I’d venture a guess that most everyone who reads this article has at least one DVR in their home.  In many cases, it might be more.  These devices are absolute genius and have completely altered TV viewing in my house.  We can now watch an hour-long program in 40 minutes and a half-hour program in about 20.  We can store up several episodes of a show and have our own mini-marathon on Saturday to get caught up.  There is only one prerequisite for all of this. We have to actually set the DVR to record the programs that we want to watch later and that can sometimes be a bit of a challenge.  What shows are on? When does the season start? What time slot are my shows in now? Are there multiple shows I want to watch airing at the same time?

WHATS ON THE DVR GUIDE

The Fall TV Guide from Entertainment Weekly (my favorite magazine of the year) landed in my mailbox this weekend.  Armed with that and websites like TVGuide.com and tv.com I set out to produce a calendar that contains all of the Fall TV shows (new and returning) with times and start dates.  The result is the 2011 Fall TV Lineup – Channel Guide, available as a PDF from the link below (next section).  Before you dive in, here are a few features of the guide:

1. Major Channels: All the major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX and CW) are listed in grid form
2. Cable Networks: Additional shows (from other networks) are highlighted below each day of the week in the Other Programs of Interest section
3. More Info: Each program title is a link to the official website of the show (so you can see what each program is and read up, to make your decision on whether to watch)
4. Start Date: The start date for each program is listed out to the side
5. Calendar Oddities: Start dates that stood out as “odd” are highlighted in yellow

Features of the DVR Guide

TAKE ME TO THE GUIDE

To get the guide, simply click on the link below to open in Adobe Acrobat.  If you don’t already have the Adobe Acrobat reader (a FREE program), you’ll need to install it first

2011 Fall TV Lineup – Channel Guide

TIPS ON USING THE GUIDE

If you are a multiple DVR owner and want to really plan out what to record and on which DVR, here are a few helpful tips.

• Print out the guide
• Highlight the shows that you want to watch, using a different color highlighter for each DVR
• Make sure you don’t have any overlap (ie. more than the number of shows you can record on each DVR)
• Set each show to record
• Verify the “priority” of the shows against the guide (so you don’t end up missing out on key recordings)

MORE ARTICLES ON TV

Cancel Your Cable/Satellite and Save Money While Adding Functionality

Buh-Bye DirecTV, Hello TiVo – How I Ditched Cable

How to Connect a Laptop to a TV (from killthecablebill.com)

Well computer fans, you are in luck.  Here is a little list to get you going on this FREEzing Friday.

1. Follow-Up on Those Christmas Gifts

You know all those great electronic gadgets you got for Christmas.  Maybe it was an iPod, iPad, Laptop, PS3, XBOX or some other expensive tech-toy.  You’ve been telling yourself that you need to buy a case, a screen protector or even a warranty.  Well today is a perfect day to research, make a decision and order up.  We’ve got a few suggestions on just how to go about this in our Guide to Gift Protection, but here are a few of the highlights to get you started:

• Get a screen cover and a case to protect from scratches and drops
• Secure your device with a passcode (usually available in  the devices settings)
• Get a warranty that covers the items from accidents – online warranties are cheaper and cover more than traditional warranties

2. Get Organized

This is one of things that I constantly swear I will do when I have the time.  If you’re like me, you have a hundred organization projects on your to-do list and now you just have to figure out where to start.  Here are a few resources for your various bits of clutter:

• Your laptop/work bag is a disaster.  Get organized with a new bag and grid system from Cocoon Innovations.
• Take all those photographs you’ve been saving to your hard drive and back them up online.  You’ll reduce your risk of losing them and make them easily sharable.
• Round up your movie collection and get it organized so you can find what you are looking for.  Check out our article – Manage Your Growing Disc Collection – Tools and Tricks

3. Get Rid of Cable

Ditching cable is not a one day project, but this snow day would be a great day to start your research and figure out what to do next.  Whether you have been shackled to Comcast, DirecTV or Dish TV and their $100+ monthly bill, we’ve got the how-to on freeing yourself and lowering your monthly bill.  Anyone can do it and you’ll soon see that money isn’t the only reason to switch.

We’ve got all the details you’ll need in a multi-part blog post that starts with Cancel Your Cable/Satellite and Save Money While Adding Functionality.

4.  Speed up That Slow Computer

You’ve been threatening to do something about that slow computer for months, maybe even years.  You’ve thought about calling someone to do it for you, but who and how much is that gonna cost.  Don’t worry, just do it yourself.  It is not difficult and you can save $100 or more by doing it yourself.  To help you out, we’ve written a how-to article titled My Computer is Running Slow – Help Me Fix It.  The article is FREE, the tools are FREE and you’ve got a FREE day to work on it.  What do you have to lose?

5.  Have Some Fun

It’s not like you needed someone to tell you this, but how about some new ideas.  Instead of simply firing up the same old XBOX game or returning to your virtual farm on Facebook, try investigating some new games and experiences using your computer, smartphone or tablet.  You’ll never know what you’ve been missing out on unless you take a chance.

Here are some Addictive Games You Can Play in 5 Minutes or Under.  But don’t stop there.  One of my favorite ways to see what’s new and exciting is to look on Facebook and see what my friends are playing.  You’ll know when you see high scores and achievements popping up between baby pictures and crazy videos.

We’re back for the second segment in a series of articles on ditching cable and moving to a TiVo solution.  So far, I’ve authored two articles on the subject and brought you my reasoning, preparation and installation (links below).  Now, we pick up with The Reality of switching from the high-cost cable bill to a mix-n-match approach of keeping up with our favorite TV shows, cable series, movies and more.

• Cancel Your Cable/Satellite and Save Money While Adding Functionality
• Buh-Bye DirecTV, Hello TiVo – How I Ditched Cable

Our last article ended with the photo story of our TiVo units arriving, getting hooked up and powering on.  After 3 weeks with the new TiVo Premiere units, I have some insight for others who might want to take the same plunge.

Reality

What is it like to live day-by-day with no cable.  In two words: challenging and awesome!  As with any change, there are some hurdles that we couldn’t predict, but they were not the result of the TiVo hardware or software.

Challenge 1:  Only OTA

MTV... seriously???

I knew that our switch away from cable would pose some issues when it came to watching our favorite TV shows and programs from cable stations, but I wasn’t fully prepared for the switch.  Example: The MTV Movie Awards.  About 2 weeks into our switch, the MTV Movie Awards were going to air.  Since we only receive local stations on our TiVo units, I had to find another way to watch this live show.  Surely a company like MTV, with a core audience of tech-savvy young adults, would be airing a simple awards show online… right?

As it turns out, the MTV web site stated that there was an “All Access Live Stream” available on their web site, so we settled in to watch the program on the PC set up in the living room (with our HDTV as the monitor).  What a let down!  The only thing you could see via the “All Access Live Stream” was the audience.  Yes, you read that right.  We could hear the host, award nominations and acceptance speeches (barely), but we could only see the audience.  Major, major FAIL!!!!  MTV, what were you thinking?

Challenge 2:  Soccer

FIFA World Cup

If you are aware that soccer exists or you own a television, you know that it is World Cup time.  Now through July 11th, there will be matches almost every day and they will be broadcast for the world to see.  This was something I was not prepared for, as many of the games are televised on ESPN3 and not local broadcast stations like ABC, NBC or CBS.  Luckily, they do show the games on Univision (the Spanish channel).  Unfortunately, I do not speak Spanish.  Maybe by the time the World Cup is over, I’ll be fluent.

Missing out on ESPN and the World Cup got me thinking.  What else will we miss due to our switch.  Uh-oh!  Monday Night Football will be back on ESPN again this season.  The good news there is you can always catch the Monday night games at a local sports bar or restaurant, but I would honestly rather watch it at home.  Maybe there will be a solution by the time football season starts.

Challenge 3:  True Blood

HBO Will Figure it Out.... One Day

Here is another example of trouble that I could not predict.  The new season of True Blood started last Sunday.  Prior to dumping DirecTV, I researched all of our shows and saw that True Blood was available on Amazon.com to download.  As it turns out, the “brain-trusts” over at HBO don’t offer their programs for immediate download on iTunes or Amazon.  Instead, they wait until the season is complete to start offering digital downloads of their content.  I can only assume that this is to increase their number of monthly subscriptions via cable, but for a non-cable subscriber this is not an option.

I guess nobody at HBO has ever heard of bittorrents, rapidshare or peer-to-peer file-sharing (don’t feel bad if you haven’t either), as their shows are readily available for illegal download all over the internet.  I can only imagine the lost revenue that is floating around from computer to computer as HBO sits back and waits on the general public to shell over hard-earned dollars for 6-month old programming.  Hey HBO, we want to watch our programs now, not after the storyline has been spoiled by co-workers, magazines and fan sites.  Don’t you like money?

Awesome 1:  HD Everywhere

One of the benefits in making this switch is the availability of HD programming.  Not only are the HD broadcasts picked up by my new attic-mounted antenna in full 1080p HD, but the additional programs that I purchase on Amazon.com and the movies we watch via Netflix (streaming) are also in full HD.  Before, with DirecTV, many stations were still not available in HD and (even if they were) the signal had been filtered by DirecTV.  The quality of programming that we receive now is far beyond our previous setup.

Awesome 2:  Online Content on our TV

Amazon Video on Demand!

The single best part of the new TiVo Premiere units is their ability to stream “online content” locally.  As mentioned above, we are streaming movies and TV from Netflix and Amazon Video on Demand, but what I didn’t mention is that I also have access to Blockbuster video and YouTube.  We haven’t used the Blockbuster service yet, since Amazon’s service is so easy to use and error-free.  We did however spend one night watching YouTube videos.  Aside from the bad quality of the videos posted (user error), the service was top-notch.

With Amazon Video on Demand, you can purchase TV Passes (basically a season pass) of your favorite shows at a reduced rate.  Soon, we’ll have new seasons of shows like Rescue Me, Mad Men and Weeds and, if the service works as I hope it will, new episodes will simply appear in “my shows” once they are available.  In the mean time, I can purchase individual episodes of ongoing shows like Justified and Breaking Bad to watch instantly.  I have already watched about 10 different shows this way and the service is fantastic.

Awesome 3:  Room-to-Room

Before the TiVo Premiere units arrived, we had to keep track of what was recorded in each room.  It never failed that we would get settled into bed to watch a favorite show and realize that it was recorded in the living room.  TiVo allows you to copy shows from room-to-room so you can view them wherever and whenever you like.  There are some restrictions on downloaded content, but once again this is not a result of TiVo’s strict rules.  We have the networks and film studios to thank for that complication.

Verdict

Challenging and Awesome!  While there are some hurdles, the enhancements provided by TiVo far outweigh the cost of a high monthly cable bill.  I have no doubt that cable stations like MTV and HBO will eventually get with the times and find a way to make money from online broadcasts and downloads (like the rest of the entertainment industry has already done).  So, I’ll wait patiently and continue to research the changes as they unfold.  In the mean time, I’ll begin putting money back in my pocket, enjoy my HD programming and watch what I want, when I want, on the best DVR software to ever grace the small screen.

Accessories

You might have thought this was the end of the Hello TiVo series.  Well, don’t give up on me yet.  TiVo has a huge following and their technology has been enhanced by others through applications, wireless keyboards, software programs and more.  In our next article we review some of the Accessories that make the TiVo Premiere easier to use and even more powerful than advertised.

Related Articles:

Finding a Cable Alternative – Dumping DirecTV for TiVo (posted on KilltheCableBill.com)

Right Now

Currently, I am a DirecTV prisoner.  What started as a comparable bill to local cable service has turned into a monster and I now pay over $100 a month for cable.  With taxes, my last bill was $105 and here is what I got for my money:

• 2 HD DVR Receivers
  • HR10-250 – TiVo bought 5 years ago – In the living room and NOT capable of recording HD stations since DirecTV decided to shut down my last 10 stations last month
  • HR21-200 – In the bedroom – capable of recording HD, only it is not a TiVo.
• HBO
• Pay Per View – movies are available for $4.99 – $5.99, but only at scheduled times

I have investigated upgrading the HD DVR in the living room to a newer model, but that would extend my contract another 2 years and require that I pay for the new box.  On top of that, I have to pay a lease fee for the box and a new fee to share information between the two.  Yes, you read it correctly, even if I go out and find another HR21-200 for $99, I will pay a monthly lease fee to DirecTV for the box, which they technically still own.  Failure to return the box at the end of my contract will result in major fees (several hundred dollars each).

The Change – Idea 1

My first thought was to cancel my DirecTV service and simply purchase season passes to the shows that we watch.  Season Passes are available from iTunes and Amazon.com for fairly reasonable rates.  On average, a TV show will cost you about $40 a year (HD quality) and then you own the download.  My first thought was “how many shows do we really watch?”  As it turns out, we have about 35 shows that we enjoy.  That includes the programs that my wife watches that I really don’t care for.

Unfortunately, there are some major drawbacks to this idea, starting with the fact that 35 shows would cost over $1,400 a year.  Since the idea is to lower the monthly bill, this just won’t work.  Apple has been investigating the idea of selling monthly subscription fees for all of the major stations (estimated around $30/month), but so far we have heard no announcements that this will happen any time soon.

There Has to be a Better Way

After some brainstorming and research, I figured out the answer.  Before you read any further, know that I have not officially made the switch yet. I am looking for the possible problems with this solution and would love input from anyone who has attempted a similar idea.

The idea is simple: Dump DirecTV and switch to 2 TiVo Premiere units.  Since TiVo announced it’s new Premiere model (Series 4), I have been itching to try it out and see how it works. Luckily for me, that meant I also researched it from all possible angles.  Here is why switching will add functionality to our current entertainment setup (cable) and save us money.

Functionality

• FREE Local HD – TiVo Premiere units have ATSC tuners that allow the DVR to record up to two channels at once from digital over-the-air broadcasts in full HD.  That means I only need an antenna (which I already have) to get FREE HD broadcasts from the local stations (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW).
• Downloads/Streaming- TiVo Premiere units connect to Amazon.com and Netflix (along with premium providers) and allows me to purchase TV Shows and movies, including season passes.
• Sharing – TiVo Premiere units can share programming between one another, so I can watch any show I want from either the living room or bedroom.
• Transfers – Many shows and movies can be shared to my PC and/or mobile device, so I can take my shows with me on my iPod Touch or PSP.
• Energy Savings – The newest TiVo units are Energy Star Compliant, which should cut down on the electricity bill each year.
• Expandable - External hard drives can be added for more recording space.

Savings

The math is simple and the first year will be slightly higher than my current setup, but every year after that will mean MAJOR savings for our household budget.

Year 1: Purchase 1 – TiVo Premiere XL ($499), 1 – TiVo Premiere ($299), 2 – Yearly Subscriptions ($129 + $99) and the remaining shows that are not broadcast over local HD stations ($295)
Cost: $499 + $299 + $129 + $99 + $295 = $1321

Year 2 and All Years After: 2 – Yearly Subscriptions ($129 + $99) and remaining shows ($295)
Cost: $129 + $99 + $295 = $523

Compare that to the cost of my current DirecTV “service” ($1200 a year) and the savings happen within the first 15 months.  From there on out, I will be saving $56.42 per month on my cable bill.  If I wanted to increase my savings, I could purchase lifetime subscriptions for both units and never pay a monthly or yearly service fee again.  The only problem with that is the out-of-pocket costs that I would be hit with today.

See what happened when I took the plunge and made the switch:

• Buh-Bye DirecTV, Hello TiVo – How I Ditched Cable
• Buh-Bye DirecTV, Hello TiVo – How I Ditched Cable – Part II

Related Articles:

• Finding a Cable Alternative – Dumping DirecTV for TiVo (posted on KilltheCableBill.com)