Total Cash Spent – $300
- DVR (Channel Master DVR+ 16GB) – $250
- Extra 1TB Hard Drive for my DVR – $100
- Apple TV Series 2 (32GB) – $150
- Extra 2TB Hard Drive for my home computer- $200
So the hardware I have today is a little old given the refresh for the Apple TV that was announced earlier in 2017. However, the hardware does work quite well, and you will notice – there are no recurring fees tied to this hardware. I own it all outright. Let’s walk the line here on this hardware …
Channel Master DVR+ along with an extra 1TB of storage
I went with this kit as I knew how much I loved the DVR functionality going back to my very first Series 1 TIVO. I still have that thing somewhere – I digress. The DVR here is fantastic because there are no ongoing rental fees and the hardware is super slim with a very modern interface once you have it connected to your wireless network. It will stream online channels, YouTube, and it will also record your locally broadcast channels that are coming in over the air via your HD Antenna. One thing to note that bums me out – it will NOT record online streaming channels, maybe some day it will. For now, the DVR functionality sits squarely with the channels you get over the air. It also has a number of apps for third party online services, not unlike the next piece of this puzzle…
Apple TV –
I have had an Apple TV since they first were released due to a media collection that I keep on my home network via a large hard drive tied to my primary home computer/server. As such, I wanted to render this content over my home network. Over the years Apple has continued to round out the integration points with the iPhone and Apple Watch and the ongoing iTunes mods that they have introduced over the years. Now they also support various third party apps to deliver content (Netflix and online training), shopping experiences (Air BnB has an incredible app for the Apple TV), and of course games — all rendered in smoking high definition that is tied out to a home media system that can pop windows off the building. I generally run Sling and Netflix from my AppleTV simply because it is a very friendly interface, and I find much of the content I care about is not coming in over the air most days. When I do want to do the over the air HD broadcasts – I’ll change the input back to my ChannelMaster for the live TV or to hit up my recorded shows.
What does all of this get you – well it gets you an untethered way to consume a variety of content for free and for a reduced price point for those online services and channels that charge a premium — all at a substantially lowered price point.
Compared to my original satellite / cable provider with a few hundred channels – this config has nearly 100 channel options between the online broadcasting, the Sling based rendering of cable programming, over the air HD broadcasts, and the growing options that are app-based services that sit on both the Apple TV and Channel Master hardware – inclusive of the DVR for the over the air broadcasts – key for sports….
So all told – this cost me:
Local Network / Hardware – $700
And my monthly recurring bill is sitting at – $40.00 (rounded up from the prior blog post) for an annual cost of $480.
So in year one – that’s $1480 out of pocket…
Compared to what I was originally paying for cable of $200 per month…totaling $2400 annually…
So in under a year – I cut the cord, implemented an arguably better hardware solution with way more content diversity, and I broke even during month 8 – which was a few years ago. WOW.
The best part – I only have to deal with my internet provider, rather than my phone/cable/internet … This simplifies things greatly, and it has proven to be very resilient in terms of support and issues.
If you are halfway savvy with technology – you can do this too. I strong recommend you find a handyman to take down that dish and put the antenna up in the attic for you.
