Verizon Rant - better alternative to provided DVR?

[idfnl]

**** Verizon.

They jacked up their DVR rental price AGAIN.

When I got this box I was paying $12 a month for it. Now they raised it to $17, the 3rd price increase.

Same box too. I called them and the stupid rep told me it was inflation. How the hell can there be inflation on a product they bought 6 years ago and has been sitting in my house???


Anyway... my point...


Is there a cheaper alternative out there?

I checked out Tivo but **** this $500 lifetime crap... so I save money in 4 years???

Their monthly rate is no savings either, since I have to buy the box too.



What else is there?

 

[gort]

I would love to do this too. Paying a monthly fee for a ************* box that is ungodly slow and unresponsive is infuriating. The cable TV industry needs to evolve and let consumers pick their own set top box that they take with them when they move, etc.

 

[dah328]

I don't know of any solutions that are both low-effort and low-cost. Most home theater PCs have DVR capabilities of some variety. It's also a common feature or capability of other media solutions such as XBMC, Roku, etc. The upside to the HTPC that I use is that I have access to any kind of streaming (Hulu, Netflix, etc.), DVR capabilities limited only by the size of the hard drive, and it has plenty of excess computing capacity so it can do other things such as backup my laptops, etc. The downside is that it would cost you about the same as the Tivo lifetime subscription and it takes a little bit of effort and know-how to configure.

 

[idfnl]

Unfortunately there seems to be an untapped market here.

After doing some research today, looks like a cheaper alternative is Craigslist. Buy a 1 gen older Tivo with a lifetime for like 300$. That is less than 2 years to break even, which frankly still seems like forever.

At the very least I will make those verizon F***ers update my box. If you are going to charge me for it, I want the latest. Assholes.

 

[gort]

Is FIOS still letting subscribers get cable cards? I'm sure they'll make you pay for that too.

 

[idfnl]



Is FIOS still letting subscribers get cable cards? I'm sure they'll make you pay for that too.

Apparently there is some form of cable card option, but I dont really want a pc sitting next to my tv

And yes, they charge like 5$ a month for it

 

[gort]



Apparently there is some form of cable card option, but I dont really want a pc sitting next to my tv
And yes, they charge like 5$ a month for it

AFAIK you would need to put a cable card into a TIVO if you buy it in order to access the Verizon HD content. I could be wrong as I've never done it, though.