Even in close proximity to broadcast towers, reception can depend on a lot of factors, from the type of antenna to building materials to outdoor obstructions. That might be a disappointing answer for Roku users, but I think it generally explains why-aside from Amazon-the major streaming platforms have kept antennas at arm’s length. “We’ll kind of see how things evolve, but I think generally what we’ve seen is that if you can deliver that content through streaming, then you can guarantee that someone’s going to get it, and they’re going to have a good experience with it,” Ely said. And besides, he said, with antennas come a lot of potential reception issues, which might require some technical expertise to solve.
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Roku TVs offer a solid TV guide for over-the-air channels, but not much else.Įly points out that live TV streaming services such as YouTube TV and Sling TV have their own DVRs built into their respective apps. “And I think philosophically, at Roku, Roku likes DVR and likes over-the-air content, but it’s really been more about streaming.” Jared Newman / TechHive “There are good third-party products out there that work well with Roku, which is really great,” Ely said. The extent of its over-the-air integration is a TV guide and time-shifting features on smart TVs that run Roku software. Its founder, Anthony Wood, was the CEO of Replay TV, an early TiVo rival, and Mark Ely, who I interviewed last week, was the founder of Really Simple Software, whose now-defunct Simple.TV networked tuner and DVR were similar to what Tablo and Fire TV Recast offer today.ĭespite that history, however, Roku doesn’t seem interested in revisiting DVR hardware itself. “We don’t have a lot of details to share right now, but I think you’ll see more from us in the next year or so in terms of what our plans our to extend the product,” Gupta says.
And for whatever Amazon is working on, it’ll take a while to develop. Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like broader platform support is on the immediate agenda either way, as Gupta says it would require a lot of work by companies like Roku or Apple to support the Recast’s tools and protocols, or APIs. The big challenge would be getting content providers to support such a thing. We’ve already seen some attempts at this from other DVR services (most notably Channels DVR, which now records TV Everywhere streams from cable channels), and judging by the feedback I get from readers, there’s a lot of interest in a DVR that works with streaming sources. It’s hard to say what that could mean, but I wonder if Amazon is interested in finding other sources of video to record beyond just over-the-air streams.
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But I think our goal is to learn from what we’ve done and continue to figure out how to expand the audience for that type of product.” Jared Newman / IDGĬhannels from Amazon’s Fire TV Recast integrate with the home screen on Fire TV devices. “It’s a great product, and the people that use it love it. “I think what we’re trying to figure out with Recast is, how do we make it more accessible, create more learning around it, and broaden the audience,” Gupta said.
Sandeep Gupta, Amazon’s vice president of product development for Fire TV, didn’t quite say the Recast is a failure for Amazon, but he acknowledged that it has “challenges,” including the price point and the fact that people are generally watching more TV through streaming services. Since launching last fall, it has frequently gone on sale, including a $100 discount on both the dual- and quad-tuner models, around Amazon Prime Day. Although the Recast performs well and has no subscription fees, my gut feeling is that it’s not meeting the company’s expectations. Instead, if pulls in channels from an antenna and streams them to Fire TV devices around the house. Unlike a traditional DVR, the Fire TV Recast can sit anywhere in the house and does not plug directly into a television. While Amazon might still try to build on its work with the Fire TV Recast, it doesn’t sound like Roku will try to take over-the-air integration much further. Īll of which makes me suspect that over-the-air DVR will remain a niche product, best handled by smaller companies such as TiVo, Nuvyyo (which makes the Tablo DVR), and Plex.
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Roku, meanwhile, provides a TV guide for antenna users on its smart TVs, and it allows for basic pause and rewind functions if you plug in a USB flash drive, but it hasn’t extended those features to its streaming players or provided a full DVR. Amazon released the Fire TV Recast DVR last November, but it’s frequently gone on sale since then and hasn’t received any major updates aside from external USB drive support.
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