We cut the cord at our Eagan residence a month ago.
We stream most of what we watch anyway. However there are gaps in doing this. On the weeks my wife still works she likes to come home and watch the evening news for instance. she does not generally get home until this is long over.
So a couple of days ago I installed a
Channel Master DVR+ with a
small UHF roof Yagi-Uda array.
It works like a charm and provides 45 really crisp channels. PQ is better than Comcast or Direct TV we have on Benedict Lake. This unit allows for simultaneous record and playback, or the recording of two programs at once. It also supports Dolby 7.1.
The unit can be ordered with a 16 GB or 1 TB drive. I ordered the 1 TB version. In addition I ordered the USB Wi-Fi Dongle for it. You have to order the Channel Master one and it works well. I updated the Firmware with it. You get VUDU for free, YouTube, Pandora and Sling TV in the Internet apps
The unit is all metal and not plastic and it only gets slightly warm. Excellent on line user manual also, the latter way above the usual offerings. Quality is of a far better standard then Comcast junk electronics. This one does actually switch off and powers down by itself if you forget. I'm not easily impressed, but I was with this unit. Not cheap but for the build quality and presentation I rate it well worth the money. I hate junk and this unit just oozes quality when you handle it and in use.
My wife is thrilled with this unit.
This system has FM/HD radio, a BD player, Chromecast and a media player.
For streaming neither I nor my wife find this as handy as the HTPC we have at Benedict.
I have specked an Intel NUC HTPC build round the IVY Bridge 5. I think I will order the parts this week and install it here. The I think this system will have excellent functionality. This system sounds absolutely superb and it is well worth getting optimal functionality from it.
