What I'd like is an easy, cheap DVR solution for OTA. Mostly I'd just like to be able to pause and rewind live TV. After cutting the cord, it's like living in the 80s again shouting at family members to be quiet when you need to hear something.
My OTA DVR for the last 8 years setup has been a PC with Windows Media Center. Apart from the setup, there is no monthly cost for the guide data, as with Tivo etc. Right now this runs on a NUC, with a SiliconDust HD Homerun (HDTC-2US) living in my attic, which transcodes the OTA MPEG-2 to H.264, saving tons of disk space. A nice side effect is that I can archive shows (e.g. NOVA episodes).
P.S. One interesting tidbit I remember from a Tivo ad (but can't dredge up right now), based on their users TV consumption stats, apparently ~ 87% of what people watch is available OTA.
Edit: Windows Media Center was dropped from Windows 10. The replacement will be Xbox One DVR functionality, coming 2016.
What's a rough size estimate for a 1-hr show? Can you adjust the amount of compression or otherwise tweak the h.264 encoding parameters?
An added bonus of the transcode is the reduced bandwidth in the LAN. Previously I needed CAT5 for a stable ATSC stream, now Wifi suffices (e.g. to iPad/iPhone). There is an app for the iPad, to watch those streams. On iPad Air 2 it renders 1080p without lag.
Also, putting the HD Homerun in the network let's one get away with a small head unit (in my case an Intel NUC).
You are correct, the resulting files are still wtv container, but with h.264 stream inside. VLC can play them fine. Not sure about conversion to MPEG4.
A 1-hour show comes out around 1.5GB (from memory), maybe less. Much better then before.
I'd looked at options that would auto-transcode recordings on disk, but they generally changed enough things that it wouldn't maintain the metadata and/or otherwise treated them as individual videos and not episodic content.
One last question, do you happen to have any extenders? I'm using an xbox 360 as an extender and I wonder if it can play the h.264 encoded video.
https://www.silicondust.com/products/hdhomerun/hd-homerun-dv...
I've been using Windows Media Center with an HDHR Prime, but the quality of the WMC listing accuracy took a huge dive around the time when they announced they've halted development and would not provide a version for Windows 10.
Add a HDHomerun tuner box (NOT the HDHomerun Prime, which is a CableCard tuner), and it works quite nicely.
Easiest setup is with Mythbuntu http://www.mythbuntu.org/
It's different than most since it doesn't actually have an HDMI plug, but rather it's basically just a back-end box than records off an antenna and then can play back on its app on most of the standard devices, Roku, Chromecast, Apple/Android/Fire TV as well as Android/iOS mobile devices and desktops via Chrome.
You'll likely want a subscription at $5/mo or $150/life, but you can do basic live recordings/pausing and such without it [1].
[0] - http://www.amazon.com/Tablo-HDTV-Antennas-2-Tuner-Wi-Fi/dp/B...
[1] - https://www.tablotv.com/tablo-products/tablo-guide-data-subs...
If you already have a home server, this is probably not as good of an option as you could just add some software and a dual tuner for $75-100. The EPG thing is more of a hassle once WMC gets deprecated. For mythtv and some others, you can do schedules direct for $25/yr. There are some free setups I've seen using scripts and such, but they mostly seem to be held together with twine and bailing wire and seem likely to break if a 3rd party decides to crack down.
For someone who's looking for a whole-house DVR though without running a bigger media setup though, it seems reasonable.
If you find a good appliance that'll get stuff onto a NAS on the cheap using reliable EPG, I'd love to see it.
http://www.channelmaster.com/Antenna_DVR_s/336.htm
You should follow /r/cordcutters, they track this stuff obsessively.
http://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-HW-150PVR-HomeWorx-Converte...
I bet you could get quite a ways with a 16 gig flash drive on there too, if you don't want to save recordings.
I might tolerate that shortcoming at that price, though.
Edit: from one of the Amazon reviews:
"It does let you pause live TV (temporarily recording to the hard drive just like the DVR does). However, unlike the DVR, this unit does not automatically record anything so if you missed something and want to see it again, too bad - unless you had previously entered into "Timeshift" mode by pressing Pause. Therefore, assuming you have enough hard drive capacity, it's probably best to press Pause then Play at the start of watching anything to let the thing start saving to the hard drive- then you will be able to Rewind, Pause and Forward through content that was buffered. (all the more reason you should use a big hard drive and not USB stick). While in Timeshift mode, you cannot change channels until pressing Stop."
That's true, but is as simple as hitting pause, I don't really think of it as a special mode.
I haven't tried the pausing TV (or recording TV) yet. I think this coment will inspire me to try out the recording and pausing.
$50 box and $9.99 a month subscription. All the great tivo features, access to apps (netflix, youtube, etc) and a great FAST user interface.
They still seem to offer a lifetime plan, but now it costs $600. That's a bit harder to justify.
"$14.99 Monthly service with 1-year commitment"
Do you (or anyone else) know if the Tivo will work without an internet connection?
I bought a Roamio OTA for my mother-in-law, who has no internet. I set it up at my place (it usually wants to upgrade to latest firmware over wifi when you unbox it), scanned for the OTA channels, then I took it to her place and wired it up.
The operation without monthly activation is bare-bones. I mean, you don't even get channel or station names. But you can tune to prescanned OTA channels and watch tv and pause it live.
Our family has used their previous model for years with great success. Dual tuners, program guide (picked up OTA as well), and no fees or subscription.
The interface is decent, nothing great, but better than most cable provided boxes. I've got mine hooked up to a 2TB usb drive I had laying around. Worked immediately.
It has reasonably good recording options. It can do string matching, so you can say "record any new shows with the word 'Masterpiece' in the title." That kind of thing.
I recommend it.
However, it is my understanding that if you hook this up to the internet it gets its EPG from Rovio. OTOH, if you do not link it, it will have a crappier, yet sufficient EPG from OTA signals. I believe Rovio gives EPG 2 weeks out, but EPG via OTA is 2 days out.