I’ve reviewed a lot of over-the-air DVR options over the past few years: from TiVo and Tablo to HDHomeRun and Fire TV Recast. I’ve even made some recommendations on which ones are the best.

But I personally have never relied on a single solution. Instead, my setup involves mixing and matching an HDHomeRun tuner with Plex DVR for recordings and the Channels app for live TV. This isn’t the simplest way to watch and record broadcast channels, but it does combine the best qualities of each solution, and once it’s all set up, it’s less complicated to use than it might sound.

Channels for live TV

SiliconDust’s HDHomeRun Extend TV tuner is at the heart of my setup. This $180 box connects to an antenna and plugs into my Wi-Fi router via an ethernet cable. Once connected, the HDHomeRun can stream live, over-the-air channels—up to two at a time—to other devices around the house. (The HDHomeRun Connect tuner is a cheaper option than the Extend. The dual-tuner model costs $100, while the quad-tuner version goes for $150, but the Connect lacks real-time transcoding, which means your clients will need either a strong Wi-Fi connection or a hardwired ethernet to stream the video.)

SiliconDust

For streaming on the TV and other devices, HDHomeRun offers its own apps for Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Xbox One, Windows, iOS, and Android. Once the tuner hardware is installed, these apps will recognize it automatically and provide a list of channels to watch.

But instead of using those official apps, I prefer the third-party Channels app, which can also pick up the streams from an HDHomeRun tuner and is available for Amazon Fire TV, Android (including Android TV), Apple TV, and iOS. Unlike HDHomeRun’s apps, Channels lets you pause and rewind live TV without a DVR subscription. It also includes a traditional grid guide instead of HDHomeRun’s love-it-or-hate-it “Slice” guide, and it has some handy sorting options so you can see what sports or movies are on.

SiliconDust, Fancy Bits

Most importantly for HDHomeRun Extend users, the Channels video player does a better job handling transcoded streams, especially on weaker devices, such as Amazon’s Fire TV streamers. On certain channels, I’ve found that HDHomeRun produces choppy video with interpolation artifacts unless I disable the tuner’s transcoding. That hasn’t been an issue with Channels.

The downside with Channels is that you must pay for the apps unless you subscribe to its DVR service (more on that shortly). At $25 apiece for the Apple TV, Android, and Fire TV versions, the costs can add up if you plan to watch on multiple platforms, but I think the benefits outweigh the costs.

Plex for DVR

If you want to record live over-the-air channels, HDHomeRun and Channels both provide subscription DVR service. The former costs $35 per year and is rough around the edges, while the latter is much more polished and costs $8 per month or $80 per year. Both services also require extra hardware: You’ll need an always-on desktop computer, NAS box, or Nvidia Shield TV streaming box to run the DVR engine, plus ample built-in storage or an external hard drive (I recommend at least a 500GB model) to save your recordings.

I’ve avoided using either service and instead opted for Plex DVR, which has the same hardware requirements but achieves a kind of middle ground in pricing and features. In my case, I’m using a Shield TV for recordings, storing them on a hard drive connected to my router’s USB port.

Compared to HDHomeRun’s DVR service, Plex offers more granular recording options, including the ability to keep only a certain number of episodes and to avoid recording standard-definition broadcasts. It also supports out-of-home streaming and can automatically wipe commercial breaks from its recordings. And compared to Channels DVR, which offers a similar suite of features, Plex DVR is much less expensive at $5 per month, $40 per year, or $120 per life for the requisite “Plex Pass” service. (I also like that Plex can serve up other media sources, such as my personal music collection.)

Jared Newman / TechHive

Granted, if you’re paying for Plex DVR, you can also use the app to watch live TV, and Plex is compatible with many more streaming devices than either Channels or HDHomeRun. (Most notably, Plex works with Roku, Chromecast, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Samsung TVs, and LG TVs.)

But if you’re just using Apple TV, Fire TV, or Android TV—as I am currently—you’re better off switching over to the Channels app for live TV. Broadcasts load much faster with Channels because they’re coming directly from the HDHomeRun tuner instead of passing through Plex’s media server, and you don’t need to navigate through Plex’s other content menus just to see what’s on TV.

It might seem awkward to use separate apps for live and recorded TV, but in practice these are two separate modes of viewing anyway. If I’m sitting down to watch a show that I’ve recorded through Plex, I typically don’t care what’s on live TV. And if I’m trying to watch a particular live program, such as the Super Bowl, it doesn’t help to have my recordings available through the same app.

The over-the-air DVR reviews I’ve written don’t really account for this kind of multi-app setup, but if you’re taking the DIY approach with an HDHomeRun tuner, combining Plex DVR with Channels’ live TV apps strikes a great balance between cost and features.

Revenue from Microsoft’s Surface lineup topped nearly $2 billion for Microsoft’s fourth calendar quarter—and Microsoft believes so strongly in its success that it’s predicting another 20-percent growth on top of that for the current quarter.

In fact, Surface sales are upending Windows’ traditional role at Microsoft—even though it’s likely Intel’s fault. For even as Surface rises, PC sales are suffering because of a lack of chips, Microsoft said Wednesday.

In all, sales of Microsoft Surface devices grew about 39 percent, “ahead of expectations,” to $1.86 billion, Microsoft chief financial officer Amy Hood said during an analyst call covering Microsoft’s second fiscal quarter of 2019. Overall, Microsoft made $8.4 billion on revenue of $32.5 billion, up 12 percent overall.

There’s another trend: The revenue mix within Microsoft’s More Personal Computing business is expected to shift more toward Surface and Xbox gaming, and away from Windows.

Mark Hachman / IDG

That’s interesting, if only because Microsoft’s three business units generally break down like this: Productivity and Business Processes (up 13 percent to $10.1 billion) is where Microsoft Office lives. Intelligent Cloud (up 20 percent to $9.4 billion) is where Azure and its cloud services reside. More Personal Computing (up 7 percent, to $13.0 billion) is the traditional home of Windows. 

But for this quarter at least, Windows will take a back seat to Surface. Windows OEM revenue dipped, by 2 percent in sales of Windows 10 Pro, and by 11 percent in what Microsoft calls “non-Pro” revenue. Surface soared to $1.86 billion in revenue, and gaming was even higher: $4.232 billion.

Microsoft: chip shortages are hobbling Windows

Although it’s exciting to think that Microsoft’s Windows division could evolve into the Surface division over the long term, it’s not as simple as all that.

Remember what we learned in October, when Microsoft cracked the top five PC vendors:  Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner, wrote that she didn’t see any change in demand as a result of the ongoing processor shortages at Intel. But there still hasn’t been a corresponding increase in supply—especially at the low end, where Intel interim chief executive Bob Swan acknowledged the shortages but said Intel would focus its efforts on more expensive chips. The idea was that the shortages would be made up by AMD—but AMD CEO Lisa Su didn’t seem particularly interested in low-end products, either, now that AMD has the rich taste of profits in its mouth.

Intel

Microsoft

The SimCam offers something we’ve never seen before: a clutch of onboard artificial intelligence features that are more typically hosted in the cloud and require a subscription to access. Unfortunately, this AI’s performance often comes up short, making this otherwise solid security camera feel like a work in progress.

Indeed, SimCam is currently raising funds on Kickstarter, offering early backers the $199.99 camera for just $99.99 (other package deals are also available). This is a finished product, however; backers are promised delivery in March.

The camera’s sexiest component is an Intel Movidius Myriad 2 VPU (vision processing unit). This chip runs software that enables the camera to differentiate between humans, pets, and objects, and it can recognize movements, too. The promise here is that you can set up the camera to monitor for specific activities, such as your child waving at you, or to recognize that a door has been left ajar. The camera also supports user-defined activity zones to further reduce spurious alerts.

SimCam

We’ve seen those types of features before, of course, but the software needed to enable them more typically runs in the cloud, and you often need to pay for a subscription to make use of it. The SimCam saves all event-triggered recordings locally on a microSD card, which must be purchased separately (the camera supports cards with up to 128GB of capacity). Alternatively, you can record video to a NAS box on your local network.

The SimCam offers 1080p resolution and a 100-degree field of view, with up to 50 feet of “starlight” night vision, courtesy of a Sony IMX 5-megapixel image sensor. The camera also features a built-in mic and speaker for two-way communication, and it’s rated IP65 for protection from the elements (the first digit indicates that it’s completely protected from dust, and the second indicates that it’s protected from low-pressure water jets). The SimCam can be used indoors or out and has an operating temperature of -4 degrees Fahrenheit to 122 degrees F.

Setup

The camera comes with a base for indoor use and a wall mount for either indoor or outdoor use. The company also offers an optional gimbal that enables it to pan 360 degrees. The included power cable extension will come in handy for outdoor installations if there’s no conveniently located exterior electrical outlet.

Once the camera is plugged in, you’ll need to download the SimCam companion app (available for Android and iOS) and create an account. The app requires you to register with your mobile phone number, rather than a user name or email address, and the company will then send an SMS with an authorization code to that number. You’ll provide that code to the app to complete the account setup. From there, the app prompts you through the steps of adding a camera and connecting to your Wi-Fi network.

App and Image quality

Michael Ansaldo/IDG

Once you refresh the camera list (the app supports multiple SimCams), you’ll see your newly added camera. Tapping it launches the camera’s home screen with the live-feed pane at the top. A toolbar below this has controls for viewing alerts, activating the camera’s privacy feature, turning person detection on and off, and accessing the camera settings.

At the bottom is another set of controls for viewing a list of all your connected cameras, their events and recordings, and for accessing your account settings.

The SimCam’s image is sharp and clear with no discernible fish-eye distortion despite its wide-angle lens. Color and contrast were strong with the default settings, but you can adjust these and other features in the app. The SimCam responds vocally with a reassuring “settings success” after each tweak.

When you’re viewing the live stream, the app provides several more controls in an overlay. These include a push-to-talk button for activating the camera’s mic, buttons for manually recording video or taking a snapshot, a speaker mute, and buttons for object detection and activity zones. If you have the gimbal, touching the screen also activates left and right pan controls.

AI detection and alerts

The SimCam was pretty accurate recognizing human activity right from the get-go. Pet detection was more hit and miss. While it would occasionally recognize my dog, it often misidentified my cats as dogs, and in one instance thought one of my kids was a canine. Here, as with the since-discontinued Lighthouse we reviewed a while back, pet detection proves to be trickier than person detection, though presumably it will become more accurate with continued use.

Michael Ansaldo/IDG

Once you’ve added these “trusted faces,” you can tell the camera to notify you when it sees them. The video demo on the SimCam Kickstarter page depicts this as being instantaneous, but in reality I had to use the camera for some time before it recognized my mug and welcomed me home. Even then, it struggled to recognize known persons every time they appeared on camera.

Object detection was the most reliable of the AI features in my testing. To monitor an object, you draw a bounding box around it in the live feed. When your selection is complete, the object will appear with a red box around it in the live feed. Then the SimCam alerts you when the object moves. You can use this feature to keep tabs on valuables in your home, but I found it most useful for monitoring the gate into my yard. SimCam promptly pushed me an alert and recorded a video clip anytime the gate was opened.

SimCam also supports action detection, though this was the toughest to use and evaluate. It requires you to download skills it calls “Magics” in the app, and then apply them to classifications such as pets, elders, and children. Ostensibly, these allow the camera to recognize when a person or pet smiles, waves, or does something else endearing. But the implementation, which requires you to download and then activate each of three skills—Dog, Smile, and Gesture— feels clunky and non-intuitive.

I enabled all three magics, but the accuracy was spotty. It recognized when I waved and a robot voice would declare “It’s magic!” But it did the same when I merely moved the camera from one spot to another. I never did get it to acknowledge a smile, even though I tried until my cheeks were sore.

Event recording

With so much detection happening, the SimCam is bound to be capturing a lot of video. Fortunately, the app keeps a tidy history of clips. The library displays each date- and time-stamped clip in reverse chronological order. You can also filter them by camera, detection type, or date.

Michael Ansaldo/IDG

It’s worth noting that the SimCam includes seven seconds of pre-buffer footage in each video clip, as well as eight seconds of activity after the triggering event. This allows you to see what happens immediately before and after the activity that triggered the recording, which could provide more informative forensic evidence in the event of of crime.

Bottom line

The SimCam’s hardware delivered top-notch performance, but it’s AI was a mixed bag. Person detection significantly reduced the number of spurious alerts triggered by trees, animals, and other moving things. Object detection also worked consistently well. But Pet detection, facial recognition, and activity detection were all temperamental.

It’s still early days for SimCam, though, and firmware and software updates will likely work out some of the kinks. But you’ll need to decide if you want to pay today for features that might not be delivered until later. Some other manufacturers—including Hanwha Techwin and Oooma—are delivering pretty smart security cameras today and for less money. SimCam’s VPU has the potential to outsmart them, but it’s not there yet.