(Sorry my Twisted mind is showing again)

Looking for input on TIvo Vs ReplyTV

I do not have a Phone line at home nor to I plan on getting on so I would need the Broadband connect the Replay TV has it built in the Tivo 5500 or newer can add one.

Suggestions ?? I manly want to record the shows I am at work for and watch them in the 12 nano-seconds of free time I have each month.

I have basic Cable at home the only things I ever watch are ER, Law and Order and enterprises (Yes I know its sucks but I am a Single male over the age of 30 so I watch it for other reasons, (Atleast I admit it))

This Tivo vs ReplayTV is talked to death. I am sure you know that they are about the same. I will only offer that I have a ReplayTV and can send any of those shows should you miss recording one.

ER has been particularly tricky to record lately. NBC in the infinite wisdom starts it at 8:59. this means the record conflicts with 2 hours of programming.

There are so many threads on this already, but here I go:

Tivo. Because I have it and I like it

If you have so little time and just want something to watch shows with no trouble and enjoy doing it, get Tivo.

And adding ethernet support on a Series 2 box is so easy it's ridiculous. You buy nearly any USB-to-Ethernet adapter, plug it in, change the dial-out prefix in-menu, and you're set. Much better than opening your box and adding an ethernet card like I and so many others had to.

Anyway, yeah, Tivo.

Yup, there are plenty of threads to dig up. I'm a Replay cult member myself. DVArchive and Comercial Advance are two features I'd sorely miss with a tivo. Of course, you've got to buy an old Replay to get CA, but it's well worth it. (and if any of those tivo people try and bring up the "30 seccond skip" hack, then they've obviously never experienced comerical advance)

Matthew

CA does sound sweet. The difference is that CA skips over commercials without any user input, right?

Kind of looking for a bit more information

Ie BUy a tivo model number XXXX with XXgig drive, and here is why ......

Ie Buy replytv model number xxxx with xx gig drive cause tivo sucks and here is why .....

I would be buying a Used one off of ebay or maybe here would most likely want one with a pre-paid contract, I don't believe in credit cards and I try to stay off the grid as for as giving out my personal information.

Unless I'm wrong, all TiVos are basically identical, unless you want to buy old. And then there's the DirecTiVo vs. SA TiVo, but you say you have cable, so not DirecTV for you.

The difference is that CA skips over commercials without any user input, right?

Yup, exactly. Nine out of ten shows require no user input to watch comercial free. You start the show, every few minutes it blips and flashes a symbol on the bottom of the screen, and then after about twenty minutes you get iritated that it's missing a comerical break, pick up the remote and hit quick skip only to realize that it's the last comerical break after the show has ended. Everyone once in a while it does miss a comercial break, and every month or two of regular tv watching it has a false positive where you have to go back and turn CA off for a segment.

Matthew

ReplayTV 50x0, where x is a 4, 6 or 8. 5060's are reccomended because I beleive all of them are actually 5080's if you're willing to open it up and "patch" the drive. I've got a 5040, and never run out of space, but I watch TV most nights so I don't get behind too often. You'll want one with a lifetime subscription. Last time I checked pricing was still going up on the 5000's, so it's a decent "investment".

Matthew

NBC in the infinite wisdom starts it at 8:59.

Yes. See link

tanstaafl.

Kind of looking for a bit more information

I have a 4500 series ReplayTV and I will be "upgrading" to a DirectTivo in the next month. I like the replay and haven't had any major issues with it. If you are deciding between a standard Tivo and a Replay you might as well flip a coin. In my opinion the Tivo has a better interface and a little better software, the Replay has some nice extra features (commercial advance) and some gimmicks that most people never use (show sharing). The DirectTivo on the other hand is very slick (record two things at once, record the digital stream without recompression) and outshines anything replay currently has.

-Mike

The DirectTivo on the other hand is very slick (record two things at once, record the digital stream without recompression) and outshines anything replay currently has.

I think he said he has cable, so a DirecTivo is out. I agree with your other points, though

belezeebub, the only other thing I can tell you is to go to a Best Buy. The last time I checked they had both devices on display. Don't think about model numbers or disk space and check them out. First compare UIs and see which one fits you. After that, look at the features. Everything else is the same.

Lastly:

Unless I'm wrong, all TiVos are basically identical

Except that you can get 40 or 80 hour capacities.

Kind of looking for a bit more information

Ie BUy a tivo model number XXXX with XXgig drive, and here is why ......

Ie Buy replytv model number xxxx with xx gig drive cause tivo sucks and here is why .....

Not sure what the Replay folks list as, but I don't think these devices are usually listed in figures of GB. It's usually how many hours of maximum recording time. 80 hours is the largest commercially available Tivo, but you can upgrade to insane amounts yourself (at least with Series 1 units)

I think he said he has cable, so a DirecTivo is out.

Its called upsell, I am trying to figure out how to get a DirectTV commission

I upgraded my 40 hour Series 2 to 138 hours in less than an hour. Added an 80Gb drive. I could have added a 120, but I didn't have one lying around. Anything over 120 is pretty much a waste as the kernel has the 137Gb limit.

http://www.pvrcompare.com

On the Series 2 TiVos, is it recommended to use lower RPM drives, or did that ever really matter in the first place? I am getting a dead WD 100Gb (only 2MB buffer) RMA'ed, but I don't have an open slot for another drive. So I'm thinking I could use another DirecTiVo, and pop that drive in...

Slower RPM drives are usually cooler and quieter. IIRC, the faster RPM isn't going to gain you a thing.

Yeah that's what I recall, lower temps, but then I thought people were using 7200 rpm drives and not having any cooling issues. Are there many 5400 rpm drives available anymore? I know this replacement I'm getting is 7200 rpm...

All DirecTivos have cooling issues. Especially if you add two drives. On top of that, their stock fans are not the quietest. Then again neither is the crappy Quantum drive in mine. I would not put two drives in my Philips DSR6000 unless I re-did the ventilation in the case and included a couple of new fans in the top of the case. But that just adds more noise. I'm not into noise in the living room. DirecTivo's interface is pretty slow, but one of the best on any similar product. Especially slow is the Guide. Painfully slow in fact. I've got a Cachecard here to install which I'm dreading right now. I know it's going to have problems. Oh boy. I was holping not to have to read up on all the hack details, but I think I have no choice (bought mine pre-hacked but it looks like I'll have to manually apply everything again to get the cachecard working well). The hackability of Tivo is well ahead of Replay. Likely because there is just a larger community with a longer history. I'm sure commercial skipping is "neat" but even if it fails once every 20 times, that's too many for me. A 30 second skip isn't a hassle at all to use and should work well to quickly by-pass any commercial break. This would need some good reverse engineering on the Tivo to be implemented by someone in the community. Snapstream's BeyondTV3 marks commercial breaks and allows skipping between them if anyone is curious to investigate this on their PC. Bruno

but I don't have an open slot for another drive.

What do you mean you don't have a slot for another drive? You mean you have 2 drives already? Or that your Tivo only has one mounting bracket?

If the latter, check out 9thtee.com. Secifically, the brackets about a third down the page. They work like a champ and are easy to install.

Yes, mine is upgraded with an 80 Gig drive for 108 hours available.

OK, cool.