You can find used dual tuner hdhrs off eBay for $50-70. The newer ones have USB for local dvr recording, otherwise it records to a smb share just fine, but your paying $30 year for dvr use.

I used to have the cable card version of the hdhr and you couldn't record ppv/vod or premium channels like HBO and Showtime. Everything else recorded fine.

The files it records can easily be edited. Using any Kodi or VLC client (phone, tablet, media player) I can play the file, even while it's still recording. With Plex, I have to convert the file if I wanted to edit them and naturally have to wait for it to stop recording before I can view it. Also need Plex Pass for hdhr support, which varries from $100-130. Using Android channels app to dvr, it's free, but you can't transfer the files and they can't be viewed from any other device.