Time shifting/recording with Apple TV

[cmcbhi]

Any chance of a "record" option with the Apple TV? Even if you have to add an external disk?
I like the quality of the material on the available live channels but its hard to give up my cable boxes ability to record, stop and go to for libations snack etc.
Is there any way to do this?

 

[techwarrior]

Apple wants you to subscribe to streaming services and rent\buy content online. They are going in the exact opposite direction from what you want. So, no, not much chance.

I use a Tablo OTA tuner with DVR built in. It enables me to record OTA broadcasts, storage is only limited by the size of disk I connect to the tuner. Most streaming services have DVR capabilities as well, and all of these include ATV apps to manage recording.

 

[chabig]

its hard to give up my cable boxes ability to record, stop and go to for libations snack etc.

On portable devices, such as Macs, iPads, and iPhones, you can download programs to watch while you're away from the network. AppleTV doesn't need this ability. If you want to pause for a snack or bathroom break, just pause the video. If you want to watch something else, the program will still be there when you return. Because it's already recorded in the cloud, you don't need a local recording.

 

[mallbritton]

I'm not sure exactly what you mean, but all of the live TV streaming services, such as YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, Fubo TV, etc., all have DVR capabilities. They also all have the ability to pause the stream. All the other options are basically Video on Demand which also allow you to pause the stream at any time. Just press the Play/Pause button on the Apple TV remote. It is the button in the lower left of the Siri remote.

 

[Boyd01]

I don't quite understand what you want here either. Can you explain what you mean by "available live channels"? I use Sling and it has the ability to pause/resume/record. You can also resume watching a show or play a recording on another Apple TV, a phone, tablet or computer.

 

[cmcbhi]

I know in can pause any movie or other media , but, if I’m watching ESPN (say a football game) or a PGA tour event on the Golf Channel on my AppleTV 4K, I cannot pause and return the stream to get a snack or return and skip commercials. I can do this with ease with my Spectrum cable box.
FWIW, the spectrum cable feed in included with my monthly rent, so I don’t save money by not using it, and buying sling or plex or other devices is not cost effective. I’d just like to get more use out of the AppleTV.

 

[waw74]

you need other hardware, but channels does what you want.

You need a network based tuner, I use the one from HDhomerun with a cable card, so I get most of the cable channels on it. It has 3 tuners that all work from the same card.
You need to do a bit of research about your cable company and copy protection flags though, it will depend on how they have them set. I get pretty much everything but the HBO family, and Fox family (various "news", and nat geo), which sounds standard, but other companies might have more flagged so that you can use them. (google your company and "cci flags" to figure it out)
The tuners are also compatible with unscrambled cable channels (plug your cable directly into the TV to see what you can get) or antenna

with just the tuner, and the channels app, you can watch and pause liveTV, and it has a nice guide also.


With their subscription ($8/mo, $80/yr) you add full DVR capacities.
You will need a computer running, but it works on Win, Mac, and linux. They also have a raspberry Pi image. And it runs on several NASes also.

with that you get a full DVR, with all the basic features.
it's whole house, so all of your front ends connect to the same bank of tuners and recordings.

also with the subscription, you get remote access, so you'll be able to access from anywhere, as long as you have a decent internet connection.

they also use a service called TV everywhere, which takes your cable login info, and adds all the streams you have access to. They then show up just like a regular channel. It should be possible to run it with just this, and no tuner box, but you should confirm. (must have subscription to use this feature)

They have front end apps for most devices - aTV, fire stick, android, and iOS.
it also works in web browsers.


you say cable is included, do you have to rent the boxes? or are they included also.
with fios I pay $5/mo for the card (for 3 tuners that work on every tv with an aTV), while set top boxes are $12 for each TV you want to watch on.

 

[mallbritton]

I know in can pause any movie or other media , but, if I’m watching ESPN (say a football game) or a PGA tour event on the Golf Channel on my AppleTV 4K, I cannot pause and return the stream to get a snack or return and skip commercials. I can do this with ease with my Spectrum cable box.
FWIW, the spectrum cable feed in included with my monthly rent, so I don’t save money by not using it, and buying sling or plex or other devices is not cost effective. I’d just like to get more use out of the AppleTV.

Ah, so, you are talking about watching the live stream from the ESPN or Golf Channel apps, or other TV anywhere apps. Unfortunately those apps do not support DVR functions or pause/play of live streams in most cases. You might want to investigate if Spectrum has an app available for the Apple TV that has the features you want.

 

[bluespark]

I know in can pause any movie or other media , but, if I’m watching ESPN (say a football game) or a PGA tour event on the Golf Channel on my AppleTV 4K, I cannot pause and return the stream to get a snack or return and skip commercials. I can do this with ease with my Spectrum cable box.
FWIW, the spectrum cable feed in included with my monthly rent, so I don’t save money by not using it, and buying sling or plex or other devices is not cost effective. I’d just like to get more use out of the AppleTV.

I don't have Spectrum so this could be wrong, but I believe they offer an Apple TV app that has pause/DVR functionality. If so, the way to do this would be to stop using the cable box (which doesn't go through the Apple TV) and to instead use the app.

 

[cmcbhi]

Spectrum does have an AppleTV app but it doesn’t support pause/DVR function. This is not a surprise because they do rent set top boxes to other locations that have DVR functions.
Spectrum includes set top boxes in our facility; we only have one TV so multi set viewing isn’t required.

 

[Boyd01]

I still don't see how Apple could help you here. Evidently Spectrum and Golf Channel don't allow you to record with their apps. Even if Apple offered a DVR function, it would be subject to whatever restrictions the provider places on their content. Apple isn't going to let you "rip" TV shows against the wishes of the content provider.

 

[cmcbhi]

Interestingly, my Spectrum set top box lets me record/time shift anything on their cable feed.

 

[waw74]

the way I posted above works.

with channels DVR, you can record, pause, time shift, whatever you want, and watch on your appleTV

I just tried both ESPN and golf and was able to watch, record and time shift on the appleTV, with both the TVeverywhere function that pulls from their internet stream, and with the regular cable channel that I get with my network tuner. (this is on Fios in Manhattan, but at least the stream version should work for anyone)

you need a network tuner ($199) this one has 3 tuners in it.
rent a cable card from your provider, for me it's $5 a month, and that enables the 3 tuners in the network box.
and an always on computer with storage, you can get a raspberry Pi and an external hard drive for around $100
then it's $8/mo or $80 a year for the DVR service (apps on all your devices are free)


The 3 tuner limit is for cable only, but you can record 3 cable + 2 network streams simultaneously. if you have a lot of people or want to record more than 3 things from cable at a time, you can add a second tuner box and cable card to add 3 more tuners.

If you want, you should be able to do it without the network tuner and cable card, and exclusively use the streaming channels. But the quality of some streams is lower than the cable version.

The tuner company also make a version that will hook to an antenna, so you can pull the local channels.

you can return all your boxes to the cable company, and then use the appleTV as a set top box / multi room DVR
you can access live TV, and all your recordings from any device with the app (appleTV, iOS, android) as well as any web browser. Plus you can stop watching a recording in the living room, and pick up on your phone or another room in the same spot.

the one exception for me is HBO, I can't record those off cable, but I have the streaming service, so I just stream all of that using the HBO app. Showtime will let me record from cable, but I just use their app to stream.
Also the Fox networks (Fox News, FX, and National Geo) I can't get off cable, but can access them using their network streams, so can record/time shift using that.