Hauppauge Cordcutter TV FREE DVR Alternative
With the latest update to the Hauppauge Cordcutter TV, it can now serve as a stand alone DVR with no PC or mobile devices needed for transcoding and recording your live TV Shows.
Hauppauge located in Hauppauge, NY, about 40 miles east of New York City has been building TV tuners, video capture cards and leading PC tuner card for PC's the WinTV since 2008, their devices let you watch and record Free TV from an antenna on your PC. Recently the Cordcutter TV tuners has changed the game by offering consumers a monthly fee free DVR that competes directly with the HDHomeRun.
Their Cordcutter TV tuner not only has the ability to transcode an OTA TV stream from an antenna into one that is friendly and can play on a wide range of mobile or streaming TV devices. Now, it can also can record this signal directly to the Cordcutter TV with the use of an external Flash Storage drive plugged into a USB port.
Hauppauge competes closely with the SliconDust HDHomeRun Extend. Other SiliconDust network tuners need to use a PC to record the live TV signal from an antenna and then send this signal over an Ethernet connection to be recorded onto a computer.
Another competitor to the Cordcutter TV is the more expensive Tablo Dual which is also a dual Tuner Network tuner that has limited built-in storage or you can use an optional external USB storage device for recording live TV. With a Tablo, TV recordings are then transcoded and streamed to devices on your Network as well but unlike the HDHome Run which records and retains native MPEG2 video for full 1080i playback. Broadcast TV only goes as high as 1080i.
Tablo recordings are converted from MPEG2 to H.264 so they can be played directly on any Smart Phone, Tablet, Roku or Apple TV or Android media streamer. These devices are typically unable to play MPEG2 streams.
There have been several complaints about the Tablo picture quality after it has been transcoded from MPEG2 to H.264 it is not as good as the full 1080i MPEG2 stream. This is especially noticeable on a larger screen TVs.
The Cordcutter TV also transcodes video to H.264, except their tuner and software seems to do a better job and so far there have not been any complaints about the picture quality on this device. It is still rather new so not all that many people have had a chance to use it yet. Hauupauge typically uses high quality Tuners in their devices.
About the Hauppauge Cordcutter TV
The Hauppauge Cordcutter TV is a small box that your (OTA) Over The Air Antenna plugs directly into. It can then record live TV video in HD and transmit it either over WiFi or Ethernet across your home network.
This device has the ability to not only record and stream your recordings. It can also transcode your recording so that they are made into a more compatible file format. H.264 is actually a better format that compresses recorded videos to save bandwidth on a wide range of mobile devices or media streamers like AppleTV, Roku, Amazon FireTV or the Nvidia SHIELD.
What You Needed For Best Performance/Picture Quality
Since the Cordcutter TV streams an ATSC TV signal or video recording in H.264 it uses a more compressed and efficient video format which is commonly used by most media streamers and mobile devices to watch videos. H264 is useful for several reasons. On mobile devices this transcoded video format will save battery life, and it also uses less data than MPEG2.
If you decide to stream your videos on your home network from a Cordcutter TV using a WiFi connection then you will need to make sure your Router supports the latest video standards like N, AC, 2X2 Mimo. This will give you the best HD picture quality from this tuner otherwise your picture quality will only be SD.
If your WiFi Router is older and does not support the latest WiFi standards, attaching the Cordcutter TV tuner to your Router by Ethernet is a better alternative and will also give you the fastest performance and best picture quality.
Scheduled Recordings
Hauppauge just recently announced a new feature for these tuners that will now let them record directly to a USB drive plugged into the Cordcutter TV USB slot.
Each of the two tuners can now schedule and record TV shows and movies directly to the Cordcutter TV itself, and you no longer need to record your shows onto your phone or tablet. To use this feature you will need to buy a USB Flash pen drive or powered external USB hard drive.
The Cordcutter TV also has a SD card slot, it is currently not yet supported for live TV recordings. The company said this will be enabled soon in a future firmware and software update.
To take advantage of this latest new feature you will need to update the firmware on the Cordcutter TV, and also update their myTV app.
The Cordcutter TV has two tuners and unlike Tablo and SiliconDust, which charge for their guide service (They can also both be manually programmed for free.) The Cordcutter TV does not yet come with a guide. Hauppauge charges no monthly fee to record, although its recording functions are rather basic. To record a show you will need to use the Hauppauge myTV TV watching app for your device to schedule a recording. Currently it only supports a weekly or once only schedule.
To upgrade your myTV app, visit either the the Apple app store, the Google Play store or Amazon FireTV store (don't pay attention to some of the Amazon App reviews, they make absolutely no sense.) Their newest updated myTV app will always be found there.
Cordcutter TV Cost Compared to HDHomeRun and Tablo
The Cordcutter TV is less expensive than the Tablo Dual, although it comes with 64GB of internal storage space which most be purchased separately for the Cordcutter TV. The SliconDust HDHomeRun Extend also costs more and is another alternative that allows transcoding across your home Network.
Hauppauge's Cordcutter TV now brings us another great option for recording FREE over the air HD TV from an antenna. You can learn more about the Hauppauge Cordcutter TV Dual Tuner DVR - HERE
- Purchase a New Cordcutter TV - Click here
- Purchase a Refurbised Cordcutter TV and $ave $40! - Click here
- Learn more about HDHomeRun - Click here
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Use of third-party trademarks on this site is not intended to imply endorsement nor affiliation with respective trademark owners.
We are Not Affiliated with or Endorsed by Roku®, Apple, Google or Other Companies we may write about.
