Simple.TV

14 reviews

Nov, 2024

Positive
usability (30)
price (6)
design (4)
size (3)

Negative
reliability (5)
image quality (3)

General overview
Price comparison

alaTest has collected and analyzed 14 reviews of Simple.TV. The average rating for this product is 2.9/5, compared to an average rating of 3.7/5 for other Digital Video Recorders (DVR) for all reviews. Views about the size and design are generally positive. The price and usability also get good feedback. The image quality and reliability get negative views.

usability, price, design, size

reliability, image quality

We analyzed user and expert ratings, product age and more factors. Compared to other Digital Video Recorders (DVR) the Simple.TV is awarded an overall alaScore™ of 78/100 = Good quality.

Review analysis

(Based on 14 reviews)

Expert Reviews

User Reviews

Review Ratings

(21% of reviews)
Show all 5 star reviews (14% of reviews)
Show all 4 star reviews (29% of reviews)
Show all 3 star reviews (no reviews)
(36% of reviews)
Show all 1 star reviews

Features

usability
Show positive (77%)Show negative (23%)(Show all)

price
Show positive (67%)Show negative (33%)(Show all)

reliability
Show positive (38%)Show negative (63%)(Show all)

design
Show positive (100%)None yet(Show all)

size
Show positive (75%)Show negative (25%)(Show all)

More features

Showing 14 review(s)

Expert Reviews User Reviews

Disclaimer:

Below is a list of reviews for this or similar products. If you think this grouping is wrong please click here to flag.
Read more on our FAQ’s page.

Showing 1 - 10 of 14 Show Reviews: in English

Expert review by : Matthew Moskovciak (cnet.com)

Simple.TV review

Make no mistake: cutting the cord is about compromise. Giving up the endless channels and convenience of a cable or satellite subscription isn't painless , but the upside is you will save a good chunk of money.

Really Simple Software's Simple.TV is an inexpensive over-the-air DVR that streams live TV and recorded programs to compatible devices like iPads and Web browsers, as well as TVs connected to Roku boxes. It works both inside and outside your home...

Simple.TV is a first-generation product riddled with limitations. It's single-tuner only, so you can only watch or record one program at a time. There's no built-in Wi-Fi, so you'll need a wired Ethernet connection to get the box on the network. Image...

Simple.TV's innovative over-the-air DVR solution is far from perfect, but it's a decent budget option if you can't afford a TiVo Premiere.

Oct, 2012

Read the full review

Consumer review (cnet.com)

Good concept, bad reliability, terrible tech support

I bought a Gen1 STV back in December 2013. Setup out of the box was very simple and the unit worked well for a year with no issues. I had the occasional recording failure stating "could not tune to channel" but it was intermittent enough that I...

It worked for a year, easy setup

Recording of shows failed after a year, despite lifetime service subscription

Jan, 2015

Read the full review

Consumer review (cnet.com)

Painful

I have had my unit for about a week. As someone who usually can figure out anything technological, I figured I would be able to get through setup, even though I had read of people having problems. Obviously, this was not the case.

Will not connect to service, customers support is pointless

Aug, 2014

Read the full review

Consumer review (cnet.com)

A really solid product. Lots of big improvements in 2014. New hardware, software updates, improved support. Very happy.

Simple.TV at the start of 2014 was pretty rough. It would randomly crash or lock up, the tech support wasn't good (as others have noted), and they were releasing software updates every other day, which has its own issues.

Whole house DVR on multiple screens. Simple setup. Stable. New features that simplify TV for me: Chromecast, Plex, Roku apps all solid.

Freezes on occasion. Tech support is via email. Loud fan (if you care about that.)

Jul, 2014

Read the full review

Consumer review (cnet.com)

Garbage

Simple.TV change EPG service providers and I lost channels because of it. Not that the receiver doesn't see the channels but that since those channels don't show up in the new program guide I can't watch or record the channels. My initial subscription...

Connectivity

Inabily to record without Program Guide

May, 2014

Read the full review

Consumer review (cnet.com)

Works fine for my purposes.

I'm very happy with the basic performance, though fast forward is a little clunky as you can't see what you are passing over or where you are at. When watching live TV (a few seconds delay, but no big deal), it enables pause and rewind. It also...

It allows me to get live OTA TV to two sets which are not near the old cable feeds to which I have an attic antenna attached. It also allows me to DVR shows when I am at work, asleep or watching something else.

Set up was fine except that the unit froze up on the software update. A reboot fixed the problem and set up went smoothly after that. The freeze up cost me about an hour of time, however.

Feb, 2014

Read the full review

Consumer review (cnet.com)

Simple.TV is anything but simple to set up.

For it to work, you will need more cords than a 1950's telephone exchange station. 1 Coaxial input (i.e. the antenna), 1 coaxial output to the TV, a hard drive connected through the USB, an ethernet cable (yep, these folks don't believe in wifi or...

Not a whole lot - it does not work.

Unable to read hard drive, couldn't find channels, too many wires. 2 coaxial attachments are placed so far in that its difficult to attach a cable to it. No wifi or bluetooth - makes it useless unless both a router and antenna are in the vicinity.

Dec, 2013

Read the full review

Consumer review (cnet.com)

Works very well. $100 on line with lifetime subs.

This product has some limitation but for the money that I paid for, it's well worth it. You can probably get USB TV stick for PC, but you have to leave your pc all the time and if you want to watch live tv, you probably have to pay extra for additional...

1. Channel guide is excellent tool 2. Simple setup. 3. Picked up over 100 local over the air channel. 4. recording works excellent

1. Can only view one channel at a time 2. Currently no app for Android. 3. No support at all. I cannot find any support link, phone numbers, etc., Only FAQs. 4. Need to add your own HD. 5. No option to move the file to network connected PC

Oct, 2013

Read the full review

Consumer review (cnet.com)

Sweet whole house DVR option for cord cutters!

The economics of the whole thing is what makes it so appealing. I mean we used to pay $8 monthly for Netflix to get movies and $120 monthly for Directv for all the other stuff for 3 TVs, total $128 a month. We cut the cord, got rid of Directv entirely,...

Stream over Roku Use/select your own hardware size (instead of including one and tripling the price) Excellent speed when using DVR function Excellent interface Super cool guide funtionality

Softened picture quality Limited features

Mar, 2013

Read the full review

Consumer review (cnet.com)

Humming along on the new firmware

They've resolved the issues my wife and I had with the initial release. If you're still on the fence go to user forum (search on simple.tv satisfaction) to see if there's anything that would be impacting to you. The future looks bright for this little...

Meets the WAF (wife acceptance factor): - over-the-air DVR - stream to roku Does what I need: - upgrades are no hassle (compared to HTPC) - low start up cost and monthly (compared to TIVO)

Drive is formatted with JFS instead of NTFS. Makes it hard to upgrade drives unless you have a linux system. So start with a bigger drive than you think you'll need to buy time until they provide a process for migrating content between drives.

Mar, 2013

Read the full review