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For me, the bottom line is that I am getting the same download speed, 5x faster upload speed, and I got to dump Comcast, all for $15 LESS per month. Now I get to dump Verizon for local phone service, now that I have VoIP up and distributed through the house wiring. (Yes, I disconnected from the POTS line.)

At /. I probably don't even need to say this, but when I signed up, Verizon was saying you HAD to use their router with FIOS. I call bullshit. I never even powered up the crappy Dlink they gave me. All you have to do is set up PPoE on your current router. Theirs supposedly does some remote diagnostics, so you might need to switch back if you ever have issues, but given their initial stance on the router, I wouldn't give that statement too much weight either, although it did come from the tech who told me to set up PPoE on my current router.

If you want to see pictures of the ONT, I posted them here, mostly because people had questions about FIOS TV, so I got a closeup of the coax connector in the second one:

http://www.poopli.com/forum/attachment.php?s=&post id=23558
http://www.poopli.com/forum/attachment.php?s=&post id=23559

For me, the bottom line is that I am getting the same download speed, 5x faster upload speed, and I got to dump Comcast, all for $15 LESS per month. Now I get to dump Verizon for local phone service, now that I have VoIP up and distributed through the house wiring. (Yes, I disconnected from the POTS line.)

At /. I probably don't even need to say this, but when I signed up, Verizon was saying you HAD to use their router with FIOS. I call bullshit. I never even powered up the crappy Dlink they gave me. All you have to do is set up PPoE on your current router. Theirs supposedly does some remote diagnostics, so you might need to switch back if you ever have issues, but given their initial stance on the router, I wouldn't give that statement too much weight either, although it did come from the tech who told me to set up PPoE on my current router.

If you want to see pictures of the ONT, I posted them here, mostly because people had questions about FIOS TV, so I got a closeup of the coax connector in the second one:

http://www.poopli.com/forum/attachment.php?s=&post id=23558
http://www.poopli.com/forum/attachment.php?s=&post id=23559

You can no longer buy ReplayTV devices new, they only exist on the second hand market.

And yes, you can induce a 5500 machine to get 5000 level features, but you need a proxy server to "protect" it from the ReplayTV servers upgrading the software.

That said, ReplayTV + poopli rules. I never miss an episode of a show due to power failure or conflicts with other shows.

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.

ReplayTV with the p2p Poopli has, for years, let you browse, request, and download TV shows from other ReplayTV owners on the internet. It rules. WHy is Tivo always several years behind?

Anyone with a ReplayTV should also check out http://poopli.com/
(please read the FAQ first)

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).

I would have to agree with parent here. I have been using Poopli for a while now and it's been wonderful. I have gotten shows that I forgot to auto record and they have been sent to me ASAP. I would go for the 5040 since it's cheaper, and just throw in hard-drive and have enough space for hours. Best investment so far. Plus it's easy enough for my parents to use. Also DVArchive is a beautiful tool. You don't even have to convert it. Just copy the show over and put on DVD.

You just need a ReplayTV and the ability to type poopli.

Whatever about the "distributed Tivo" analogies, ReplayTV of course already has massive distributed show sharing, the most notable example being the 15,000-strong Poopli library.

If you have a ReplayTV PVR you can find people who will trade shows with you automatically via Poopli.