Spectrum cloud DVR

Scheduling

You need to get to the guide and scroll to a show. The web interfaces appears to be much faster for this.

Guide screenshot

The search function is via the magnifying glass in the upper right corner.

Clicking on a show brings up a screen to select to record the series or just that show.

Record page screenshot

You get a few more options, similar to TiVo, here than with YouTube's basic record yes or no option.

Recording options dialog

The main diffs from TiVo are:

• Save is only for 1 year or until space needed where TiVo lets you limit by number as well which comes in handy for things like news programs you my only want to see the last 1 or 2.
• Channel does not have TiVo's "any option". Again useful in some cases but not a biggie. YouTube basically only has the "any channel" option. This can be an issue if there are no new shows on soon since you can not select the channel with new episodes to record till there are. Though YouTube has the same problem if no reruns are showing either.
• TiVo can record 2-6 shows at once depending on model. The cloud DVRs are generally only limited by storage. For Spectrum that is 50 or 100 recordings depending on plan. Note YouTube is unlimited.
• Lastly storage. With aftermarket mods TiVo go up to about 13 TB or about 1500 hours of shows that you can keep till the TiVo breaks. Again for Spectrum it is 50 or 100 recordings depending on plan and YouTube is unlimited but you can only keep recordings for up to one year and with the cheaper Spectrum plan only 90 days.

Note for some shows the only option was to add to my watchlist. This appears to happen when it knows of the show but no new or reruns will be showing in the near future.

Watching

 To watch recordings you get to them from the Spectrum app under my Library in the Roku app but under DVR in the web interface.

When you click on a show you get a list of recordings but there seems to be a couple odd things. First it only tells you the day not the time which can be an issue with shows like the news. Also there may be a glitch. For example, I recorded and watched BBC World News. The main page says 2 shows but the show's recording page shows 4 and all watched. The list order can be somewhat random too.

Recordings list

Playing a recording, the web interface is definitely better. Assuming you are at the screen to use it. You can cast to a Chromecast to get it on a bigger screen.

The main diff between Roku and web is the web you can your place in the video with the mouse and skip back and forward 30 secs. In Roku your options are just fast forward and reverse. And they are pretty quick. That coupled with no visual indication in either interface makes skipping commercials pretty iffy.

Since you are limited to 50 or 100 recordings and your only options are keep for up to a year or delete as needed for space you are probably going to want to delete some shows after you watch them. Oddly the Roku interface is better here with delete and series options right here.

The web interface just has a red X next to the recording in the list.

Recordings list with delete highlighted

Either way you have a confirm option just to be sure.

Delete confirm screen

It might be time to drop cable.

Comparing streaming prices

After seeing my Spectrum bill had gone up another $30/mth despite losing 2 movie channel networks I called them to see if a better bundle might be had. Not only was there no better deal but it seems now that the bundle only gets you $10 off the total so the old "internet only cost you almost as much as the bundle" days seem to be over. I also discovered the local channels are $17.99 of that Gold bundle price on top of the $123.99 for the cable channels which include HBO, Showtime and Starz. You add in the required cablecard fee (even if you are not using it) of $2 the effective cost is $133.98. Note this is without any DVR ability so technically you might need to add a tuner fee if you have a DVR or another $23/mth for their DVR. Since the services all seem to have some a cloud DVR component a better compare cost would be more but it really does not matter since all the services I looked at were cheaper. Even after recent price increases. With the possible exception of AT&T. (See below.)

Here is the sheet I used to compare the services. 

Note not all movie channels are available on all services but they all are from Amazon for the same price as other places so I put in that cost where not available to include in the equiv total cost.

Note AT&T is a weird case that would be hard to compare if not already higher than the others. In the sheet it shows the compare prices with the "ENTERTAINMENT" + the listed later costs for channels. From their site it appears this is not actually an option. See note on PREMIER package equiv cost.

Lastly note there are "fees" on top of these prices that will make the comparisons a bit off.

DVRs

I should note here beyond the initial hardware costs most DVRs require a subscription cost. TiVo for example is $75.76/year and Tablo is $49.99 USD/year for the guide plus $20.00 USD/year if you want to auto skip ads. Note Tablo ad skip is iffy at best and TiVo's is getting worse. Another reason for going YouTube TV is that it includes the local PBS which means I should be able to shutdown my TiVo and Tablo and use the YouTube cloud DVR instead. There are 32 Over The Air (OTA) channels watchable here but realistically only 6 of the 7 YouTube TV can record, I really care about. ~1/4 of the 32 are in Spanish and most are showing old programs or infomercials. The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show for instance, is available from several places. Even the somewhat obscure Rat Patrol is on Pluto TV. Though you might like something like The Unseen World which is only available on OTA channels.

One of the things I've lost with an OTA DVR instead of a cable DVR is being able to watch a cable show shortly after it starts. Most of the streaming services, even when offering live, only offer on demand sometime later. In some cases they can run up to an episode behind meaning a week or more after the broadcast. I'm hoping the cloud DVRs will give me that back and will not be anymore flaky than TiVo has become much less Tablos are.

Conclusion

It looks like YouTube TV is the best fit for me but I watch stuff on a lot of channels. For example, BBC News is one of those news programs I like to watch timeshifted in the morning. BBC World News and BBC America both seem to to be option or not available most places. With an OTA DVR I can still get a wee hours broadcast from PBS but it would be nice to catch one closer to the current time. 

Update 9/15/2021

Pretty happy with Youtube so far. Went into Spectrum store to turn in my cable card (I had to have per my bundle despite not using) and turn off my cable. They took the card but could not change the cable. So I called in and they are like well if you are going to turn off the service we can give you a discount. So I'm trying their cloud DVR service which I had not even heard of. Still not sure how I missed that when looking for options. The first year price is about $50 less than what I was paying for all the same channels. Of course knowing their hardware DVR there are questions about if it will actually be usable. Also the person on the phone had no record of me turning in the cable card so I'll have to see if they try and charge me for that. Awhile later installer called thinking I was new service. He was trying to find my place. Explained that I have the latest hardware do no need. You got to wonder.

After I've tried it side by side with Youtube's cloud DVR. 

Also they were trying to talk me into their cell service. Only $14 vs the $55 for 2 lines I'm paying now so I'm going to have to think about switching after my V60 is paid off in 11 months.

More cable weirdness

 Since just internet from Spectrum costs almost a much and the bundled internet, cable and phone I've kept cable. Especially since the phone comes in handy from time to time out here between towns where cell service is often iffy and I still want access to channels like TBS and BBCA which require a cable ID. After my cable TiVo died I thought I'd return the cable card and tuner to at least get those fees off my bill. It turned out it would cost me more to turn in the cable card since it would invalidate my bundle. Their DVR is even more so the cheapest option was to keep the cable card. Go figure. I wonder how many people just using the on demand app these days also have an unused cable card floating about for the same reason. Now I need to sort where to put it so I can find it when / if it becomes cheaper to go with just internet service.