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I bought a ReplayTV 4500 on eBay for around $200. There's no way I could have built a rig myself that inexpensively which does everything the ReplayTV does. Sure, they're not making the hardware any longer, but it did come with lifetime activation, worth $299. The company is still in business, but no longer selling hardware; they have ReplayPC now which I think is around $50 plus $20 per year, not a bad solution either if you're building (but if you're building you might as well go with Myth).

I absolutely love the auto-commercial skip feature! (Myth has this also.) Just don't get the 5500 model, as it was removed from that release in an attempt to stave off the lawsuits; they "lost", folded and were bought by the company now providing ReplayPC. (Lost in quotes because they ran out of money defending themselves, so the trial didn't need to finish...)

With the ReplayTV, you can use DVArchive to transfer shows to your PC; they're in MPEG-2 format, ready to burn to DVD. You can set it up to auto-download as well.

If you're worried about them gathering data on how you watch (for instance freeze-framing the money shots, etc.) then just watch on your PC with VLC. But then you don't get the commercial skip functionality. However, it does download the index file, so I suppose someone could add that to VLC. Other than the "viewing habits" data it sends back it doesn't seem to have any "limiting" features, like broadcast flag support etc.

I've also heard good things about Vista's Media Center, but haven't used it myself.

I've been doing this with my ReplayTV for years now. I made the decision to go replay instead of Tivo back then

My thinking exactly. Tivo people are so ridiculously grateful for any minor improvement in their locked-down systems that something so basic as sending a show you recorded around your own house unencumbered by anti-viewer DRM strikes them as "progress". My 2001-era ReplayTV has been doing that for years. It's like watching children get excited over finding a shiny shell on a beach full of them.

It was quite simple. Years ago I looked at the two systems. One, the Tivo, did have nice chirpy sounds with the UI, but I noted the lack of built-in ethernet, show sharing, and a heavy reliance on DRM. The other, ReplayTV, was about as open a consumer device as you could buy back then. It was a simple choice. Chirpy UI sounds versus free ownership of the way I wanted to watch TV. I bought Replay. With DVArchive, WiRNS, and VLC I have always been able to watch and control them using the web, and watch, send, and transcode shows over LAN or WAN.

My decision was vindicated a few years ago when I attended a trade show where one of the Tivo guys was speaking to an audience of content owners and advertisers. Basically, he told them that Tivo was there for them and saw "huge value" in helping them to manage their content push to the audience. Tivo has always been about serving the media companies first, and serving them up a loyal audience.

I love my replayTV, not only does it have the commercial skip but when paired with DVarchive it is just amazing. For those that don't know, DVarchive is software that allows your computer to act like a replaytv on the network, allowing you to download shows from your replaytv to your computer as well as stream them from your computer to your replay, and best of all... it's so easy your parents can use it!

It grabs its programming information via ethernet if you have a broadband connection, you can schedule things via the MyReplayTV web site, you can do all sorts of things via your PC using DVArchive and friends, and it still offers a lifetime subscription option. :-)

The interface may or may not be better than TiVO -- I've used both, and I prefer ReplayTV, but each has a few capabiities that the other lacks.

ReplayTV's DVArchive is Java-based and platform agnostic.

the hard drive upgradeability is what brought me to TiVo

For me, the built-in autoconfig ethernet of ReplayTV is what attracted me. I could, it is true, upgrade the hard drive inside the box. But it's probably easier just to hang another RAID-1 500GB box on the network, couple it to a DVArchive JVM, and let the ReplayTVs use that. Oh, that and the automatic commercial skip and internet show sharing.

I really want to put the biggest IDE hard drive than I can find into my TIVO

While I do know someone who just finished putting 2 400GB Seagates into their Replay box, I take a looser approach. DVArchive is a Java client that uses uPNP to impersonate a Replay over the network. So any attached disk storage with a CPU that can run Java appears as a virtual ReplayTV and can be used to store and stream shows. I have a 1TB media server that does double duty for audio and ReplayTV, and a HTPC with 500GB that serves up basically nothing but RTV content and its own video captures. Because RTVs are so network friendly, and can be controlled easily from any web browser, I find I tend to treat them more as loosely coupled capture cards that happen to be in a fancy box more than anything else. The drives within the ReplayTVs themselves? Kind of like a local temporary storage cache. MediaMVPs or modded XBoxes make good front-ends if you want to avoid the HTPC route. With VideoLAN you can stream right from the Replays, through DVArchive, and over the net. Of course, you're going to need a really fat pipe, so I usually convert into XVid and serve up using Media Center - it can do some intelligent bandwidth throttling based on the client's pipe.

Tivo does have the option for Tivo2Go

ReplayTV's show sharing is DRM-free. Using a client such as DVArchive, you can stream and move shows to any Java-equipped device. And watching them on Archos/Echostar PVPs is trivial. Has anyone cracked the Tivo2Go DRm yet? That would really put me off buying one.

they are all out of stock

Hmm. You're right, the 80 hour model is out. Some of the other models seem okay. Then again, maybe DNNA has stopped manufacturing them in advance of their HD/Escient launch.

the way I can use wifi with Tivo and how it handles programming over the web

Replay has built-in ethernet which is trivial to plug in to a wifi bridge, what are the extras that Tivo offers here? I was swayed from buying Tivo because I heard its shared shows come with DRM that's just annoying.

Also, you may or may not have seen DVArchive - it makes the Replay visible as a uPNP device and you can control it from any Java-equipped device. I use it in combination with VideoLAN to transcode and stream some shows to some friends in Europe.

Also, DVArchive on PC/Mac/Linux runs a central web server that lets you control any and all networked Replays and DVArchive boxes. One new thing I really like is that you can also see, stream, and copy with the Replays from a modded XBox running XBox Media Center.

Bzzzzt. Wrong. ReplayTV (Still being sold) has had monthly plans the same as Tivo for a long time. Heck, they are even giving discount's on the monthly plan for multiple units in a household.

I have seen ReplayTVs for as little as $50, and the monthly fee is $15 for the first unit. At this price you would think that people would snap them up. The reason they don't? The MPAA scared Denon into removing the commercial advance and internet show sharing features. That's right. The current 5500 series has LESS features than the previous 5000 series. Those two features (and the ability to run a DVArchive server) were the key features that made replay better than the competition.

Why not come up with some software that will let me yank files from my Tivo, dump them into Final Cut / iMovie, and burn my own DVDs after I've edited out the commercials?

They already have, it's called ReplayTV and DVArchive.

Oh, I'm sorry, You said *Tivo*. You have my commiserations.

Is the service still available for people who, for instance, buy old boxes on ebay?

Well, you can buy new boxes if you like. But yes, people do buy the older boxes (RTV5040 models) because they feature the auto commercial skip and show sharing without any hacking required...

No ReplayTV info is complete without mentioning DVArchive, Poopli (like Napster for RTVs), and PlanetReplay.

This is why I use a ReplayTV http://www.replaytv.com/ and DVArchive http://www.dvarchive.org/ (running on a PC). This combo lets me get the shows off the ReplayTV and burn them how ever I want, using my PC.

ReplayTV already has that too - the ability to log into a web interface to make recording changes in realtime (not MyReplayTV) - via DVArchive. It is most excellent.

here are my options

The simplest and most platform-agnostic solution is to buy ReplayTV with autoconfig'd built-in ethernet. The Java-based DVArchive UI lets you control/stream/move shows between any LAN/WAN connected ReplayTVs or Java-enabled platform. It's uPNP-based so you can rig up some nice scripting. Think of each RTV as a loosely coupled scriptable capture device with significant on-device storage.

You use something like the ReVue UI to convert the RTV MPEGs to vanilla MPEGs, and burn to DVD or convert to MPEG-4 and burn/store/stream as required. Because ReplayTV recordings are unemcumbered by DRM and have a 4-year headstart on Tivo in sharing shows, you can go to online sites like Poopli and browse/download tens of thousands of shows stored on the networks of other ReplayTV owners. If you buy the right RTV model you also get automatic commercial advance - which when it works is like magic!

ReplayTV supports transfers over the network via DVarchive. The old 5000 ReplayTV series can share over the network nativly.

Although I've never actually used TiVo I think the basic premise is the same, record the shows you want automatically and watch them whenever you have time.

It would be except that Tivo is burdened with nasty DRM that prevents Internet-wide show sharing, transfer to non-authorized machines, and so on. Tivo has even recently agreed to implement content-owner usage flags for recorded content - meaning that the content people will be able to delete shows based on their age or number of times viewed.

ReplayTV has done a much better version of "Tivo for the Internet" for years now, it's called Poopli. Single client-client, but lets ReplayTV owners transfers shows and clips across the Internet. No DRM, no problems. You can also transfer shows to any Java-enabled machine running DVArchive for viewing, storage, or burning.

ReplayTV already has a "Tivo for the Internet", it's called Poopli. Single client-client, but lets ReplayTV owners transfers shows and clips across the Internet. No DRM, no problems. You can also transfer shows to any Java-enabled machine running DVArchive for viewing, storage, or burning.

http://www.dvarchive.org/ and I still occasionally run out of space.

Not only did it have great features like commerical skip (until the we practically sued to death and tivo grabbed share). But with lots of extensibility like the great oss dvarchive where you create watch, archive and control your networked replaytv boxes, I always think it is a shame that tivo with the cuter name and better marketing campaign which caught so much of the market share.

I strongly suggest people think about checking out the competition, all the hacker types I know prefer it. But now that tivo has the market, they really don't care what consumers want as long as they sell more units. Tivo has become synonymous with pvr; and utimately we the consumers are really loosing out.

The whole state of affairs is disappointing.

I fully understand that for other people, other solutions are more appropriate, but I really prefer a dedicated ReplayTV unit right now, especially for the consistency and reliability, not to mention the cool remote, though I may roll my own when I eventually move to HD (there are no Replay HD or Replay+DVD offerings announced, and Tivo's HD is too encumbered out of the box for my needs).

Not to beat a not-dead-yet horse, but ReplayTV recently dumped a lot of their 5040 units for $50 each, or $30 with a special coupon code (the latter seems to have been a mistake that they cancelled quickly). These are previous-generation models that can transfer shows to other Replay units of the same 50xx model line, something Tivo has not been able to do natively, before, and which is unfortunately dropped in the 55xx line. The 50xx line also has the controversial commercial advance feature, which was dropped on the 55xx line for legal reasons(it sometimes works, sometimes doesn't, but is nice when it works). With lifetime activation at $299 (or monthly fees that now vary depending on number of units), that means RTV is still a platform worth comparing against. Especially when you consider third-party tools like DVArchive (java-based!) that exploit the XML interface of the units to copy programs off for safekeeping and later streaming, without any hacking of the box or transcoding of the native .mpgs or weird versions of mplayer, unlike Tivos, again.

Oh, one more thing: people outside the US have managed to set up their legitimately-subscribed ReplayTVs with another tool called WIRNS (which you can find in AVSForum, to scrape local show listings. I mention this because, even if ReplayTV as a company dies, owners will still have alternatives to keep their schedules from going dark. And a lot of owners are also joining Poopli, a website with the objective of making transfers between Replays easier.

(No, I don't work for anybody making or selling these, nor do I own any of these websites. I'm just an owner of a 50xx that I've bumped up to 200GB with a simple patch-and-swap, very much like a Tivo owner would do. Before I bought my box, I had almost given up on tv entirely. Now, I'm looking forward to my next hard drive upgrade. And I really regret not buying another unit on sale).

Is this fair, or erosion of more fair-use rights?

Tivo has a much lower initial investment, looks better, easier to use, and takes a whole 10 minutes to setup.

That is a good point about the electricity usage, but Tivo's networking and DRM-crippled "HMO" content distribution leaves something to be desired. Go with ReplayTV/DVArchive and you'll be much happier when you get smoother cross-platform networking and uncrippled content sharing right out of the box.

Myth does so much more than Tivo

All the reasons you list (dvd, dvd ripping, music, web browser, rss, weather, pictures) are part of a ReplayTV + DVArchive configuration. Tivo has really lowered people's expectations of what a commercial PVR can actually *do*.

It's better than TiVo for a number of reasons

All the reasons you list (web interface, networked playback and recording, configuration, VHS input, download playback) are part of a ReplayTV + DVArchive configuration. Tivo has really lowered people's expectations of what a commercial PVR can actually *do*.

Or... you could just buy an ethernet-ready, autoconfiguring ReplayTV for around $400 (lifetime) or less from eBay, boot up the free software Java-based DVArchive (works on Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/Xp, Linux, Mac OSX 10.2.3 or later, Solaris, etc), and schedule, share, and distribute your content over your LAN or across the Internet at will. In this context, the ReplayTV box works like as a really very loosely coupled capture device with its own extensive on-board command set that can be driven remotely by the DVArchive program, either at a console or using a web browser. And unlike the Tivo's inferior HMO option, the DVArchive system costs nothing and is unemcumbered by DRM. Some select ReplayTV models even feature automatic commercial skipping (using associated XML content metatags) and let you download content from a library of several tens of thousands of shows stored on a wide distributed ReplayTV network. More info here or here.

A ReplayTV comes out of the box with network streaming capability. You can stream any recorded show to a laptop using free software from http://www.dvarchive.org/.

http://www.replaytv.com/.

The only down side is you'll lose the 5.1 channel audio, which IMHO is the best part about DVD's.

ReplayTV together with DVArchive is a solution that works very nicely.

flexibility for managing their content, and having a 'library' capability that doesn't fall short at the size of the TiVO box.

I'll second the DVArchive comment! My HTPC has its own capture cards, but also runs DVArchive with ReplayTVs connected on the network. Java-based, no silly DRM, enables remote control of the ReplayTVs. Effectively converts them into loosely coupled capture devices with their own on-board *huge* buffers and streaming.

In fact, the DVArchive author has remarked on the similarities.

Tivo is just as interoperable as it ever was.

Doesn't Tivo HMO come with DRM?

My HTPC has its own capture cards, but also runs DVArchive with ReplayTVs connected on the network. Java-based, no silly DRM, enables remote control of the ReplayTVs. Effectively converts them into loosely coupled capture devices with their own on-board *huge* buffers and streaming.

Why can't I buy TiVo software to run on my own hardware? My HTPC?

My HTPC has its own capture cards, but also runs DVArchive with ReplayTVs connected on the network. Java-based, no silly DRM, enables remote control of the ReplayTVs. Effectively converts them into loosely coupled capture devices with their own on-board *huge* buffers and streaming.

Home Media Option, or as I like to call it, an over priced package of all the cool hacks we stole from the community

Try DVArchive with ReplayTV - you'll like it. All the networking goodies, Java-based, no silly DRM.

Mix in the progressive scan output and the cheaper price, and case construction that looks "less cheap" than Tivo, and I say you've got a nice product. I've never used a Tivo, and from what I understand, the UI is better than replay, but I'm very happy with this product right out the box (no extra Home Media Option to network). I should point out that I don't have a land line and home networking was a must to get the guide/updates.