What Alternatives Exist to DVR?
With this summer quickly nearing its end, and school becoming a very close prospect, I’ve begun thinking about how to set up my room and what I still need to get for it. I recently got my new TV, a 42″ Westinghouse 1080p LCD from eCost, and had to make a decision regarding my cable. The biggest question was to pay for DVR or not. Ultimately, I decided it wasn’t worth the $10 a month, considering how much everything else is going to cost to live in my house next year. However, I still began doing some searching for alternatives to having a DVR. Here are some of my findings..
NOTE: I did my searching based on using my Hackintosh as the computer to record on. There exist Windows alternatives if you do a quick Google search.
1. Torrents – this is my typical route for TV shows currently, but has become a hassle to find and download each torrent individually. However, I did recently come across a program known as ted that finds and downloads a torrent for each episode of any show that you pick. Again, this requires me to make sure the program is running all the time, and that a torrent is actually found. Additionally, it requires the torrent to be well seeded, otherwise it’s just going to sit there unresponsive. In the end, torrents are a quick fix for one episode, but I don’t feel like it’ll be able to replace a DVR entirely.
2. Hulu – the go to online TV Show streaming website. I’ve recently started using it, but was slightly disappointed with the lack of premium channels that were available. Specifically, I was looking for Entourage, Weeds, and Miami Ink – I know, slightly random shows, but I was in the mood. Again, similar to torrents, Hulu is good for a quick fix on several TV shows, but as far as a complete DVR replacement, I feel that it would leave me wanting.
3. Elgato TV Tuner – I originally came across the idea of using a TV Tuner in a home theater set up on TUAW article. It seemed interesting, but at the time I didn’t think too much of it. After talking to my parents and deciding to forgo the DVR, I decided to give it another read over. As I did a little more research, the idea of using an Elgato TV Tuner grew on me. Two questions still remain before its a viable solution – (1) Which model, the 250 Plus or the Hybrid USA and (2) Will it support a live feed from Time Warner Cable? Obviously, the more important is the second question – without support from the cable provider, it defeats the purpose of being able to stream the TV to your computer. After finding out the solutions to those questions, this strikes me as the closest to an actual DVR.
Obviously, there are definitely other solutions that exist, but these were my top three. Chances are I’m going to go with the Elgato Tuner route – the Hybrid USA goes for $140 at Apple with an education discount – and from what I’ve already read, it should support the majority of HD channels that are available on my Time Warner subscription. I’ll post back once I have it up and running for a little to see how closely it mimics a true DVR.