anyone know of a good basic OTA DVR

[burlmart]

Just need simple single tuner and EPG and compositr red white yellow output.

cox is dumping analog and mandating a mini box DTA (by Evolution). our old analog toshiba rs-tx20 tivo has no cableCARD slot.

the tivo tcannot change channels in the DTA in order to schedule recordings. there is supposedly a way to connect the IR blaster cable to the front of the mini box and reconfigure tivo settings as 'cable with cable box' and the tivo will work

here is where it all stinks...neither tivo or cox will give out thr 5 digit IR code number of the mini box. lots of calls and reading forums show this to be a widespread problem.

TIA

[burlmart]

i looked at some videos on homeworx, and their menus are so similar to the rca dta880 that i think rca bought the older pvr.

i was still looking for dvr options and stumbled on the rca in a walmart.

[MrWizard]

My inverters are never off, always on
and I love my HomeWorx PVR

[JiminDenver]

A older thread but I just recieved two Homeworx HW-150PVR converter boxes and they are great. They pick up over 60 channels here and the quality is much better than trying to record cable with a VCR. (1080p vs yuck)

One downside pointed out to me was that it is 120v only, no 12v conversion. I'm use to having the inverter on 24/7 but it may be a issue for some.

[burlmart]

not to bore w/ regional cox policy and dated series 2 tivo, but there are quite many of us in this boat, from looking into various help forums.

i have found that cox cable here is using the motorolla cisco dta 250 hd 'minibox' for those of us who've hung on to analog cable to the end (1/1/16, here). it has an IR 3.5mm input, and my toshiba rs-tx20 has an IR out.

all forms of communication w/ cox and tivo fail at getting the needed 5 digit IR code that would let us run tivo software guided setup to allow tivo to change the tuner of the dta to execute scheduled recordings.

many of us have tried, and using a beilen IR cable from amazon, some have had success.

cox only wants to give a cablecard w/ tuner adapter, but this tivo unit has no such slot. so they say the'll supply their dvr box instead.

we do a lot of time-shifting w/dvr. i want to tell cox where to go, but ota recording, even w/ roamio, is hit and miss...

and so it goes.

[1775]

Assuming that this set up is in your house and not an RV. The cable companies are making it very difficult to record without their own recording cable box. I have an older DVR DVD recorder but our cable company dropped the ability in the cable box to turn on channels on and off on a schedule eliminating the usability of the recorder and its timer. Most cable companies want you to go through their tuner now or nothing and are setting the systems to have to do that.

[BruceMc]

We've been generally satisfied with our Channel Master DVR. There's a couple of repeat-recording issues that I've worked around but otherwise it has been a solid unit. We added a 1TB HGST external drive for additional storage.

There are cheaper alternatives out there including using Windows media, but I very much dislike windows, and counting in the cost of a pc, the "free" of windows becomes expensive.

Your mileage and experience will differ from mine. Good luck on your search!

[Tom_M1]

wa8yxm wrote:
Oh, I caught an add for that Over the air unit, It is called an AIR BOX

AirBox is a subscription service available in limited markets. It is broadcast on some subchannels of ION TV.

AirBox coming soon

Set-top box at Radio Shack

[burlmart]

tivo stopped making roamio OTA (lots of issues), but the base $199 roamio can still do OTA

i've been researching roamio and am very wary of its build quality and lifespan (no at all like early on tivos). plus people are being led in circles between cableCARD hookup from cable company and tivo service rep hassles.

cord cutting is gaining new devices to bring in OTA with web streaming. maybe in a year or two some robust options will come out

then we can cancel cox cable TV -- of course, we'll likey then see our cox broadband double in price 😞

[wa8yxm]

Oh, I caught an add for that Over the air unit, It is called an AIR BOX

like I said it is 20 or 25 a month for the Program guide.

here is a TiVo OTA box 15/month
http://www.amazon.com/TiVo-Roamio-Streaming-Media-Player/dp/B00OLDNNRO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1447026113&sr=8-1&keywords=over+the+air+hd+dvr

[burlmart]

thanks, john

martha would certainly put me on ice for a LONG time if i started posing these techy solutions for combatting arrogant cable giant monopolistic edicts like in my OP

i have a happauge usb tuner that we used in our rv for several years w/ win XP. while it was very wonky on our underpowered gateway laptop, i felt its TITAN EPG was quite strong

we now just have a 19" insignia with a wingman batwing and a radioshack 'additional' amp for RV OTA TV. no ota recording, as we just go 1 or 2 nites to local SPs.

i am seeing that martha is not too enthused when i present her w/ all the possible 'TAKE THAT, COX' options i am generating in response to their non-apologetic destruction of our perfect-for-us-for-a-decade home analog tv and tivo and no cable set top box.

i fear we will likely succumb to another $25/mo increase to get their own DVR w/ HD channels
l

[wa8yxm]

If you haVe a spare windows computer lying about you can use WIN-TV by Hauppauge, This is a plug in (USB 2.x) device you can also add say half a terrabyte of storage on a 2nd USB port so you can record like 450 hours of programming.

Or there is a new device Antenna Box I think it's called 20/month for the EPG (I pay 25/year for my EPGs)

What do I use
Spare Windows box running WiRNS (Windows Replay Network Server) and XML-TV

Two Replay TV DVRs (no longer made) these are older NTSC only devices
Two Digital TV converters (One Echostar DTV Pal one Zenith/Insigna/LG that I keep working by frequent channel changes)

Rube Goldburg antenna and cable network

This works with both Park cable (Analog) and digital OTA with the DVR's auto selectring the source.. now that's hard to beat.

But for you I'd go with either the WIN-TV (Best buys, micro Center, computer store of your choice) or the Antenna Box device (As advertise on TV)

if you have computer skills you can get a cheap windows box (under 200 at Wal-Mart, there is one beside me just now) The WIN-TV device (About 100) and a big Drive (The 179 HP Stream has almost no drive) like my Toshiba 500 Gig for like 50-70 bucks and you are good to go.. Do not know how WinTV does the EPG but if it can snag 'em from XMLTV well the service I use is 25/year.

[billyboy]

magnavox dvr-amazon

[burlmart]

to simplify a bit: what if i use one of the popular converter boxes of the 2008 era (zenith, rca, radioshack) where the tivo might easily have an IR code?

i would have to redo my 2004 analog tivo series 2 guided setup and tell it i am using an IR cable box (even if it is actually OTA digital). i would need the IR code for tivo to mate with the converter box.

so tivo gets EPG from internet, and via the IR blaster cables positioned above and below the box's remote sensor, it changes the DTV tuner, and either coax or composite cables from DTV to tivo would work?

maybe?

[MrWizard]

i don't think so
because of the way the menu system works the Homeworx PVR
you select the channel, then look at whats comming up and select record

or you hit the program button and and put in the date, channel, time
you would have to check with tivo to find out if there is an ouput setting for this

it not as simple as record now / stop now
because the PVR has to select the channel