Need help choosing a DVR for Charter Cable...

[cannesdo]

I'll be in a park the next 6 months+ which has free Charter cable. Today they brought me a cable box with a really basic remote and all I could do was move the channels up one at a time, which is fine for a few days but I don't even have a guide and that would get old fast. I have Dish with a Winegard Carryout Dish but I'd like to go with the cable since it's free.

I called Charter/Spectrum and they're sending me two free Spectrum universal remotes for my tvs. They said that might allow me to pull up the guide. They also said that I could add a Roku or Tivo to record programs. What's the easiest option that would act like a Dish DVR...allow me to:

- record two programs at once
- watch them from either room
- possibly pause live tv?

I just want to watch these back on tv, no other devices. I don't need to be able to watch different shows in different rooms. It's just me.

Is there any other kind of unit that would accomplish this? I see there are 75 hour Tivos. I don't need more than that. The Tivo mini is looking like a good option. Or the Tivo Premier. Do you just use the Tivo remote for everything? (sync it with your tv?) and what if you have 2 tvs?

There's a monthly fee with Tivo, yes? Is there with Roku?

I'm totally out of the loop where the new gadgets are concerned. I've had the Dish DVR for 10 years but since this is free (190 channels) I'd like to take advantage of it.

Also...does it matter if I run the cable through the cable in/out of the Dish receiver? I didn't know if that would interfere with the guide or any other functions.

Thanks much...

[wa8yxm]

Option 1: Very easy Hauppauge WIN-TV, ReplayTV edition...
First the interface will be more or less familure to you since the DISH NETWORK receivers based their User Interface on ReplayTV's as did Hauppauge on this model. (The difference is Hauppauge ask first, Dish got sued) Replay by the way is considered to best user interface in the business (NOTE Replay is no longer made)

TiVo... That's the DirecTV type interface (Also got sued, forgot to ask but oh well).

I do not know how well the Win-TV can control the TV,, it eats up a lot of hard drive however.. both allow you to download a program guide.

Now. for the program guide

Go to this URL www.zap2it.com

and follow the links. Enter your ZIP code, pick your provider, and you will have a very nice program guide on your computer screen.. Register (no charge) and you can customise the guide, turning "off" channels you do not watch or get.

That is Zap2it

[cannesdo]

GordonThree wrote:
Dvr isn't really necessary with Spectrum. You should have access to on demand for the channels you're subscribed to. Think of it as a cloud based DVR.

Another thought, check your cable box for USB or eSata ports, you might only need to add an external drive and have support turn on the feature.

I don't think on demand is available for bulk accounts.

[GordonThree]

Dvr isn't really necessary with Spectrum. You should have access to on demand for the channels you're subscribed to. Think of it as a cloud based DVR.

Another thought, check your cable box for USB or eSata ports, you might only need to add an external drive and have support turn on the feature.

[cannesdo]

n7bsn wrote:
Charter used to offer a Motorola DVR, which is smaller then the TIVO.

The first Charter rep I talked to tried to convince me to not try to buy one of those on eBay because "it could be programmed for New York and I'm in Oregon"...which sounded fishy to me. The next rep said I could use a Tivo or a Roku but didn't mention the Motorola DVR. The cable box and the remote they gave me are Motorola. Hmm..

[n7bsn]

Charter used to offer a Motorola DVR, which is smaller then the TIVO.