Best DVR for Over-the-Air recording

I was in the same dilemma two years ago and I settled with the Tivo Premiere and I've been paying the monthly fee.

It's a shame, because honestly the Tivo Premiere is one of the worst devices I've ever used. Locks up constantly, reboots take forever, and the netflix client is terrible.

I wish there was a clear cut answer for this. Seems like a really good opportunity for someone to build something awesome to disrupt this space. But I guess that won't happen until Google or Apple decide to build something to address the problem.

I just bought a Digital Stream DPH-1000R HDTV receiver from Amazon. It has dual digital tuner, HDMI & component output and has 320 GB hard drive. It records in HD from the OTA or clear QAM. There is a thread here on AVS Forum discussing it under the name RCA. The PQ of the HD tuner is not quite as good as my Vizio, but over all I am happy with it. It sells for $235 at Amazon and other online retailers. The TVguide is based on PSIP data put out by TV stations. There is no subscription.

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1402738/rca-dph-1000r-hdtv-recorder

NWest see http://www.amazon.com/Magnavox-MDR537H-Recorder-Digital-Tuner/dp/B009I5KWLK and check out the review by Wajo - there is a huge thread on this site (referenced in the review) if this piques your interest , I had one in my cart at walmart.com for $258.00 yesterday but when I checked out and assigned a payment method it jumped to $278 so I got angry and canceled it. (I would have also got a 20 dollar rebate because I opened a credit card )
Thanks Gusman1 I will look at that unit, I much prefer buying from Amazon

Not to be a PITA but this thread should be in a different sub forum for better exposure.

NWest, you specs are exactly what I need... do you only want a new unit? (I do)

I think this may be a little more complex than what you are looking for but for information sake, i was in the same situation as you last year. I ended up adding a tuner and antenna to my home PC, running media center and using Xbox 360s as extenders.

While it is more complicated, you have the benefit of a whole house DVR and the media center DVR is by far the best interface I've used.

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This looks like it might be what you need:

http://www.channelmaster.com/Digital_TV_and_HDTV_HD_digital_recorder_CM_7000PAL_DVR_s/120.htm

Just know that the Magnavox units aren't HD. But they do "upconvert" to HD.

This means less PQ, but more efficient use of HDD recording space.

Been using the MDR513 for over a year, and once you figure out the limitations (no guide, single tuner, no HD) etc, it's still the best bang for the buck and most user-friendly for OTA users.

The Channel Master might be my second choice, because it's HD, but it has its own issues.

There's very limited options/manufacturers available, because of copyright issues and lobbying etc. It's a shame.

With the 65$ I save per month not having cable TV, I can replace it with 2 or 3 "movie nights". Or you can subscribe to Nexflix or Hulu Plus etc for less $$$ and enjoy the content in the confort of your home. There are so many better options than subscription TV.

AFA channel Master, what do you mean it is HD, it has its own issues?
I was ready to order one, but read a few reviews that the "7000" overheats (in fact one guy had to add a notebook cooler) http://reviews.walmart.com/1336/13968952/channel-master-cm-7000pal-antenna-compatible-dvr-reviews/reviews.htm?page=2
I also looked that the CM 7400 and on Amazon the one star reviews are double the 5 star & the overheating seems to also occur to some..

I just want to record OTA. I have a laptop with a fault display but a decent video card (ATI 5870M with 1 GB) - 2 internal hard drives (80 GB SSD for OS and 500 GIG for storage). Does anyone make an external tuner that I could use with it and is there any software that will allow me to record OTA on the laptop (it only has HDMI out).
My internet speed is 5 Mb/s up and 4Mb/s down. PS no room for a desktop

Josea, I have no personal experience with it, but I think the SiliconDust HDHomerun (not the Homerun Prime, which is a cablecard tuner) might be the thing to use with your laptop. It tunes OTA channels, and attaches via USB. Then, if your laptop is using Windows 7, Microsoft's Windows Media Center is included and it will provide the DVR functions and user interface, including channel guide info, that you need. (I think Media Center is on Windows Vista, also.)

I have recently added an internal tuner card to a PC (a cablecard tuner, since I'm on a cable company feed) and turned it into a DVR using Media Center and I'm very pleased with it. Have even added a couple of Ceton Echo extenders so a couple of bedroom TVs now work off of it also, in addition to the family room TV where the HTPC is located. Took some tweaking to get everything working, but now I can cancel my cable company DVR equipment fees.

Hope this helps. There are a number of active threads in the Home Theater PC (HTPC) forums here about using a pc and Media Center for a DVR.

Thaniks a lot LeftCoastJayHawk... that helps a lot, I did not want to "settle" for a Magnavox 5 series and this seems to be an excellent solution!

Just to let your know, the Silicon Dust HDHR3 connects via ethernet and not usb. It's made to connect to a network, but you can still connect it to an ethernet port on a pc/laptop. You might need to alter your Windows Firewall settings though. And I agree that Windows Media Center is more usable than a Magnavox dvd recorder as a dvr because it has a guide.

Been using two HDhomerun units paired to ClearQam cable and OTA for years now. Windows media center works quite well most of the time.. minor tweaking or small issues every once in a while, but no deal breakers. And of course you get all the flexibility that comes with a PC. Just connect the HdHomeruns to your network and every PC on your network that is running Windows media center can choose from the pool of tuners the Hdhomerun provides, which means you can have more than the two tuners offered in these standalone boxes. You can have up to 6 in Windows, and more with a simple registry hack. You can also buy "extenders" that can communicate with the main PC in your setup. These can be devices like the Ceton extender, or an Xbox 360.

If you dont want to run Windows Media center, XBMC Frodo can do most of these same features. I have been playing around with it a little, and have not successfully set up the DVR and live TV with guide yet. But its certainly possible.
Edited by hifiaudio2 - 2/5/13 at 6:35am

It has a few bugs, but I use the tvix 6620n plus, and I LOVE IT!!!http://www.avsforum.com/t/1195962/official-dvico-tvix-m6620n-hd-atsc-qam-tuner-topic , you can find em for $300 without hdd and worth every cent :-)

Buy a TiVo premiere with a lifetime subscription off eBay. It will be the best interface easiest to use and most accessible and expandable over the years. It is better than paying for the monthly subscription and not getting anything out of it in the end.

This way you have something of value that is very easy to set up plug-and-play and be done with it the guy data and the rest of the features it offers is the best all-around solution. The Netflix app has been revised it is actually not all that bad anymore

I have exactly the same question. Cable and satellite are expensive and
customer service terrible. I'm buying an antenna and want to record the
relatively few shows I watch. Any recommendations on DVR devices that
connect to TV (not PC) and handle HD?

The Tvix M6640n is expensive and it does not come with a hard drive. The hard drives that can be used in them are expensive and hard to find, Even with these problems it is the future of over the air DVRs. It's software is a version of google's very stable android platform. Pair it with a media jukebox (from TVIX) & it is a joy to own. I have used them all & this is the best. It has played every video and audio file type I have thrown at it.

I went through this search a couple of years ago. There are many ways to go if you are using a Home Theater PC (HTPC), or do most of your viewing on computers or otherwise somehow on the internet. If what you want is a piece of home theater equipment that is basically plug and play via HDMI, I found only two options:

1) The Channel Master CM-7000PAL. Readily available from Amazon and other retailers, a bit pricey for what you get IMHO. Upside is it does exactly what you want, which is basically the same functionality that VCRs had but for broadcast HDTV. Downside is it has a fairly clunky interface, and according to some has spotty reliability (I've been using mine for 2 years and have had no problems so far).

2) Tivo. Upside is the user experience - nice interface, and the system is "smart" in the sense that it knows you mean to record specific programming, not time slots. If your show is delayed 10 minutes because the baseball game on previously ran long, Tivo is usually smart enough to pick that up. The Channel Master is just dumb clock, recording Channel 7 at 8:00pm for 2 hours. Downside to Tivo is in addition to the cost of the box, there is a monthly fee.

I bought the DTV-PAL DVR that Dish network made three years ago and absolutely love it. I think it died on me last night though. It showed it had strong signal strength, but no picture. I had been using it with an old Zenith tube TV, but bought a new Samsung 40" LCD TV a couple of months ago. It worked great after hooking it up with an HDMI cable. I'm thinking the antenna converter thing wore out?

They stopped making it, but others have said it is the exact same thing as the Channel Master 7000. But the PAL only cost $165 (maybe it was $265?) so I'm hesitant to buy the CM 7000 for $340 just yet. They had it on sale a few months ago for cheaper. But if it lasts 2 years, that is only about $16 a month. I refuse to spend $100 a month on cable just to have a DVR.

A great feature they both share is the 30 second skip button. Yes, these are simple machines, but I find the remote and functions much more intuitive than my Mom's Time Warner Cable DVR.

With the PAL, there were some software bugs, the biggest is not recording shows set to record, so I wonder if the same work around will work the the CM. Actually, I wonder if it is the exact same software. For example, if you have one show set to record at 8pm, and two set to record at 9pm, about 30% of the time the PAL won't record both 9pm shows. The work around is to set two shows to record at 8pm too.

I don't know why the modulators added this sub forum since there already is a DVR forum;
http://www.avsforum.com/f/42/hdtv-recorders

The differences between a PVR and a DVR are really debatable, but they are both practically the same thing. Anyway, there is a thread that has a list of HD DVR's that are not computers or media streamers here;
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1460149/updated-list-of-consumer-available-dvrs-in-the-us