"I'm ready to cord the cord, but, Jennifer, how will I record my shows?"
That's one of the most common questions regular readers of this column ask me when re-evaluating their entertainment options. Of course, I've found (and heard from others) that viewing behaviors morph once you untether yourself from the traditional TV experience, making the DVR a less essential piece of the TV puzzle.
Nobody likes that answer, though.
I get it. The thought of giving up pause, rewind and fast-forward is scary. And, frankly, it's unnecessary. Unfortunately, you might find there's a complexity trade-off when it comes to affordability and ease of use and setup.
For the hyper-price conscious, one option to consider is Plex, a piece of software that will let you do two cool things: 1. record over-the-air broadcast signals, mimicking the functionality of your cable box and 2. watch these same channels live on mobile devices around the home.
Plex originally began its life as a personal media server, giving users a convenient way to access all of the digital content they own _ music, movies, TV shows, photos _ on any of their devices. Over the past year, the startup has expanded its library of functions to help folks with digital antennas store television material broadcast over the air as well. Those additions, including a few more recent updates, have made the software far more appealing to cord-cutters or cord-shavers who want dirt-cheap, do-it-yourself bundles.
Costing $5 a month, $40 a year or $120 for life, Plex's premium subscription plan sounds too good to be true. It may be. The caveats are that you need all of the following: a digital tuner, antenna (indoor or outdoor), storage device and the technical know-how to set everything up.
Simply put, your antenna (you can get a good one from Mohu for $50) ingests the content available in your area, which varies but often includes the live HD feeds of the four major cable networks and PBS, along with several other local stations. And the tuner _ take the HDHomeRun, starting at $99 _ acts as your digital video recorder. Plex ultimately pieces it altogether in a pretty package, complete with programming information, and an interface that's both easy on the eyes and the brain.
For most, though, the hurdle with Plex's live TV and DVR service will be configuring the Plex Media Server _ aka the software that makes everything work as described _ to run on your computer or a networked storage device (NAS). That's all geek-speak for setting up a proper storage system to house your content and recordings, and make them available to stream on other devices. This extra step could be a non-starter for those inclined to keep things simple, as you'll first need to research how much computing power you'll need or locate the right NAS device.
Of course, Plex isn't the only DVR option for cord-cutters. In fact, the easiest-to-use recording systems now come in the form of cloud DVRs offered by the streaming TV providers, including Sling TV, PlayStation Vue, Hulu with Live TV and YouTube. Obviously, you'll need to pay a monthly fee between $25 and $40 a month, and you're still left without access to one or more local stations. But, then again, the DVR functionality is built right in.
Otherwise, you have a few more choices.
Take the physical Tablo DVR box, from Nuvyyo, based in Ottawa, Canada. The 7-year-old company's latest invention is the Tablo DUAL OTA DVR, which also lets users record over-the-air broadcasts (up to two channels at once). Like Plex, you'll still need your own antenna, but this Tablo box takes out some of the complexity of having to configure extra devices since it's both a tuner and storage device in one. And you get about 40 hours of space for recordings.
The Tablo DUAL OTA DVR is not exactly cheap, however; you can pick one up for $250 at Best Buy. You should also expect to pay a $5 monthly subscription fee for TV guide data and out-of-home streaming.
At the higher end of the cost spectrum (at least initially), there is TiVo's Roamio OTA, which is another choice for folks who wish to record material from an antenna. For $400 upfront, you'll get a TiVo box with a terabyte of space (about 150 hours of space for recordings), the ability to record four shows at once, TiVo's famous one-button-to-skip-all-ads feature and no additional monthly service fees.
There should be a satisfactory (though maybe not perfect) DVR option here for everyone, but if you're having trouble deciding what's right for you, join our "SDUT cord-cutters" group on Facebook and ask for help.
