RESET 56 - Amazon Fire TV Recast DVR Review

[Dave 383]

[Jason 69]

We considered this but don’t have a single Amazon Fire device in our house. Or any plan to add any, at least for now.

[alan2k 2]

Can you copy stuff off the Recast?

[Dave 383]

Not that I know of. Give the internet some time and maybe!

We considered this but don’t have a single Amazon Fire device in our house. Or any plan to add any, at least for now.

I would recommend it for Amazon owners or even if you were new. You don't have to have an Alexa to use it. Still a functional DVR without it.

[awraynor 97]

I can't get a good signal with an OTA around my house with so many very tall pine trees. The no fee guide is a big deal long-term.

Overall, the Cube at $60 is a great deal. The improved remote and voice control are my favorite features. Today asked Alexa to open The Flash on Netflix, started up where I left off "BOOM".

 

[Al_Borges 59]

I can't get a good signal with an OTA around my house with so many very tall pine trees. The no fee guide is a big deal long-term.
Overall, the Cube at $60 is a great deal. The improved remote and voice control are my favorite features. Today asked Alexa to open The Flash on Netflix, started up where I left off "BOOM".
 

I've been using the channel master stream plus for the last 8 months and very satisfied, also has a free 2 week channel guide

https://www.channelmaster.com/Stream_OTA_DVR_p/cm-7600.htm

I realy dont like the user interface on fire tv devices - seems to that amazon mixes up paid and personal and really clutters up the interface. Worse now that they are pushing subscription services in their video app

[Dave 383]

I looked at version one of the CM and it was ok.  I wasn't blown away with it but that was years ago.  I really should catch up with them at CES and take a look at what you have.  It looks nice from the link you provide.  

Yes, Amazon interface is heavily loaded with Amazon crap.  No sense calling it anything else!  Although, I do like getting to Amazon photos from the interface.  Just last night we as a family watched a little movie I put together covering our weekend getaway.  It's nice to do that.  Yes, Plex does that too.   

[JDFrench3 2]

I have been using the TIVO Arris MG2 DVR and 4 TIVO Pace Mi3 minis across 5 TVs in my house for the last couple years. I live in an area where TV stations are all 50-100 miles away. OTA signals are bad.

Can't beat TIVO except for the price. The TIVO Arris MG2 DVR hands a 1080p signal to my SONY XBR-65A1E (OLED) which upscales to 4K Dolby Vision signal. Beautiful picture. The DVR has 6 tuners and can playback 5 at one time, while still recording on the 1 remaining. Start viewing recording on living room TV,  pause and finish it on the bedroom TV, without skipping a beat. There's no need to go to a football game, I have the real thing on my TV. STARZ Outlander is absolutely gorgeous. HBO Game of Thornes is fantastic. AMC The Walking Dead is too real. Showtime Homeland is great. CBS All Access delivers scary Star Trek Discovery. Netfix, Hulu, and Prime are all first rate.

Sound is handled by a SONY HT-ST500 soundbar providing Dolby Atmos 7.1 channel signals. Sometimes the soundtrack is as good as that heard at the movie theater.

All devices are hard-wired to our household network connected to a 100M internet service. The TIVO devices are connected using a MoCo 2.0 network.

I also have 2 AppleTV 4Ks,  and a Sling TV Box attached to my system. I sometimes use the Sling TV Box to watch DVR recordings remotely (like while waiting in a doctors office) using my iPad or iPhone and AirPods.

I control the living room TV and soundbar with a Logitech Harmony 650 remote. I also use a Bluetooth Logitech Keyboard (K380) for some programming.

I still have my Windows Server 2016 attached, backing up 6 home laptops, and storing my iTunes collection of music and movies.