Jim Rossman: How will you record your shows?

I heard from a lot of you who want more information about cord cutting.

I also heard from a reader who told me my recent column recommending YouTube TV for a friend who wanted to drop her expensive cable service was not really cord cutting, as I was merely advocating dropping one bundled TV service for another one that wasn’t as expensive. The reader also chastised me for not recommending over-the-air TV for her.

He was right. I should have at least mentioned over-the-air reception to her, but she told me early on in our conversation that certain channels, like Fox News and PBS, were must-haves for their household, so I steered her toward the YouTube TV service instead of using an over-the-air antenna.

This week brought several emails asking about recording over-the-air shows. Most people are used to digital video recorders as part of their overall cable TV service.

How exactly do you record and play back shows if you cut the cord?

If you switch to an antenna for over-the-air TV reception, you can still record your shows, but you’ll have to purchase a DVR or even a bundled service like Sling TV or DirecTV Stream.

At my house, we use a TiVo Bolt OTA to record our over-the-air shows. I see TiVo has discontinued the Bolt, and its only remaining option is the TiVo Edge Antenna DVR, available from Channel Master for $349.

The Edge Antenna can record two shows at once, and it can store up to 75 hours on its internal hard drive. You may think the price is a bit high, but the TiVo guide service is included, so there are no ongoing subscription costs.

The TiVo also includes streaming apps, so the TiVo can stream services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, YouTube and more. Be aware, the TiVo cannot record from any of the streaming services, only from the over-the-air broadcast channels.

A few other over-the-air DVRs are worth considering, including the Tablo from Nuvyyo.

The Tablo comes in models with two or four tuners. The four-tuner Tablo Quad with a 1-terabyte hard drive costs $239. There is a slightly cheaper Quad without a drive, but you’ll have to add your own external drive to record.

The Tablo can record manually, but if you want guide data to make your life a lot easier, you’ll need to subscribe to a guide service for $49.99 per year or $4.99 per month. The subscription lets users set up series recordings and the ability to watch your recorded shows from outside your home via the internet.

If you are really geeky, you may want to consider an over-the-air tuner called the HDHomeRun, which works in conjunction with an app called Plex to record and store over-the-air shows. I’ll talk more about Plex next week.