I'm curious. Is it the case that OTA DVRs like the TiV Roamio, and Tablo, all really make their money on the subscriptions? A $50 machine even with a 500GB drive is making a loss. TiVo makes its money on $14.99 subscriptions. And it sounds like you need one of these subscription because you have no EPG otherwise? And in any case, they won't sell you one without a subscription.
The Freeview system used in the UK, which broadcasts HD and SD channels OTA, has a built in EPG which means that manufacturers can build boxes for one-off payments and no subscriptions, utilising the EPG to give the DVR functionality. You don't get the recommendation engine of TiVo, but you get series link etc. The key for these things is the EPG, and from what I can gather, every supplier in the US does their own - hence those issues when the football runs long and you don't pad your recordings. It'd be interesting if someone was to create an open source IP-delivered EPG in the US market, and then see if manufacturers would build DVRs that used it. Add in Netflix/Hulu/Amazon Prime functionality, and you're much closer to being able to cord-cut. It might cost $300-400, but that'd be a true one-off fee. Adam On Mon, Aug 25, 2014 at 11:16 PM, Ben Combee <[email protected]> wrote: > The 4-tuner Tivo Roamio already supported OTA, it's just the 6-tuner > Tivo Roamio Pro that dropped OTA. The hard drive size for the Romio > OTA seems to be the same as the Roamio at 500GB. Going OTA only means > they don't have to populate a CableCard slot or include QAM support in > the tuners. If lifetime service is priced the same as other Tivo > devices, then the full cost with no ongoing subscription would be $548 > ($49 + $499 lifetime). > > On Mon, Aug 25, 2014 at 4:40 PM, Joe Hass <[email protected]> wrote: > > To be clear, TiVo was available to antenna viewers for a very long time, > > then was dropped for the latest release. I have the TiVo box just before > it > > that still offered OTA support. > > > > I'm curious how much storage the device will hold, especially at $50 > price > > point. > > > > > > On Mon, Aug 25, 2014 at 4:28 PM, Bob Jersey <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> > >> > >> The Roamio OTA drops the STB cost down to around that of Roku, with the > >> monthly service going for $14.99. > >> > >> Bloomberg (link) > >> > >> B > >> > >> -- > >> -- > >> TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! > >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > >> Groups "TV or Not TV" group. > >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > >> [email protected] > >> For more options, visit this group at > >> http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en > >> --- > >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups > >> "TVorNotTV" group. > >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send > an > >> email to [email protected]. > >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > > > > > -- > > -- > > TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > > Groups "TV or Not TV" group. > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > [email protected] > > For more options, visit this group at > > http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en > > --- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "TVorNotTV" group. > > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > > email to [email protected]. > > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > -- > -- > TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "TV or Not TV" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
