Need OTA DVR advice

One thing to remember about TIVO and the Lifetime Fee, it is on the box, not the account. So if you get another TIVO the membership doesn't transfer to it. This is the reason others have suggested the extended warranty.
I have had several TIVO's and only had one hard drive failure at about 3 years, all the others lasted until I upgraded them, 4 plus years.
I have a free X1 box from Comcast, and the guide is terrible compared to the TIVO's. I don't even use it to program shows, I use my 6 tuner TIVO.

The Tivo Roamio OTA with lifetime service for $300 re-appeared on Amazon yesterday (1/15/16). When Amazon had this previously there were some buyers who never got delivery or had activation problems and returned the box, but with 89% 4 and 5-star reviews it most have worked out ok for most. After seeing it yesterday, I spent about 5 seconds deciding to order.

I was following all this and all of a sudden realized I had a DirecTV AM21 (<$100) that I forgot about. It does all this...if you have DirecTV. We used it a lot a year or so ago but haven't recently Only time we use it is we can't see the bird because of trees etc so it works perfect...for us. Your results may vary.

On Edit: Nevermind. You gotta see the bird to download the OTA channels so this only works if you're in one place. Maybe if you knew where you're going and downloaded while you can see the bird it would work. Back to Walmart for the $50 one.

I think you are spot on with that. 1/3 of what the TIVO offers is about right. Also, with the Tablo you have to buy an external compatable hard drive, a media streamer, hope the company stays in business and keeps putting out bug fixes, which many similar companies have not been able to do. Tablo is a young company with some hard drive compatibility complaints, and set up issues. TIVO went through similar problems when starting up.
The Tablo 2 is $200, plus around $100 for a hard drive, $50 to a $100 for a streaming device, not to mention taking a risk on a young company.
TIVO is a company that has been, and will continue to be around for a long time, because someone will always buy them. A TIVO OTA can be had for $49, and I have seen life time memberships go for as low as $250.
I recommended the TIVO because I went through a similar situation as the OP, and from my research felt it was the best bargain.
az99, out of curiosity what would you recommend, and why?

My Roadtrek wrote:
Reviews look fairly good. Some ex. hard drive compatibility, and set up issues, but there always are.
How much is the monthly fee for the guide?

At only $5 per month he must only get 1/3 of the info you get on your $15 per month TIVO.

My Roadtrek wrote:
Reviews look fairly good. Some ex. hard drive compatibility, and set up issues, but there always are.
How much is the monthly fee for the guide?

$5/month
$50/year
$150/lifetime

Your choice.

I am considering the $150/lifetime and just consider it part of the purchase price.

Reviews look fairly good. Some ex. hard drive compatibility, and set up issues, but there always are.
How much is the monthly fee for the guide?

Congrats on your decision!

OP here. I finally settled on a Tablo 2 tuner DVR. It is on order and should be delivered on 1/12.

I went to the Tablo forums and asked about what to use to connect it to the TV. I was told to avoid the Chromecast. I was told to get either the Nvidia Shield or the Nexus Player. I settled on the Nexus Player since it was about 1/3 of the price. I have the Nexus Player set up and working. Tomorrow we should see how the system performs.

Thank you for your input. It was very helpful.

I tried two of the RCA Converter/Recorders. First one didn't work and the second had some problems. I picked up a "ematic AT103B" for about $35 and it seems to be functioning okay. It comes with a rudimentary electronic program guide and can be connected via USB for storage.