14yr marriage to TiVo just ended

[Flint]

I was an early adopter of TiVo back in 1999 with a high capacity Sony branded model. I have purchased at least 7 units since then and loved every single one of them to death.

As much as I love the product and user interface, it only works with OTA or Cable TV - and I dropped cable months ago. i cancelled my last TiVo subscription last week and got rid of the last piece of hardware.

I have been in TiVo withdrawal but recently purchased two Roku units and find they are very good, but not full replacements for TiVo.

I am now entering my 4th era of video entertainment:

era...
1.0 broadcast TV with 5 channels
2.0 cable TV initially with 13 channels
2.5 poor attempt with satellite TV using a 10ft dish
2.6 standard DISH satellite TV
3.0 TiVo with Cable TV
3.5 HDTV with both Cable / TiVo and ATCA broadcast on a HTPC
4.0 internet TV w/ROKU, Phones, PCs, and Tablets as well as ATCA broadcast on a HTPC

What are your statii

 

[Deleted member 133]

1.0 No TV
2.0 B&W TV with rabbit ears
3.0 Colour TV with rabbit ears
4.0 Colour TV with Cable...for decades
4.5 Add videodisc, Beta, VHS, LD, DVD
5.0 Drop Cable, add Sat TV (mostly for HD)
5.5 Add DVD Recorder
6.0 Drop Sat TV, back to Cable (for better HD and PVR)
6.5 Still with Cable, but brief (6 month) trial of Zip.ca (DVDs and Blu-rays)
7.0 Still with Cable, but also Netflix, torrents, etc.
7.1 (Present day) As above but uncapped monthly download limits

Jeff

ps. Might have missed a step or two

 

[Towen7]

1.0 OTA
2.0 Basic cable
3.0 Dish Network
4.0 Premium cable
5.0 Uverse
6.0 Uverse + Roku
7.0 OTA + HTPC and Xbox(s) + Roku
8.0 Uverse + Roku

I really don't watch much TV and if the decision was solely mine I'd go with OTA + Roku. The problem is that my HOA prevents me from mounting a large enough antenna high enough, and my family really wants whole-home DVR functions.

 

[Haywood]

I've been through too many permutations to accurately capture them all, but roughly

1.0 OTA
2.0 Cable
3.0 Direct TV
4.0 Direct TV with DVR connected to 2nd Zone with composite video and analog audio, plus IR repeater
5.0 Cable with DVR. Component video to Zone Two via matrix switch
6.0 Dish Dual-Zone DVR combined with matrix switch to Zone Two.
7.0 U-Verse Whole-House DVR with 2 STBs

8.0 The Current Setup
Windows Media Center PC also running Plex Media Server
SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime Network Attached CableCARD Tuner
4 Roku Boxes running Plex along with Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant, Vudu, etc.

 

[Botch]

1. CRT with cable
2. No TV at all (about 2 years)
3. CRT with Dish
4. No TV at all (about 6 months)
5. LED with OTA
6. LED with cable + Roku

Never had a DVR.

 

[MatthewB]

OTA with five channels till I was eighteen. Cable TV stopped a block from my parents house in the outskirts of Tucson.

College and cable was a daily orgasm seeing all the channels daily till I was 32 when I switched to Directv with my first house.

Now it's Sat TV Directv, Appletv, Netflix, Vudu and bootlegged movies.

 

[yromj]

1.0 OTA w/ 3 channels and CBS was barely watchable. (13 years)
2.0 Basic cable w/ 13 channels. (5 years)
2.5 Extended cable w/ "57 channels and there's nothin' on". (15 years)
3.0 Dish network (7 years)
4.0 Back to cable - shudder (<1 year)
4.1 Cable + Netflix streaming (2 years)
5.0 Dish + Netflix streaming + other web TV sources (2 years)

John