Channels — the excellent third-party app that support HDHomeRun boxes — today announced that it has the ability to automatically skip commercials on Apple TV and iOS devices, on shows that have been recorded.
The company said in a blog post that it's been indexing commercials for some time now and allowing for manual skipping. But now you can choose to automatically skip commercials in your favorite over-the-air shows. You'll have to turn it on in the app settings, but it's there, and it's spectacular.
HDHomeRun boxes attach to an over-the-air antenna and plug in to your home network, allowing you to watch multiple OTA streams across pretty much any device. While it has its own application on Android and desktop computers, you'll need the Channels app to use it on Apple devices. The basic Channels app is free on iOS, but Channels Plus — which adds a ton of awesome DVR capability — is $8 a month, or $80 a year. (If you just want the standalone Channels app on Apple TV, it's a single $25 purchase
More: Which HDHomeRun box should you buy?
Here's the gist of what's new:
As of today, you can now turn on Automatic Commercial Skipping. It's defaulted to off. Simply turn it on in Settings and let Channels jump through the indexed commercials for you.
For those that want to skip through commercials with more control, we've added an on screen skip button. Gone are the days of double click funkiness. Now, when you enter a commercial break, you can simply click the button to skip right through the commercial break.
Channels says it's working on "enhanced commercial indexing" and can expect something "next-level" later this year. No telling what that might be, though.
The timing is perfect, however, with two new HDHomeRun boxes slated to ship in early July.
HDHomeRun Scribe is a combination OTA-tuner-and-DVR, with 1 terabyte of storage for more than 150 hours worth of recording. It comes in Dual (two tuners) or Quatro (four tuners) form and runs either $199 or $249.
HDHomeRun Servio is a standalone hard drive that works with existing HDHomeRun boxes. So if you already have, say, an HDHomeRun Quatro, all you need is to plug a Servio into your network. It's got a 2-terabyte hard drive for even more recording.
Both HDHomeRun Scribe and Servio include a free year's worth of DVR service, which will save you $35 up front.
The full smash
Four tuners, no waiting.
This is the whole enchilada. Four tuners. A 1-terabyte hard drive. Zero regrets. Well, except for the price, perhaps — it's hefty. But this gets you a great OTA streaming box and DVR in a single package — something we've wanted from HDHomeRun for the longest time.
The standalone DVR
Record at will.
This is HDHomeRun's standalone DVR box, with 2 terabytes of storage. If you've already got an HDHomeRun box and don't need additional tuners, this is what you'll want, as it'll work with those existing devices. Or if you've got one of the new Scribe boxes, you can add a Servio to increase your storage.
