The Simple.TV over-the-air DVR could be an excellent choice for those looking to cut their cable subscription.
(Credit:
Matthew Moskovciak/CNET)
LAS VEGAS--Simple.TV's DVR without a hard drive or video output
may sound crazy, but it could end up being a killer product for
cable-cutters. That's the impression I got after spending some
hands-on time with the over-the-air-friendly DVR, which was already
working on an
iPad and a Roku 2 XS box in the booth.
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To recap from
my initial story,
Simple.TV allows you to access over-the-air TV programs, either live or
stored on a connected hard drive (that you supply), from a number of
devices on your home network--at launch there are apps for Roku, Google
TV, Boxee, and iPad. So fire up your iPad and you can watch live
broadcast TV or any of the recordings on the connected hard drive.
(Credit:
Matthew Moskovciak/CNET)
Simple.TV's iPad app is nicely designed and lets you set recordings, watch live TV, or previously recorded shows.
(Credit:
Matthew Moskovciak/CNET)
The iPad app is seriously slick. There's a nicely laid out
interface for browsing what's currently on TV and you can set the DVR to
record right in the app or watch live. Even with dodgy connectivity
issues of the
CES showroom
floor, the app was surprisingly responsive pausing live TV and
fast-forwarding through recorded content. Even more impressive was that
the live content we were accessing was from an off-site Simple.TV box, a
la Slingbox.
The EPG interface on the Roku app could use some work.
(Credit:
Matthew Moskovciak/CNET)
The Roku app was having some connectivity issues, but we got to
see the design of the interface. It's much more basic than what's on the
iPad app, but you can still watch live TV and access recordings. The
EPG interface could certainly use more screen real estate and we'd
prefer network names like CBS vs. "KPIXDT", but the app isn't finished
yet. Most encouraging for cord-cutters is that Simple.TV's CEO
and President Mark Ely clarified that you won't really need to pay that
$5 monthly fee to get good EPG data. Simple.TV is providing basic EPG
data (not just the data included with an over-the-air TV signal) without
a subscription, despite what's implied by the
chart on Simple.TV's Web site.
The premium service is still required for watching content or live TV
remotely (i.e. placeshifting) and "season pass"-like automated
recordings, but those looking for just basic over-the-air recording
won't need to pay.
An iPhone full of over-the-air TV recordings.
(Credit:
Matthew Moskovciak/CNET)
Simple.TV will also have a Web interface, with an HTML5 video
player for accessing content on your Simple.TV. I was also surprised to
hear that you can import your recorded programs right into iTunes,
allowing you to offload shows onto an
iPhone
or iPad. It's a great solution for you're planning on taking a long
flight without Wi-Fi, but I can already foresee legal threats from TV
networks. (Disclsoure: CNET is a CBS property.) The biggest
limitation as it stands now remains the single tuner, which means you
can't record two programs at once. The Simple.TV does have an
antenna-out connection, which you can run to your TV's tuner if you want
to watch a different live program while the DVR records, although you
won't be able to pause live TV.
Of course, lots of products demo
great, then end up as duds, but it looks like Simple.TV has a good
chance of standing out in a market without a lot of compelling options.
Even with the required add-ons like a hard drive and a streaming media
box, the Simple.TV's $150 price is attractive, compared to the $400
Channel Master TV. I'm looking forward to seeing how it fares in the
real world when the Simple.TV is released in the spring.
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