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Amazon Introduces a “Cord-Cutters” DVR to Record Over-the-Air Channels

Phillip Dampier September 24, 2018 Competition, Consumer News, Online Video, Video 3 Comments

The Fire TV Recast DVR is among several new products Amazon is preparing to release for this year’s holiday shopping season, and it was a runaway favorite for Amazon-watchers given a preview of Amazon’s newest products last week.

The Recast is designed to appeal to cord-cutters who miss their cable-TV DVR box. Amazon’s TV recording solution is strictly designed to record over-the-air/free TV broadcasts, and won’t work with satellite, telco, or cable television. Oddly, it does work with one streaming cable-TV alternative: PlayStation Vue, but for the most part, Recast will make sense if you spend a lot of time watching and recording local TV stations. In larger cities, this means the ability to record 35-50 different stations and their digital subchannels. In smaller markets, a dozen or so stations ‘worth recording’ is more likely.

During brief demonstrations given to reporters, it quickly became clear Amazon designed Recast to work best within Amazon’s own product ecosystem, which means it requires at least an Amazon’s Fire TV stick ($29.99 each, when bought bundled with Recast) for each television. The Fire TV home screen adds a “DVR” menu automatically to the list of user options when it senses the presence of a Recast device. Amazon promises Recast playback will also work on tablets and phones, but not web browsers.

Recast is a larger-than-expected device, about the size of a shoebox, and contains TV tuners and a 500 GB hard drive. Customers will also need to supply an antenna (or buy the $24.99 ’50 mile’ window antenna offered by Amazon as an accessory). The box is designed to be placed anywhere out of sight, and has just three ports — one for power, another for USB to power the antenna, and an Ethernet connection. Amazon says Recast will work best placed where television reception is the strongest. Received signals are sent via Wi-Fi to Fire TV, PlayStation Vue, and the appropriate Amazon Fire apps for iOS and Android. Recast also offers built-in Wi-Fi Direct, which works with Fire TV and Amazon’s Echo Show, but Recast also supports traditional Wi-Fi. Amazon claims videos stream up to 1,440 x 720 at 60 frames per second.

Amazon Fire TV Recast

Recast’s standard configuration ($229) has two tuners and a 500GB hard drive, supporting two concurrent recordings and up to 75 hours of stored HD content. A deluxe version containing four tuners capable of recording four different shows/channels at the same time and a 1 TB drive doubles storage capacity for just $50 more, and will go on sale Nov. 14 for $279.99. Amazon is accepting pre-orders for both now.

PROS:

  • Finally a mainstream DVR that works for over-the-air recordings without expensive monthly service fees.
  • Amazon has kept the box simple, and has a tutorial/setup procedure to help you find the best place to locate the DVR to receive as many channels as possible.
  • Reviews indicate recordings were of good quality, assuming one gets reasonably good TV reception.
  • Integrates well with PlayStation Vue and Amazon’s Fire TV.
  • Box can be placed anywhere, out of sight, because it connects with your other devices wirelessly.
  • Deluxe box offers four tuners and lots of recording space for just $50 more than the base unit.

CONS:

  • Amazon should have just bundled an antenna in the box because it is required to assure good reception.
  • Recast is clearly designed for use with Fire TV, which means it is not a great option for other box owners.
  • Recast limits playback to its own apps and Fire TV. No browser support.
  • It only works with one streaming service (PlayStation Vue) and over the air stations. No support for cable, satellite, or telco TV.
  • It’s big and bulky.
  • Asking $229 for a box that only records over the air stations may be a high hurdle for some.
Size 7.1” x 7.1” x 2.9” (180 mm x 180 mm x 73 mm)
Weight 2.4 lbs (1066 g)
Processor Dual Core
ATSC Tuners 2 Tuners
Transcoders (for playback) 2
Storage 500 GB up to 75 hours of HDTV
Memory 2 GB
Wi-Fi Connectivity 2.4 G Wi-Fi 2×2 Wi-Fi b/g/n and 5 G Wi-Fi 2×2 Wi-Fi a/n/ac
Voice support Fire TV Recast can be controlled using voice through supported Alexa endpoints like Echo Show, and the Alexa Voice Remote on Fire TV devices and Fire TV Edition televisions.
Ports 1 x Type A USB 3.0 (does not support storage), TV Antenna Input, Gigabit Ethernet, Power
System requirements Fire TV streaming media player, Fire TV Edition television, or Echo Show, and compatible mobile device.
Setup requirements Fire TV mobile app (available on Amazon Appstore, Google Play Store, or iOS Appstore) on a Fire tablet (5th Gen or newer), an iOS device running iOS10 or higher, or an Android device running Android 4.4 or higher
Required for playback Any one of the following: Fire TV streaming media player, Fire TV Edition television, Echo Show, Fire tablet (5th Gen or newer), an iOS device running iOS10 or higher, an Android device running Android 4.4 or higher
Warranty and service 1-Year Limited Warranty and service included. Optional 2-Year and 3-Year Extended Warranty available for U.S. customers sold separately. Use of Fire TV is subject to the terms found here.
Regional support U.S. only
Accessibility features VoiceView screen reader enables access to the vast majority of Fire TV Recast features for users who are blind or visually impaired. Watch videos and TV shows with closed captioning displayed. Captions are not available for all content.
Included in the box Fire TV Recast, 50W Power Supply, Quick Start Guide

Amazon introduces Amazon Fire TV Recast, a home DVR for over the air television stations that works best with Amazon’s own Fire TV. (1:14)

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Bob61571
Bob61571
5 years ago

ChannelMaster has had a Digital OTA DVR for a few years now. Latest design will work with Streaming services in the Google Play store. Has a channel guide updated thru the Internet. Just hook up a USB External Hard Drive for the storage.

https://www.channelmaster.com/OTA_DVR_s/336.htm

Josh
Josh
5 years ago

It doesn’t support 1920×1080? That and Amazon’s devocesnbeing insecure are the negatives…..huge negatives. But I’m thrilled t get another company doing a serious stab at a DVR! And what’s this about it being able to RECORD from Vue?!? Or is it just that it integrates the interface? If you could actually record from Vue, that would be amazing, and make Vue way more useful as their dvr sucks, or at least did two years ago (and regardlustill has an absurdly short 28 day limit). If it could actually record from broadcast tv and Vue. That would actually make Vue and… Read more »

Rose Smith
5 years ago

Over-the-Air is still in the phase in which people can’t be able to decide whether is there is a need of it or not. This new DVR technology has yet to begin new and more products along with its way. Roku and Amazon are focused on working to bring DVR tech in smart devices so people can enjoy the video recording of their favorite shows and movies on their portable devices. Over-the-Air itself is a tough thing because you need a TV antenna for the broadcasting of the television shows on your screen. According to many reports, this device is… Read more »

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