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Topic:
What is the best OTA PVR ??
This thread has 12 replies. Displaying all posts.
Post 1 made on Tuesday March 18, 2014 at 16:55
sirroundsound
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I have looked at some websites showing off various OTA PVR boxes.

Are many people here using them? If so is there a favorite model to look at.

I am not looking for cheap, I want a good picture and useful features.

There is an interesting device called simple.tv, not available in Canada yet, but it looks promising.
Post 2 made on Tuesday March 18, 2014 at 17:28
keaster2000
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I have a Bell AND Dish Network subscription. Their receivers (some models) have an off-air input.

It allows me to do everything with my OTA channels with the DVR that I can do with the channels they offer through their service--have to subscribe, of course.

Can record, pause, rewind, set timers etc. The Dish Network receiver has a dual off-air tuner and dual satellite input, I can record one show off the antenna and watch another, or record off the dish and antenna at the same time, and watch another antenna channel. Can record up to four shows at once--two from the dish and two OTA.

I'm not familiar with any other models of DVR's but I know a store in
St. Catharines has Channel Master's PAL--not cheap--like $300
OP | Post 3 made on Wednesday March 19, 2014 at 10:50
sirroundsound
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Yes I have installed a few of those over the years, but not to clients that have any need or concern about OTA signals.

As I don't subscribe to anything, cable or satellite boxes that can also do OTA really are not what I am inquiring about.
Post 4 made on Friday March 21, 2014 at 11:09
rjdto
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Best Buy is selling a Phillips HDR5710 OTA DVR with 500G hard drive for $300 in Toronto. In the states it is $230.
rjdto
Post 5 made on Sunday March 23, 2014 at 13:56
rjdto
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I just bought a Phillips DVR at Best Buy. It was on sale for 270 dollars. Recording quality off the aerial is excellent and the wireless connection with the modem is fine. Split the signal to watch one channel while recording another on the 500G hard drive. You can transfer recording from the hard drive to a USB drive.
It was excellent for three days then it stopped working. Either myself or the unit is responsible. I returned it because I could not get service on their customer service line (It hung up on me).

Last edited by rjdto on March 26, 2014 17:24.
rjdto
Post 6 made on Sunday March 30, 2014 at 23:05
el gran chico
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148
A few products you might want to read about.

[Link: newegg.ca]

[Link: gigaom.com]

http://www.tablotv.com/

Personally, I own 2 TiVos but they are a lot more pricier when you add in the lifetime subscription fee. But the user interface is so good my wife and 7yo can use it (which might not necessarily be a good thing :-) )
Post 7 made on Thursday April 3, 2014 at 13:47
theoren_1
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This might not be an option for everyone, but I have my TV hooked up to an old Dell computer that I wasn't really using much anymore.

I then bought a USB Tuner for about 40 bucks so I could hook the computer up to a digital antenna (here's the one I'm using, which works great: [Link: tigerdirect.ca]).

Using Windows Media Centre (usually pre-installed on Windows computers, but easily downloadable if it isn't), I get an automatically updated channel guide, and a perfectly functioning DVR, which saves my recordings to the computer's hard drive. It's fantastic, and for me, it was cheaper than buying a OTA DVR, although you need to have a computer you'd be willing to dedicate to your TV.
OP | Post 8 made on Monday April 7, 2014 at 10:22
sirroundsound
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I have a dedicated computer on my TV which I use for downloads of TV shows (not from OTA)
When I tried a couple of the Off air to USB dongles I found the software to be clunky to use and the quality of the recordings were not great either.
Maybe they have improved.
Post 9 made on Monday April 7, 2014 at 14:54
theoren_1
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Huh... well, I don't use the software or the antenna that came with my USB tuner, maybe that makes the difference. My reception is crystal clear, and my recordings are all totally smooth - everything plays back like regular HD television.
OP | Post 10 made on Friday April 11, 2014 at 16:13
sirroundsound
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I have an 8 bay antenna on a tower, so I get great reception on my TV.
When I tried to use one of the USB dongles I had my antenna connected to it.
As I mentioned, I found the software (there has to be some form of software, even the item you mention from TD had software) to be not very good. Recordings were not as good as I would have expected (I got better PQ from shows I just downloaded from torrent sites) And I found the whole process not intuitive. A good OTA DVR box should be something my wife should be able to use.
Apple TV probably has one of the best interfaces, Roku is good, and, although it borders on old school, even the WD live is still simple to navigate.
The OTA USB dongles I tried were not even close to being in the same league as the above items. And this day and age there should be no reason why it wouldn't have been as easy to operate, other than poor UI design.
Post 11 made on Thursday April 17, 2014 at 22:56
rjdto
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77
Does anyone use a homeworx 150pvr ? Does it record in HD and play back in HD? Does it work well?
rjdto
OP | Post 12 made on Tuesday May 20, 2014 at 10:33
sirroundsound
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An update.

Just picked up the Channel Master DVR+ (model 7500 I think it is also known as)
Very nice.

On screen TV guide works like most cable or Sat boxes.
Picture quality is great.
Looks like recording shows should be easy, as well as finding and watching what you recorded (haven't tried this yet, but have looked around the menus)
Small HD built in for Pause functions, but big enough to record a couple of shows.
USB connection for bigger HD (will be hooking something up this week)
I Learned the remote codes into my RTI files, and they work as they should.
Connected to the internet it even has Vudu as a "channel" or App.
If they really wanted to make this the next big thing, they would start to add more "apps" like Netflix etc.

Compared to the clunky UI of some OTA PVR's I have seen and played with in the past, this works just like any cable or Sat box would, which makes sense as I understand Dish (echostar) owns it.
So far I am happy with it.
Post 13 made on Tuesday June 3, 2014 at 10:27
rockisdead
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May 2014
6
I use my sonicview 8000HD as OTA PVR,works great,the only thing bad is the EPG is not working properly.


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