# Rent or buy pvr hdtv box?



## Addy (Mar 12, 2010)

The comments in the hot water tank rental thread have me thinking about another commonly rented household item - a pvr/ hdtv box.

Our options are pay $7.99/m for 12 months (meaning it may go up in 12 months?) with cogeco, or buy one out right? We will be in the house fir 3-4 years most likely before our next posting (military).


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

How much does it cost to buy one?

The $7.99 sounds low, you should call and find out what the regular rate is.

In general, it's probably better to buy - but in your case, the upside profit from buying is limited, because you won't be staying there very long.

I bought my pvr (non-HD) several years ago. At the time, I calculated I need to own it for 20 months before breaking even. After five years, I'm way ahead of renting even though I think the monthly cost of a non-hd pvr has gone down quite a bit - probably to zero.


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## Maybe Later (Feb 19, 2011)

Done both. I have a rental that we've had for several years. It's been replaced twice and the only thing we lost was the programming. If I would have had to buy another one both times it would have been more expensive at the regular price. 

But, I also bought a box when they were discounted 50% (new, not refurb) since it was similar to the cost of renting for a little more than a year. That one has been no problem.

I would do the same again in both cases. You could always rent and then wait for a deal as you're coming up for renewal. 

There are often boxes on kijiji or eBay if you're looking for the Least expensive option. Depending on the provider, it can be a bit of a hassle to register used equipment on your account. More so for satellite I understand.


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## iherald (Apr 18, 2009)

I've called Cogeco on behalf of my Mom who lives in the area and asked about how to cancel so we could move to ExpressVu. They then offered a free HD PVR and a better deal on cable.


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## Addy (Mar 12, 2010)

iherald said:


> I've called Cogeco on behalf of my Mom who lives in the area and asked about how to cancel so we could move to ExpressVu. They then offered a free HD PVR and a better deal on cable.


Is your mom interested in selling? 

Seriously though, that is good, so we may be better off renting for the year then calling to cancel and hope they offer us a free HD PVR. Of course by then we would have paid $8x12 months towards the cost of that HD PVR, so it's not like they are out any/much money by giving it free at that point.


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## jamesbe (May 8, 2010)

There's always satellite, then if you move you can take it with you anywhere...


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## Addy (Mar 12, 2010)

Are there any good satellite providers that are better priced than HD cable? The dishes are actually sold with the house, there's some sort of law, (policy maybe?) where the dish goes with the house because there's been so much damage to the house by owners removing the dishes themselves. 

We would still have to go with cogeco for internet (i've heard bell totally sucks in Petawawa) and I'm not sure who we will go with for the phone yet, maybe voip provider if I can find one thats cheap and good.


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## crazyjackcsa (Aug 8, 2010)

I have Bell, but I bought the HD box instead of renting it. I've had it two years now, so it's just to the point of paying for itself.

From there I bought an external hard drive for like $100 at Future Shop.


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## jamesbe (May 8, 2010)

I've heard Cogeco sucks for internet as well. So not sure who to believe.

My co-worker lives in Arnprior and he uses DSL because Cogeco just sucks he says.

There's Shaw and Bell for satellite those are you only legit choices. Depending on the packages you like the price may or not be competitive.


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## Addy (Mar 12, 2010)

In Petawawa I've heard Bell sucks, and I've heard that from a lot of people. Cogeco ran all new lines to Petawawa so maybe thats why people are liking it better right now. What sucks is you have to sign on for a year, but at least it's better than three year cell phone plans


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## Jungle (Feb 17, 2010)

We've had ours free from Roger's for about three years now. I just call back every year and say I'm cancelling all my services to go with Bell. Then they put you through retentions department and they give you a deal to stay. We usually get about 20-30% off all our services plus free pvr rental. It's been great-about a year ago it broke down, we just exchanged it for a new one. 

My co worker has the same services as us (home phone, internet and cable TV) and we are paying almost $40 less per month than him!!


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## qc_riderfan87 (Apr 30, 2011)

I was thinking about this:

1. let your PVR sit and record shows 24/7 for a month or until all the space is used up. 
2. call cable company, tell them you're going to be a way don't know when you'll be back and you want to suspend service.
3. watch recorded TV for free!

most recorders will allow you to record 2 shows at the same time and I have heard about ones that can record 4 shows at a time!!

thats 48 hrs of tv a day (for most pvrs)
x 30 days
= 1440 hrs of tv!
now if you watch 5 hours of tv a day it's going to take you 300 days or 10 months to watch it all. if youre box can hold that much** sure it will be out of date, but with the money you save you can buy the complete season on blu-ray or dvd.
get all the channels including the premium 10 bucks a month channels, no more then.. what? 250 bucks for the first month? HELL... just record all movies and then subscribe to basic so you can still watch news or get the forecast or watch the game.

I haven't figured out all the details yet, I'm working on it!

considerations:
- I rent a HD PVR I think it's 15 bucks a month. the local cable company assured me that I won't have to pay while I'm gone not sure if this includes the box but it's been 4 weeks and I haven't received a bill.
- some cable companies like mine will only allow you to be on holiday for 6 months without paying. Have not determined if this is 6 months per year term or what
- since I rent my box, I can't tinker around with the guts. I'm pretty sure they have your standard IDE or SATA computer hard drive in them. I could swap it out for a 1 or 2 tB hard drive, especially good for HD programming.
- I could purchase a PVR that does 4 or more recordings at a time. this is highly useful because the networks all run there best stuff during primetime. 
- maybe some other stuff.. got a brain fog right now as it is 6:30 am and i havent slept. (too hot, no air con)

comments?


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

I haven't measured lately, but I don't think my non-HD PVR holds more than about 50-60 hours tops. So the plan is somewhat limited.


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

Vacation disconnect is only allowed once a year with Shaw. Reconnection costs $29.


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## Charlie (May 20, 2011)

Jungle nailed it. It's super competitive right now. If you ask for an extension of 'promo' rates, you'll likely get them. Not from sales, but from their retention department. Helps if you have the latest intro offer from their competitor. Seems we get one every other month.

You have to be willing to cancel -- though they've never called our bluff. Bundle promos seem particularly discounted -- net/cable/phone or mobile.


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## OnlineHarvest (Apr 6, 2009)

Jungle said:


> We've had ours free from Roger's for about three years now. I just call back every year and say I'm cancelling all my services to go with Bell. Then they put you through retentions department and they give you a deal to stay. We usually get about 20-30% off all our services plus free pvr rental. It's been great-about a year ago it broke down, we just exchanged it for a new one.
> 
> My co worker has the same services as us (home phone, internet and cable TV) and we are paying almost $40 less per month than him!!


+1

Same here.

I have ALWAYS rented, but I have ALWAYS been creditted the rental fee (over 3 years now).

I've done it with with my SD box, and non-PVR HD box, and was offerred the same with the HD PVR. 

Since competitors are offering this, you should be able to get this.


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## Bullseye (Apr 5, 2009)

Because this is the Frugality forum, I'll mention that a PVR is nowadays outdated and a waste of money. For what it costs to buy one, you could buy/build a dedicated PC for your TV that does the same thing, but much, much more. 

Or for even less, get a media streamer and stream all your content, and cancel your cable. This is where we are now, but next step is a full PC. We use NetFlix, HuluPlus, a hard drive full of stuff from friends, and an OTA antannae for local news. It's better than a full cable package (no commercials), and way cheaper.

If you're interested, the digitalhome.com forums are the best place to start.


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

Bullseye said:


> Because this is the Frugality forum, I'll mention that a PVR is nowadays outdated and a waste of money. For what it costs to buy one, you could buy/build a dedicated PC for your TV that does the same thing, but much, much more...


I agree. I think a PVR is a necessary step along the way to a full-blown home theater system. It seems to be a part of the learning process.

I also think that the various alternatives need to shake out. Streaming live TV, for example, only makes economic sense if the Internet offerings remain tariff neutral. If Netflix starts costing $8 plus $20 in streaming charges, I might find an alternative more cost effective.


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## Addy (Mar 12, 2010)

I like the idea of Netflix but when I check what shows they have I'm not impressed. No HBO shows? Plus a lot more that I can't see listed. Do they have Americas got talent?


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