looking for video solution other than cable/sat

TIVO is a good option but be warned that the newest TIVO units do NOT support OTA signals and are cable only. They also do not work with Satellite. But I do recommend them. I’m a long time user, we’re on our 3rd and 4th TIVOs.

I forgot you also ask about Recording.

TiVo has been mentioned, Works well and multiple TiVo's can share recordings (in the same house)

Likewise Magnavox

I use vintage Replay TV's (Replay invented sharing files in the same house)

YOu can also put a TV card in your computer and use it to record and play back Some can even stream to a television or "NET-TV" device.

Decent video recordign can chew up to a gig an hour or more. Just so you know.

Heck, one of my TV's.. You pop in a thumb drive and IT records.

Magnavox makes a DVR recorder that works both for OTA and cable as long as it is not encrypted it costs about $200 and requires no subscription. I have one and it is perfect.

Now my cable service has announced that they are encrypting the signal as an increase in service to me. So my DVR is useless and the only option is to rent a box from them for $20/mo. Whoever deregulated the cable industry made a huge mistake.

Home or RV. Wile it lasts (Turns out there has been ateempts to block it, so far they have failed. The perople who are asking for it to end are of course the cable and sat providers)

OVER THE AIR TELEVISION.

Why I remember back before I got my Driver's license if you wanted to watch TV you put up an antenna, pointed it toward the stations Ran the cable (usually 300 ohm flat lead back then) down to the TV and WOW. it worked.

Today they have improved things a bit, They use 72-75 Ohm Coax (The native impedance of most antennas) On your RV is most likely a Wingard Sensar.

IF you have one without the "Wingman" add it

And inside consider the Winegard Sensar PRO "Wall Plate" replacement.

(Adds additional amplification and aids in finding stations)

For your home.. Channel Master still makes some SERIOUS signal suckers

Fact: Where my Dad lived in Union City, MI. per the "Footprint" charts we should have had absolutly NO television reception since back then still no SAT providers and no cable in that neighborhood (Then or now).

So we put a 100' tower in the back yard. And Channel Master's best on top. complete with mast head amplifier (There is a picture of me installing that amp, 100' up on the tower.... I happen to have Acrophobia (I seriously trusted my safety harness I can tell you).

Look up Union City, MI on your map.

We could get staions from Kalamazoo/Grand Rapids (Transmitters at Gun Lake) Lansing/Jackson (Not sure where the towers are)

We could usually get VHF low band (Chan 2 or 4) Out of Detroit/Southfield.

And South Bend Indiana

Do not expect that kind of performance less you have a decent tower.

With a lesser tower, and antenna, but atop a hill. In Tekonsha (Not far from Union City to the east) we did not do bad either, though Detroit was very rare. Lansing/Jackson and Kalamazoo/Grand Rapids were solid.

Oh, at the Union City house I put in a distribution system too, 10 different locations you could hook up a TV if I recall,4 bedrooms, 2 in the rec room (each end) two in the living room (likewise) kitchen and the distribution point (Also in rec room) I used a "Tap a line" system

az99 wrote:
Call your congressman and demand they get rid of the law that allows cable and satellite to bundle all of the worthless junk they make us pay for.IIRC it was the cable bill of 1992.

The excuse they had back then is no longer valid in today's digital age. A la carte programming needs to be brought back. That should get rid of about 100 worthless channels.

I read recently that Canada is doing something about allowing a la carte.

Paying for all the worthless commercial filled junk really gets me also.

X2 We have 140 channels and watch about 6 of them.

Call your congressman and demand they get rid of the law that allows cable and satellite to bundle all of the worthless junk they make us pay for.IIRC it was the cable bill of 1992.

The excuse they had back then is no longer valid in today's digital age. A la carte programming needs to be brought back. That should get rid of about 100 worthless channels.

I read recently that Canada is doing something about allowing a la carte.

Paying for all the worthless commercial filled junk really gets me also.

DutchmenSport wrote:

He pointed out the way to keep costs down is to switch Satellite providers ever 2 years, back and forth between Dish and Direct TV. That way, you are always a "new customer" and get the "new customer" discounts.

I tried that many years ago. WHen I tried to switch back to Dish, their records showed I had service at that address before and did not consider me a 'New' customer, therefor no 'new customer promotions' deals were allowed.
Hope it works out for you.

We have two TIVOS in our RV that we have used for about 3 years.

For OTA stations, they work perfectly . . . as long as you are in an area that gets a strong OTA signal.

I absolutely HATE monthly financial commitments of any type, so we opted to buy receivers off eBay with lifetime programming included. Since we are not full timers, I did not want to pay the monthly fees when we weren't using it.

I believe we got the used TIVOs with lifetime programming for about $400.

The only caveat is that some campgrounds offer substandard cable. They say it is HD digital . . . but that's only to them. What they push out to the sites is not digital. TIVO doesn't produce a crisp clear picture when that happens. You then either have to deal with "not so great" picture or hook the campground cable directly up to your TV and avoid the TIVO receiver. Then of course, you loose your recording ability.

Another "gotcha" is that some campgrounds use "mom and pop" cable companies that the TIVO programing service doesn't know about, and then your programming doesn't work so well.

We winter in Florida, close enough to a large city to get excellent OTA programming, so our TIVOs work perfectly.

We used to plug the TIVO into a Cradlepoint cellular router to get programming. Then we switched to a MIFI hotspot to get the programming. This year we've upgraded our phones, so now we just use their hotspot feature to get the programming information. The TIVOs don't use much data to get their programming information and they only need to be hooked up to the hotspot WIFI over night to get programming info for the next two weeks.

To get programming information via WIFI (using a hotspot) you will need to also purchase a Wireless "N" adapter to plug into your TIVO so it can receive the WIFI signal from a hotspot. If you have a router with USB ports, you can plug the TIVO directly into that to receive its programming.

Life is all about compromises, but this is a pretty good solution for many situations.

DutchmenSport wrote:
When we lived in town (North of Indianapolis), we had cable. We moved to the country where there was absolutely NO cable for anything ... not even phone, as this pocked area we live now is deadlocked. So, that left us with no choice but to consider satellite services. So we went with Direct TV and we were pretty happy, but after the initial (free) and special pricing (1 year), the prices started jumping up, and we started canceling stations, until we were near $100 for the very basic of basic stations.

Along came this guy knocking at our door who represented a 3rd company. I call it a 3rd company because he had both the DISH and the Direct TV logo on his shirt.

He pointed out the way to keep costs down is to switch Satellite providers ever 2 years, back and forth between Dish and Direct TV. That way, you are always a "new customer" and get the "new customer" discounts.

Our bill went from $100 a month with Direct TV to $54 a month with Dish for 2 years. Guess what we're doing again in July 2015?

Besides that, the installers sold us a tripod and another satellite dish, and using one of the 3 receivers in the house, we can take our "system" on the road with us. And we've been enjoying the lower cost and the ability to have satellite TV when we go camping too!

Consider satellite TV.

When you switch back and forth like this, don't you have to obtain and pay for new receivers with every switch?

TiVo works great for the ota broadcast recording buy the correct receiver one time purchase then the pay a monthly fee per unit to recoeve programming guides and actually work .. About 15 bucks a month per unit depending on how you pay ( monthly annual lifetime. ) btw that's the receivers life not yours
The TiVo uses a internet connection that you provide to receive program guide info .
Cut the cord 3 years ago only internet at s&b no phone no sat/cable. We use netflix streaming and hulu plus for all the rest.