Simple.TV DVR

[adam1991]

Interesting:

https://www.simple.tv/overview

$350 retail fully activated for life (Woot apparently has it right now for $100 off). BYOHD and BYOAntenna. If you want to watch it on a TV, BYORoku.

[LuckyDay]

It's interesting, and nice for people who watch a lot of network TV, but are there any cable companies left that have unencrypted basic cable?

[adam1991]

There's no monthly/yearly fee. You do realize, don't you, that the "fee" thing is just their way of being able to show a "LOW LOW PRICE!" up front without getting into trouble.

Then they show you the "monthly/yearly fee or lifetime activation" cost as a way to jack up the actual price you end up paying.

So this thing is actually $150 more than the advertised price; that's the actual price for you to own it free and clear. And since you can own it free and clear, I have no problem with doing the math and figuring out that price all on my own.

To be fair, there is a cost involved with the guide service.

And while there are cable-only shows I would miss, the simple fact is that if I have a black box watching and recording from 8 channels for me 24/7, it will collect more than enough stuff for me to watch in my TV watching time.

[LuckyDay]

Having to provide your own hard drive and rokus (or similar) around the house does drive the price up a lot on this...

Again, to me it's a neat idea. I don't know many people I would recommend it to.

[adam1991]

Yes, it does. But many people already have Rokus sprinkled all over the house, and have cut the cable cord and watch nothing but what the Roku can offer--so if you think of this as adding live TV to a Roku ecosystem, it's cheap.

And you can optionally make that recorded TV by adding your own hard drive. I guess it's nice that's an option; people who just would like to turn to the news or live sports or whatever, for example, aren't forced to pay for a recording capability they don't want/won't use.

I wish Roku could be an extender, frankly. Then I'd use nothing but.

[soccerdad]

I think it is a cool concept, but with only a single tuner, it is a little lacking. Without cable channels, I think two tuners would be a workable minimum for my family. At least that way you could watch one live (shudder) and record one.

[slowbiscuit]

Wow, $300 all in for a single tuner box that can basically only do OTA? You've got to be kidding - I think the dual tuner DTVPal DVRs were, what, $250 at launch a few years ago? Yeah they couldn't stream over your network, but please - it shouldn't cost this much for a very limited one tuner box.

[blueiedgod]

It's interesting, and nice for people who watch a lot of network TV, but are there any cable companies left that have unencrypted basic cable?

Antenna?

[Dragonfly]

Wow, $300 all in for a single tuner box that can basically only do OTA? You've got to be kidding - I think the dual tuner DTVPal DVRs were, what, $250 at launch a few years ago? Yeah they couldn't stream over your network, but please - it shouldn't cost this much for a very limited one tuner box.

The Woot deal was $99.99 plus $5 shipping. http://www.woot.com/forums/viewpost.aspx?postid=5577121

[adam1991]

...plus $150 for lifetime guide/activation.

[LuckyDay]

It's interesting, and nice for people who watch a lot of network TV, but are there any cable companies left that have unencrypted basic cable?

Antenna?

I said cable. There are no cable companies (as far as I know) in my area that you can get cable channels through coax without a tuning adapter or STB.

[erkotz]

...plus $150 for lifetime guide/activation.

The Woot deal included lifetime service, too. I bought one, just came in today (I bought it about 3 weeks ago). So far I haven't been able to get it to register -it keeps failing

[erkotz]

Not to reply to myself, but I got further on another PC. It's now scanning for channels. Apparently the channel scan takes 30 minutes - not an impressive start for this device given that a modern TV can do it in ~90 seconds.

[lithium630]

...plus $150 for lifetime guide/activation.

The Woot deal included lifetime service, too. I bought one, just came in today (I bought it about 3 weeks ago). So far I haven't been able to get it to register -it keeps failing

Oh that can't be a good sign.

[barnabas1969]

When I first read about this device, I wasn't impressed. To me, it's basically an OTA-DVR for dummies.

[STC]

^ Or perhaps 'the masses' which is where all those greenbacks are.

[adam1991]

^ Or perhaps 'the masses' which is where all those greenbacks are.

+1

[barnabas1969]

^ Or perhaps 'the masses' which is where all those greenbacks are.

Well, yeah, that's a good point. But, don't you think "the masses" would prefer some of the other DVR's that are already on the market (from companies like Channel Master or TiVo) that have more than one tuner, and already have an HDD built-in?

[makryger]

I did read somewhere that silicon dust might be partnering with simple tv. Assuming your cable provider doesn't copy-once their content.

[adam1991]

^ Or perhaps 'the masses' which is where all those greenbacks are.

Well, yeah, that's a good point. But, don't you think "the masses" would prefer some of the other DVR's that are already on the market (from companies like Channel Master or TiVo) that have more than one tuner, and already have an HDD built-in?

The masses don't know what they don't know.

And they *will* let the Roku compatibility make the decision for them. This is the perfect cord-cutter's remorse--"I'm not happy not being able to watch the news and live sports, look, this gives us TV all over the house on all of our Rokus!"