Gadgetory

so if you've cut the cord in district cable TV subscription you might start looking for ways to record free over-the-air TV that's available within antenna there are a lot of options these days from Aereo to channel masters DVR plus and new vos tableau but there's also an old familiar option TiVo I'm Matthew Muscovy ak from see net and the entry-level TiVo Romeo is actually the best over-the-air DVR on the market although it's going to cost you the box itself is only $200 but you also have to pay TiVo subscription fees which is either fifteen dollars a month or a whopping $500 lifetime subscription that's a lot of money for a DVR so let's look at what you're paying for first off this is the sleekest most compact TiVo yet with the curve stylus case that looks better than any cable box you're going to get from the cable company the included remote has a classic TiVo layout and that's great since it's still one of the best remote designs out there even better the remote works using RF instead of traditional IR remote commands so you can stick the TiVo behind the cabinet and you can still control it the Romeo can work with cable but I'm going to focus on its appeal to cord cutters using an antenna that means assuming you get good reception you should be able to watch CBS NBC Fox ABC and PBS TiVo also has built-in Wi-Fi and supports some streaming media services including Netflix Hulu Plus MLB TV YouTube Pandora and Spotify there is an Amazon Instant app but it doesn't support the prime videos that are free with an Amazon Prime subscription so that's a pretty big drawback overall it's an OK list of apps but for this price you definitely expect more where the TiVo really shines is its interface and the ability to handle recordings the graphics are crisp and high def and it's still the most intuitive interface there is making it easy to find shows you want to watch and manage your recordings the speed of the Romeo is also a huge improvement over prior TiVo's so zipping in and out of menus feels really snappy TiVo seasonpass feature is still a standout letting you record all the new episodes of your favorite shows with exactly the settings that you'd like the Romeo also has four built-in tuners so you can record four shows at once or record three shows while you're watching another one live there's a 500 gigabyte internal hard drive which holds 75 hours of HD content and you always have the option to add more space by connecting an external hard drive and the Romeo really stands out when you compare it to other over-the-air recording solutions especially when it comes to day to day use every other solution has some annoying quirks and drawbacks that begin to grate over time but TiVo gets all the little things right so it gets out of your way and it just lets you watch TV it's super reliable commercial skipping is easy the interface feels snappy over-the-air TV looks great it's all enough to make you not really miss that cable subscription at all and that's really the best pitch for the TiVo Romeo cutting the cord definitely has its compromises but the Romeo makes it as seamless of a transition as you could hope for which makes you a lot less likely to go back to that pricey cable subscription I wish there was a cheaper alternative that's nearly as good but for now the TiVo Romeo is the best over-the-air DVR solution there is if you're willing to pay for it I'm Matthew Muscovy ak from CNET and this is the TiVo Romeo