DVR Question(s)

[RedFanAlways1966]

I am reaching out to the smartest people that I know (OK, perhaps I need to get out more lol). I noticed that I currently pay $20 per month to have DVR in my Time Warner digital box ($9/mth) and the DVR service ($11/mth). This amounts to $240 per year. For this I allow my daughter to watch SpongeBob and The Fred Show when she wants. Yes, I do not record anything! But I love my daughter.

If I purchase a DVR box (around $200+) from Wal-Mart or elsewhere, will it work with my digital cable box (which will now be the one w/out DVR) free-of-charge? Or will I still need to pay Time Warner the $11/month for "the DVR service"?

I am trying to figure how much I'd save if I buy my own rather than getting nickel-n-dime'd by the wonderful Time Warner. I breakeven in about 1 year if it "works on its own". If I still have to "pay for the service", then it'll take 2 yrs to breakeven. Thanks for any advice!

[TeamCasey]

I would LOVE a stand alone option for recording shows. I simply will not pay an additional monthly fee. I hope someone posts some better options. (Yes, I still use a VCR ..... and I get ridiculed mercilessly ....LOL). I'll buy a device but I won't add a monthly bill just to record TV.

[BuckeyeRed27]

Originally Posted by TeamCasey

I would LOVE a stand alone option for recording shows. I simply will not pay an additional monthly fee. I hope someone posts some better options. (Yes, I still use a VCR ..... and I get ridiculed mercilessly ....LOL). I'll buy a device but I won't add a monthly bill just to record TV.

A VCR? That's amazing.

I don't know the answer to the original question. One thing that might work is to see if the shows she likes are streamed online or through a service like Netflix. You can pretty easily get those to work on your TV through several different types of devices and wouldn't have the monthly fee.

[vaticanplum]

Originally Posted by RedFanAlways1966

I am reaching out to the smartest people that I know (OK, perhaps I need to get out more lol). I noticed that I currently pay $20 per month to have DVR in my Time Warner digital box ($9/mth) and the DVR service ($11/mth). This amounts to $240 per year. For this I allow my daughter to watch SpongeBob and The Fred Show when she wants. Yes, I do not record anything! But I love my daughter.

If I purchase a DVR box (around $200+) from Wal-Mart or elsewhere, will it work with my digital cable box (which will now be the one w/out DVR) free-of-charge? Or will I still need to pay Time Warner the $11/month for "the DVR service"?

I am trying to figure how much I'd save if I buy my own rather than getting nickel-n-dime'd by the wonderful Time Warner. I breakeven in about 1 year if it "works on its own". If I still have to "pay for the service", then it'll take 2 yrs to breakeven. Thanks for any advice!

I'm guessing you have to still pay for the service, since it's run through the cable company. A box wouldn't itself connect to the shows in the same way. I have my own wireless router, i.e., I don't have to rent one from the cable company, but I still have to pay for the actual wireless service/connection.

I haven't had a television in a while (not a high horse thing, believe me, it's killing me), but those costs seem high to me. You might want to call TW and see if you can coax them into a deal (after threatening to withdraw your service, perhaps). I seem to recall most cable companies offering DVR service for $5/month for one year, for example.

[dougdirt]

TWC's website addresses the use of Tivo units. Might want to call them up and ask them about which ones work best. Some of them apparently do not work on some channels for some strange reason, though there is a work around.

[R_Webb18]

just to make things clear your spending 11 for the dvr. not 20. it adds up to 20 yes.

[Redsfaithful]

TIVOs have monthly costs also I believe.

[dougdirt]

Originally Posted by Redsfaithful

TIVOs have monthly costs also I believe.

Didn't know that. What a ripoff.

[KronoRed]

The only way to record digitally without giving a fee to Tivo or your cable/sat provider is to build your own DVR with a computer and a box such as the hauppauge HD PVR.

It can be done, but it is certainly not for a beginner.

[Redsfaithful]

Originally Posted by dougdirt

Didn't know that. What a ripoff.

Yeah, you're paying for the data feed basically of what programs are playing when on what channels.

You can buy DVR's that don't provide the data feed, and the way they work is you just tell it to record channel 4 at 8:00 on Monday if you know a show you want to watch is on then. But you have to look online or whatever to see when the shows are on and which channels are which. These DVRs are fairly expensive too, like $300+ when I looked, which was a couple of years ago.

I ended up using Windows Media Center for awhile through a home theater PC, but it's complicated stuff. I eventually went back to DirecTV because of sports, if it weren't for that I think I could do the HTPC thing + antenna/Netflix/torrents and cut the cord.

[GAC]

You're going to pay for the service regardless if you buy the equipment capable of DVR'ing.

[goreds2]

Originally Posted by RedFanAlways1966

I am reaching out to the smartest people that I know (OK, perhaps I need to get out more lol). I noticed that I currently pay $20 per month to have DVR in my Time Warner digital box ($9/mth) and the DVR service ($11/mth). This amounts to $240 per year. For this I allow my daughter to watch SpongeBob and The Fred Show when she wants. Yes, I do not record anything! But I love my daughter.

Last weekend, I called Time Warner saying I have been getting flyers from Direct TV and Dish Network. Told them (Time Warner) that I love their company but was wondering if they had any special promotions. They gave give 20 dollars off per month. That would be your $240 off right there.

Here is their 24/7 phone number: 1800 617-4311 - The worst they can say is no.

[medford]

I'm not sure which tear of cable you have, but on TW chanel 444 is the ondemand kids station. I'm not positive if they have sponge bob or not as our son doesn't watch that, but they have a ton of sprout (PBS) shows like Caliou, bob the builder, etc.. They have disney shows like Chuggington, is Dora Nick???? I know Dora is on there as well as a ton of other shows. The downside is that they don't update them all that often, and there is a limited selection of anywhere from 4 to 10 shows of each, depending on the show. Works great for my 4 year old who usually watches an episode of Caliou or something else in the morning after he's ready and mom & dad are getting ready.

[Redsfaithful]

One more idea, a Netflix streaming subscription for $8 a month will provide a ridiculous amount of children's programming. My wife and I barely use the service anymore, but we keep it for the kids, I stream it on the tv through a ps3 but there's a ton of devices you can use with Netflix.

[GAC]

Originally Posted by goreds2

Last weekend, I called Time Warner saying I have been getting flyers from Direct TV and Dish Network. Told them (Time Warner) that I love their company but was wondering if they had any special promotions. They gave give 20 dollars off per month. That would be your $240 off right there.

Here is their 24/7 phone number: 1800 617-4311 - The worst they can say is no.

It's always good to juke these competing companies. I've done it to Directv the last several years. I've basically gotten the NFL Sunday Ticket for free the last few years. August is the first month they start billing for the new NFL season. I saw that $49.99 on there and call them up. And of course the first words out of their mouth are "We see you've been a loyal Directv customer Mr Clark for 9 years, and we appreciate that." I told the rep "And if you want to keep me as a customer you're going to have to improve on that appreciation because there ain't noway on God's green earth I'm paying you $50/month to watch my lousy Browns suck it up. Not when I can go to Time Warner, get my local channels out of Columbus (not Dayton), as well as the Lima, Ohio station, and watch them play like crap FOR FREE!"

They knocked $35 off of the Sunday Ticket, and then the next day I went in and knocked off $10 worth of other crap, so it was basically a wash.

Play hard ball. They will cave.