Anyone used Tivo w/ OTA HD?

[Deeko]

So right now I'm paying something like $50 for comcast digital cable, and $12 for DVR service. All I ever really watch are network channels, ESPN, and comedy central. I could switch to basic analog cable and still get those two cable channels (and keep the $15/month discount on cable internet, I think). Then I could get Tivo for $13/month, and use a standard OTA antenna to pick up the network channels. I'd save $31/month, which would pay for the HD Tivo box in 10 months. On top of that, I hear OTA HD looks better than cable anyway.

Thoughts? How well does Tivo work with the OTA channels, does it still have a guide like digital cable?

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

briefly...if I remember correctly you can get a guide for OTA HD channels, but you cannot for QAM channels if your provider has them

 

[quikah]

I have a series 3, but I think the TiVO HD is pretty close to the same thing. It works perfectly fine, but it will be dependant on how good your OTA reception is. For example, I will usually get one or two glitches during a 1 hr show on NBC, but ABC is perfect for me.

You get all the guide data for OTA and analog cable but you won't get any guide data for any unencrypted QAM signals your cable company is broadcasting, that requires a cablecard.

 

[Deeko]

I don't really know what you mean by QAM....

I picked up a cheap $5 antenna at Best Buy today, and it does indeed look ever so slightly better than Comcast. Interesting...

 

[jonnyjack]

i have the setup you're considering...tivo with analog cable and OTA antenna.

just as long as you know you won't be getting ESPN-HD, then it's worth the saved money.

 

[Deeko]

Yea, the lack of ESPN HD is the one concession I'm really making here. All I ever watch on ESPN is MNF though, and if I REALLY want to see that in HD, I'll go to a friend's house, or the bar. The savings outweigh that, in my opinion...especially considering the Tivo service is far superior to Comcast DVR.

 

[torpid]

I used to use OTA on my Tivo S3 over the cable feed. Unfortunately when neighbors moved into my building I started getting a lot more interference on my indoor antenna and am too lazy to put up an outdoor one, so I switched back to the cable feed for all channels where I could. It does look a "little" better but it's not a huge deal either way. It's definitely a workable solution if you want to dump your HD cable tier and just go OTA, you just need a better antenna.

Also, with the S3 and the Tivo HD you can now xfer it to your pc for archival purpose. And if you have an HD-DVD player and the right software (I think only ulead's dvd software does this currently), you can burn the show in HD onto a regular DVD using a regular DVD burner and play it in HD on your HD DVD player.

 

[jonnyjack]

Originally posted by: Deeko
Yea, the lack of ESPN HD is the one concession I'm really making here. All I ever watch on ESPN is MNF though, and if I REALLY want to see that in HD, I'll go to a friend's house, or the bar. The savings outweigh that, in my opinion...especially considering the Tivo service is far superior to Comcast DVR.

well MNF won't be back for what 9 months? you could even try no cable and only use OTA and pay $13/month. i'm really tempted to drop my cable but i need FSN to watch warriors basketball, haha.