Digital Video Recorder (DVR) options on the road?

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jymbee

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Been a Tivo customer for years and am starting to look at what options we'd have for using a Tivo or other DVR as we travel. The thought of having to watch "live TV" and all those dreadful commercials is almost unbearable.  :(

Our current motorhome apparently has been provisioned or satellite although there was no dish/antenna when we purchased it.
 
I own slingbox and have had to reboot or restart so many times I finally settled for watching youtube. One thing I did learn, using standard definition rather than HD takes a lot less bandwidth which is a big part of the challenge. I believe this includes setting your DVR to record in standard definition. I gave up long ago, maybe things have changed.
 
We also use a Tivo - it has worked well. DW needs to set it up when we move, it doesn't take long to do.
 
jymbee said:
Been a Tivo customer for years and am starting to look at what options we'd have for using a Tivo or other DVR as we travel. The thought of having to watch "live TV" and all those dreadful commercials is almost unbearable.  :(

Our current motorhome apparently has been provisioned or satellite although there was no dish/antenna when we purchased it.
Assuming the Tivo works from a satellite dish, either Direct RV or Dish Network, you can buy a large 3 LNB dish from Amazon or other places, put it on a tripod, aim it for the satellite and run a cable to the DVR.  This works very well with the DVR's from Dish & Direct TV.

For $1300-$1600 you can get a Wineguard Trav'ler automatic dish which will find the satellites with just a push of a button.

Then there is a variety of dome dishes which usually only point at a single satellite signal, some of which only give SD reception.
 
Unless I am mistaken the TiVo wants to connect to the internet for the EPG. Even without an EPG it will work in "VCR" mode (You program in time and channel, you title the recording slot) Same as my RePlayTV units.  Very much like my Replays in fact.

I'm not sure however since I do not have a modern TiVo. I knwo Digital stations often broadcast an EPG but it is only for a few hours ahead in many cases.. I use Zap-2-It's data base on my replays up to 13 days in advance.

It is the internet connection that is a pain in the operating system. Now with my Rube Goldburg setup I have multiple ways to do that but for most.
A house router (I do NOT recommend belkin) and a Wi-Fi MODEM will let you connerct to a cell phone or park wi-fi to update the EPG every week or so.. This is how I do it MOST of the time.

That said TiVo has several versions
Some are for CABLE and use the cable provider's EPG
Some for Satellite. and use the Sat Provider (DirecTV normally)
and what you want is an OVer the Air TiVo.

Now I have not used TiVo myself since I went with Replay.
But my Replays can operate a SET TOP BOX (Like a digital converter) so when I was stuck in GA with free park cable.  I had one station that came in better over the air so the Replays, which are analog only, knew to select "Set top boc" (Satellite it thinks) for that station, and it controlled the box. this was my "Favorite" station by the way.. And for the cable only channels it choose RF-IN (Antenna) for the analog cable feed.

Plus it has a 2nd "Line" in which I happen to have hooked to a camera.

Your TiVo should have nearly identical ability plus a modern TiVo will do ATSC digital (OTA digital) which my Replays do not.

TiVo took a few years. but before teh world went all Digital they had ALMOST caught up with Replay.


 
Jeannine said:
We use a TIVO that works on OTA or cable.

We've used Tivos for so many years connected to cable that I had forgotten that they had provisions for OTA recording. Thanks for the reminder-- I'll continue researching.
 
John From Detroit said:
It is the internet connection that is a pain in the operating system. Now with my Rube Goldburg setup I have multiple ways to do that but for most.
A house router (I do NOT recommend belkin) and a Wi-Fi MODEM will let you connerct to a cell phone or park wi-fi to update the EPG every week or so.. This is how I do it MOST of the time.

Thanks much for the input. I can relate as I think Rube G. would be proud of the setup I have here at the house with multiple runs of RG6 throughout the house & garage studio, multiple routers, switches etc.

But I don't quite understand what you're saying re. the Wi-Fi MODEM? How do you connect the modem-- which is typically connected to one's ISP, to the cell or park wi-fi? Does the modem them feed a wireless router?
 
My Dish network receiver has the option of adding an external hard drive to record shows, similar to how my Hopper works at home. I have a Winegard Pathway X2 portable dish. If I installed the Travel'r, I could take my Hopper with me.
 
jymbee said:
The thought of having to watch "live TV" and all those dreadful commercials is almost unbearable.  :(
I hate commercials with a passion. I don't have a DVR but I do have YouTube TV which is almost as good. I hit the mute button when a commercial comes on and grab my Chromebook and do some surfing during the commercials.
 
SeilerBird said:
I hate commercials with a passion. I don't have a DVR but I do have YouTube TV which is almost as good. I hit the mute button when a commercial comes on and grab my Chromebook and do some surfing during the commercials.

Not to get too far OT here, but how do you like your Chromebook?
 
jymbee said:
Not to get too far OT here, but how do you like your Chromebook?
I have been using Chromebooks since 2012 and I love them. I currently own three of them. An 11 inch for surfing and email, a 14 inch mounted on my electronic drums for YouTube and lyrics and a 15 inch mounted on my exercise bike for watching TV and setting a 30 minute timer. About once a month I pull out my Windows laptop and it is just painful to use. Windows is so slow, so sloppy and such a resource hog it is pathetic. Chromebooks boot up in 8 seconds, update automatically, are immune to viruses and malware and are extremely fast. They cost about $200 which is way cheaper than any Windows or Apple laptop. Some idiot who runs a pawn shop in Las Vegas was paid by Microsoft to appear in a commercial a few years ago. In the commercial some lady tries to pawn a Chromebook and the idiot tells her it is not worth anything because when it is not connected to the Internet it is a brick. Well they are not a brick. Most people now have WiFi in their house and a Chromebook is used mainly at home. When I take one on the road I use my phone as a hot spot. I am never without the Internet. But with logic that stupid then cell phones are worth anything since they become a brick when not connected to the Internet.
 
jymbee said:
But I don't quite understand what you're saying re. the Wi-Fi MODEM? How do you connect the modem-- which is typically connected to one's ISP, to the cell or park wi-fi? Does the modem them feed a wireless router?

Wi-Fi adampters come in basically 3 Flavors
1: Built in..  Most every laptop or smart phone has one of those.
2: USB. But the problem with USB is you have a very limited cable run.
3: is what I call A WI-FI Modem. this is a Wi-Fi Adapter (Client) that like a USB device plugs in.. BUT TO THE LAN PORT. the jack is an RJ-45 if I got the number right so it feeds the MODEM port also called WAN port on my Router. 

Acting (From The router's POV) like a modem.

I have two of thise.. one is an old, and I mean OLD Linksys WGA-54G called a "Wireless Game Adapter".  Back in the days before Wi-Fi became popular your Game System had a LAN port (RJ-45) but no wi-fi adapter. This let you use those older devices on modern Wi-Fi networks.

And a newer Ubiquita Nano-Station Loco M2 (The loco M is better but more expensive.

Both have advantages. The Nano station will not connect with one park so I'm doing a Re-furb on teh Linksys.. THe Linksys won't connect to my cell phone..

Also the Nano station is designed to be mounted OUTSIDE so I can .. literally. "Run it up the flag pole" for way way way more range.

Simplified drawing

Park Wi-Fi}}}}nano station==Belking Router===Some stiuff }}}Other stuff

NOTE> I do not recommend belking but that's what I'm using. When it dies a LInksys will replace it.
 
SeilerBird said:
I have been using Chromebooks since 2012 and I love them. I currently own three of them.

I'm a recent convert to Chromebooks (partially) as well... both of our "kids" computers in the house are now Chromebooks. Everything they do is online (including schoolwork, all through Google Classroom) and there is no need to have a huge hard drive or DVD player on the computer anymore. One of my kiddos has a 12" that he carries back and forth to school every day (most backpacks have interior padded laptop storage now) and the other has a 15" for videos and homework. He could carry that one to/from school if needed, it's much lighter weight than a Windows machine with the extra interior components. Both our Chromebooks I bought gently used from Craigslist sellers, for $100 and $150 respectively. Can't beat it.
 
That is cool Scotty. I think one of the biggest plusses to using a Chromebook for me is I have not had to pay the Windows tax since 2012. And I have everything in the cloud so I never have to back up, defrag or run chkdsk. I used to spend one day a month doing my backup and hard drive maintenance in the old Windows days. At one point my back up consumed 40 CDs. So the money and the time Chromebooks save me is substantial. I had been a Windows user since 2.1 in 1987. I remember my first hard drive was a whopping 20 megabytes. I remember saying when I bought it "I will never fill this up". Now I have photos that large. ;D Took all afternoon to defrag it. :eek:
 
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