts shows I like, and have something to watch on the rare occassions I'm bored.
- not a heavy TV watcher, want to eliminate the monthly cost of my DishNetwork Subsription and DVR service cost
- Have antenna on roof, can get good DT signals, 39 channels
- still have analog CRT TV. HDTV flat screen not important, not seriously considering purchasing for two years or so after I have secured stable FT job, at which time I will trash/donate ALL my ancient electronics and start fresh.
- have a Samsung Blue Ray with internet functions. Can get Netflix or PPV movies via this if I wish.

I decided to buy a Magnavox MDR515H HDD/DVD recorder. Basically it works like a VCR where you set up records by time/date. Thats plenty fine for me. If I could have just purchased an old-school VCR that could tune DTV, thats what I would have done, but such a solution doesn't exist. It costs $250, which i figure is roughly the price of Premier ($99) and 7 1/2 months of Tivo monthly service. Yes, this machine only records SDTV, but thats not an issue for me b/c I don't have an HDTV TV.

For now, this solution works for me, fits my budget, and satisfies my desire to own the box outright and not have recurring monthly fees. In the future when I have a new TV, and more time to watch one, I might consider Tivo again. I ordered the box this weekend and should have next week.

I missed out on the Tivo free slide remote offer last month. I was all set to buy, then I found out that offer was cancelled, so I held off again. I do like the idea of a remote where you can enter text more rapidly.

Anyhow, if you're a cheap person like me who really only needs to record a few things, this box might work for you also.

I guess I don't really understand why you posted this. You seem to have a solution that makes sense to you, very few people here are going to care much about new solutions for recording OTA in SD only.

The $250 you spent is less than a new TiVo with lifetime but not that much less than several used versions with lifetime so unless recording to DVD is what you were looking for not sure what you really saved. There are used TiVo's with DVD recording built in with lifetime service for about the same price, but they are fairly old and getting harder to find.

You could have also looked at a Channel Master DVR for $300 if DVD recording wasn't needed.

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shwru980r

· #11 · Jun 7, 2011

You need the advanced search capabilities of Tivo more than ever with OTA.

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mr.unnatural

· #12 · Jun 7, 2011

I also went the HTPC route for OTA over four years ago. I had DirecTV at the time and got tired of not getting all of my locals. I have access to two markets (Baltimore and D.C.) and DirecTV would only give me partial channels from Baltimore. I eventually switched over to FIOS and the S3 Tivo. When the Ceton InfiniTV4 became available I all but completely retired my Tivos.

FYI - the search functions available in Windows Media Center work quite well for both OTA and FIOS programming.

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ZeoTiVo

· #13 · Jun 8, 2011

yeah, this is a case where I would have bought a cheap PC with an OTA tuner card in it

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trip1eX

· #14 · Jun 8, 2011

Seems like a case of going too cheap to me.

A used PRemiere with lifetime isn't that much more than the $250 HDD/DVD recorder you bought. $250 is alot to spend on a stop gap solution.

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