[Originally published at DTGeeks.com]
I was drenched with ice-cold water when I learned that TiVo had raised its pricing. Monthly rates are now $19.95/month for 1 year commitments ($12.95 previously), $14.95/month for 2 years, and $12.95/month for 3 years.
But wait – there’s more! Additional TiVo boxes are now $13.95/month for 1 year commitment ($6.95 previously), $8.95/month for 2 years, and $6.95/month for 3 years. I’m in the 1 year commitment bracket with 2 TiVos (though luckily I never added the 2nd one to my account), so instead of paying $19.90 a month for both, I’d now be paying $33.90! Oh now, this is just NOT going to fly!
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am not about to burn that much money away a month!
Although I’m not sure if they are going to raise my rate since I’ve been on a 1 year commitment for a few months now, but if they do – then I’ll see if I can get out of it without incurring an early termination fee, and get myself an:
ElGato EyeTV 250, or an EyeTV Hybrid, at $199 and $149, respectively. [Thanks siva for correcting me]
The EyeTV 250 does encoding on the fly (hardware) and has a “game mode,� where you can shut off encoding and watch video in real-time from the source (like from your game console), while the EyeTV Hybrid does software encoding (relies on your computer’s resources to encode) with zero latency for games and watching real-time video when not recording. The EyeTV software has a built-in “TV Guide� where you can pick and choose what you want to record, automatically export a show for iPod or PSP, and “pause live TV� (with encoding on / game mode off).
Oh, and did I mention, no monthly fees?
Now, I already have an older EyeTV Tuner that does not do any encoding at all, but sine I use my iMac as a television as well as for gaming and watching other shows while the TiVo is recording, I didn’t do much recording with it. Then I thought, what if I add a 2nd EyeTV tuner, and keep the same functionality of being able to watch live TV or play a game while the other tuner recorded. At first I didn’t think that would be possible, but according to this page on EyeTV’s support site, it is possible (although in beta and not officially supported).
Now, $149 or $199 does not sound bad at all! Especially when in 12 months, I would have been paying $239.40 for one Tivo, or $406.80 for both! What about in 2 years? In 3??? There are no extra charges with EyeTV.
Now, the question is – anyone want to buy my 40 hour TiVo? Or an 80 hour TiVo as soon as I can get out of the contract?
