Amazon's new OTA DVR......almost.

[13Gigatons]

https://www.amazon.com/Fire-Recast-Over-air-hours/dp/B01J6A6H74

It wouldn't be bad if it worked with other non-Amazon devices.

 

[NoTine42]

How much internet speed is needed for streaming in home ? Is this an option for slow or limited internet users?

 

[Ken g6]

How much internet speed is needed for streaming in home ? Is this an option for slow or limited internet users?

Depends on several things, including whether they re-encode the video. But assuming they don't,

Terrestrial (local) broadcasters use 8VSB modulation that can transfer at a maximum rate of 19.39 Mbit/s, sufficient to carry several video and audio programs and metadata.

So at most 20 Mb/s network speed would be sufficient. Most channels use less.

On the other hand, it looks like they do re-encode when streaming. On the four-tuner device: "You can watch live or recoded[sic] programs on any two of these devices simultaneously." So bandwidth required should be less than I estimated above. I'm not sure how much less.

Local streaming in-home should stay in the local network, but it's hard to be sure it will at this point.

 

[13Gigatons]

How much internet speed is needed for streaming in home ? Is this an option for slow or limited internet users?

Your internet speed doesn't really apply. The main purpose is to record shows OTA and then stream them to devices, so that would be up to your in home WiFi speed.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

How is this any different that what solutions were available ten years ago?

 

[GeekDrew]

How is this any different that what solutions were available ten years ago?

It doesn't look like it is, except that perhaps they'll make a unit that will actually work, without nickle-and-diming the user to death. Since it's recording OTA television, that makes me wonder whether or not they'll store the recordings on-disk unencrypted - I'd venture to guess they will, since encryption adds processor time (and thus hardware specs required) without a legal need for it. Which of course leads me to my next question, if we'll be able to coerce that box into being a better OTA DVR, or at least give us the ability to transfer recordings off of it onto another device.

 

[13Gigatons]

It doesn't look like it is, except that perhaps they'll make a unit that will actually work, without nickle-and-diming the user to death. Since it's recording OTA television, that makes me wonder whether or not they'll store the recordings on-disk unencrypted - I'd venture to guess they will, since encryption adds processor time (and thus hardware specs required) without a legal need for it. Which of course leads me to my next question, if we'll be able to coerce that box into being a better OTA DVR, or at least give us the ability to transfer recordings off of it onto another device.

I could never figure out why these have always sucked so bad except that the industry just figured people either stream video or use their cable DVR. I'll reserve judgement for this model until reviews start to come in. It does include built in storage so that is different from the AirTV design.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

It doesn't look like it is, except that perhaps they'll make a unit that will actually work, without nickle-and-diming the user to death. Since it's recording OTA television, that makes me wonder whether or not they'll store the recordings on-disk unencrypted - I'd venture to guess they will, since encryption adds processor time (and thus hardware specs required) without a legal need for it. Which of course leads me to my next question, if we'll be able to coerce that box into being a better OTA DVR, or at least give us the ability to transfer recordings off of it onto another device.

My concern, as put in bold in your response, is based on the fact that my first Amazon hardware, the Amazon FireTV Stick, and the Bluetooth in the stick has failed after 18 months.

 

[dainthomas]

I got the 1TB Recast for Christmas.

Very positive experience so far. Setup was super easy. Basically plug it in, open the Fire TV app and enter your wifi and password. After that a 'DVR' tab appears in your Fire TV menu.

Interface is very polished. Scrolling is fast and the program guide goes out a couple weeks. The last channel you watched pops up in the top row of your main Fire TV menu. Recordings are grouped by show (a number in the corner tells you how many episodes you have). You can set default recording options, but you can modify them for each program. When I set a game to record, it asked if I wanted to extend it right there. The only issue is you can only set and delete recordings on your TV, not the app. This is minor for me, and I imagine Amazon will add that functionality if enough people complain.

I was running into some minor (~half second) buffering when switching channels initially, but this was resolved when I connected the Recast to my router by ethernet instead of wifi.

Picture is sharp. While it supposedly only streams programs in 720, it looks just as sharp to me on my 55" as Directv did. Sound is also clear.