The TiVo Roamio OTA is on sale for $250, including lifetime service (!) and free shipping. Two points to note: This is the older, 500GB model and it is a refurb. However, this is a fantabulous deal — the cheapest way to get one of the very best antenna experiences… a likely better investment than the TiVo Mavrik and when paired with a few TiVo Minis. If you’re more comfortable with new hardware and would appreciate another 500GB, Amazon is offering Lifetimed 1TB model for $347. (Thanks Bill!)
Ordered! Wish that it had the stream built in, but to drive the Mini’s; that’s nice. I get tired of the redundant and non-creative ads on cloud based streaming services…
Lets see who puts a 3TB drive on sale for easter. :)
I miss the TiVo affiliate program… ;)
I’d pull the trigger if it had the Sling or PS Vue apps. Or even if TiVo had a Roku app so I could stream recordings.
Any plans for either?
“I miss the TiVo affiliate program… ;)”
Shoulda pushed the 1TB version available on Amazon for only $97 more…
This one? (what time is final four?)
http://amzn.to/2ncgKc0
I dunno… $97 more for “new” and 500GB doesn’t seem nearly as compelling and surely not worthy of its own blog posting (but I did update this one – thanks). For reference, Amazon’s revised commissions are something like 4% whereas TiVo was giving out $100 or $120 per sale. Of course, that clearly had no bearing my post content and frequency. But it was nice for a time.
Alex, I doubt it…
“whereas TiVo was giving out $100 or $120 per sale”
Jeebus! No wonder you miss the TiVo affiliate program…
The writing is on the wall and ownership has read it. YouTube TV has practically overnight rendered TIVO obsolete. $35/Chromecast, $10/Ethernet adapter, unlimited cloud DVR (9 mo. retention), 3 concurrent streams to any device, 6 accounts/household, $35/mo., TV guide on my phone.
AAron J Courtney: AGREED!!! I expect a Bolt fire sale coming before the end of the year available to all, not the limited upgrade to Bolt of recent days.
I am happy with the TiVo’s I have and am all set up and now spending money on other needy things. However, this is a GREAT deal! Anybody using OTA as part of their solution has to get this deal, and that includes anybody who is currently using a Channel Master DVR+. Roamio OTA’s all around superiority and 4 tuners and a decent path to real MRV that CM DVR+ lacks. And a Slingbox beats the Stream’s ultra-bugginess any day, so for about the same price as a Stream, Slingbox just plain WORKS and passes along ALL content, and one can also use a FireTV to view it in glorious HD on a big HD/UHD TV.
Not too sure this is the bargain of the week ! The reason is that I am on my 3rd Tivo Roamio as the other two died. Once I put the 3rd unit outside the home theater cabinet it worked fine. But now I find that the online streaming of all my Amazon, Netflix, & Hulu slows to an eventual stop after 2 or 3 hours of continuous viewing. Luckily I have a Roku back up and can switch over especially as Roku has the additional streaming sites I use. So caveat emptor.
On a very positive note the picture from the OTA system which goes through same …is awesome. (So glad I “Cut the cord” !!!) Never had a picture like that with crappy DirecTV.
You Tube Tv will have an uphill battle and as with all things google one asks what happens when they get bored. Plus people are used to not paying for You Tube anything
I would have considered this if they had a TiVo app for Apple TV. I can’t get PBS or CW or several of the small local channels on PS Vue or DirecTV Now.
People sometimes just don’t get how awesome TiVo is. That same dvr from cable companies is twice the price plus you pay for the channel guide. So a cable dvr with rental, service and guide is close to $25 a month. Sorry tivo at $12 or ota free is no contest.
…and Tivo is still the ONLY box that gives you REAL universal search across most of the major streaming services in addition to cable/fios. The YouTube TV interface does come close (sort of).
Apple TV 4 has the CW App it will get you most of the shows you want. PBS app is also good.
Who on earth needs 3TB storage? Surely not gamers. How many shows and movies do you want to save??
Unlimited.
If you record entire seasons and binge after the fact, 3TB is a good number – that’s what I installed in my 6-tuner Roamio. Granted, there’s more to record on cable. Including movies that you may want to grab now but not get around to watching for a year.
“If you record entire seasons and binge after the fact, 3TB is a good number – that’s what I installed in my 6-tuner Roamio. Granted, there’s more to record on cable. Including movies that you may want to grab now but not get around to watching for a year.”
But what about gamers, Dave? Surely they don’t need 3TB. You can accumulate so many different video games for your TiVo without hitting that much storage space.
Actually, it’s about ethics in gamer TiVo blog journalism.
(3TB genuinely seems a bit skimpy to me these days. I’m going to have to off-load a bunch of movies this week in order to prepare for the crush of the 1st round of the NBA playoffs.)
OTA shows can clock in at nearly 7GB/hour.
You don’t have to buy a new drive.
I bought a 3TB WD AV-GP pull off ebay for around $50.
We needed Plex integration and have been using an HD HomeRun OTA tuner since the Plex DVR beta opened. Our family had been big Tivo supporters way back in the beginning with 5 series 2 units spread across 3 houses, but over time Tivo just didn’t keep up. Plex has been amazing over the years and now that it has DVR capabilities it is a more complete solution.
Plex dvr integration looks very interesting. I like how it integrates your recordings with your tv library. Add a nas and your have virtually unlimited storage for your recordings and your media! Hopefully they’ll come up with a dvr app for IOS and Android soon. Some complain about not having live tv but if you add enough tuners (two or more hd homeruns), you can use their live viewer for that. I’m still hoping that Silicon Dust brings a six-tuner device to market before I consider switching over.
This was a good price but not as good as last year. Thanksgiving week I picked up a refurb lifetime Roamio OTA from TiVo for only $200. Now that was a great deal.