
Or, technically, Nuvyyo was a cord cutting company from the start, and they made a product called the Tablo – but they never use “Nuvyyo” on their stuff, and everything from their website to their ads says “Tablo” and not “Nuvyyo,” so it's confusing. Tablo's claim to fame is that they were a cord cutting company from the start. They're well known for their cable DVRs and their history with the technology, but they also make OTA DVRs, and their products are excellent. TiVo is the biggest and baddest of the DVR companies, and for good reason – they have been doing this quite literally since the invention of the DVR. You can use a DVR without cable! There are a lot of great companies out there making OTA DVRs right now. Those sorts of specifics depend on which brand and which device you choose. In some cases, you can swap the monthly fee for a big lump sum payment that nets you a lifetime subscription. In many cases, you can get bare-bones functionality without paying for a subscription, but the bells and whistles – like fancy program descriptions and mobile features – require you to sign up for a premium service. One more thing is worth mentioning here: OTA DVRs, like regular DVRs, typically have subscription fees. Some of these devices also have apps, though, so the difference is kind of academic: in all cases, you can set recordings from mobile apps or right on your TV, and can view the recorded goodies on your TV.
DVR PLAYER FOR TV TV
In these cases, you're still plugging the antenna straight into the DVR, but you are then connecting your DVR to your TV with another cable. Then there are OTA DVRs that do connect to your TV. It's just that the device recording the stuff isn't actually physically connected to your TV – it's using Wi-Fi. You can get it for streaming devices like the Roku, so if you still want to select recordings with your TV and a remote, you can do that. You can get the Tablo app for smartphones and other devices. That's because it uses Wi-Fi to allow you to pick recordings – and play them – with an app. The Tablo up there doesn't actually connect to your TV at all – you can put it (with its attached antenna) in a totally different room, if you so desire. There are two main ways that OTA DVRs work in this respect. On some models, this is built in in other cases, you'll need to rely on an external hard drive that you'll purchase separately. Then you'll need a hard drive to store all the good stuff you'll be recording. There's one of those on your over-the-air antenna, so, naturally, that's what you'll stick on the coaxial jack on the OTA DVR. Somewhere on the thing, you'll find a coaxial jack, which is what you plug one of these into: That's the Tablo, but there are plenty of other dark gray boxes on the market for your purchasing pleasure. OTA DVRs and How They WorkĪ typical OTA DVR looks something like this:
DVR PLAYER FOR TV HOW TO
Let's take a closer look at the OTA DVR, our best answer to the question of how to record over-the-air TV. Like a regular DVR, it has an input for your TV source (just plug in the antenna where the cable would go) and writes what it records to a hard drive, allowing you to later access that recording and play it on demand. One type of device in particular – the OTA DVR – is particularly relevant to this discussion. But what if we open up our options a bit and start considering additional technologies that work with over-the-air antennas? Well, then we'll find that we actually don't need an antenna for every TV in the house. And for each additional TV, you'll need an additional antenna.Īgain, though, that's only the case if you use nothing but TVs and antennas.
DVR PLAYER FOR TV FREE
That means, generally, that you can't do much besides just watch the free over-the-air TV – recording it is out of the question if all you're using is a TV and an antenna. When you plug an antenna into your television, you're connecting it to a TV tuner that reads the over-the-air TV signals picked up by your antenna and then displays them on your TV. Below, we'll explain the concept, show you how to record over-the-air TV and how to use a DVR without cable, and lay out your best options for OTA DVRs and similar solutions. There is! Thanks to OTA DVRs, it is possible to pause, rewind, and record live TV using an over-the-air TV antenna. But what about one of cable's more modern perks: the ability to pause, rewind, and record live TV? Can you use a DVR without cable? Is there such a thing as an antenna DVR? With an over-the-air antenna, you can watch all the free TV you want to without a cable or satellite contract. Free over-the-air TV is one of the most powerful tools at a cord cutter's disposal.
