Which DVR - Tivo or ReplayTV?

lkd7 asks: "I have recently decided to buy a DVR, but I'm not sure whether to go with Tivo or ReplayTV. I know that it is a shaky market right now, but my VCR is just not cutting it anymore. I have tested out both Tivo and ReplayTV, and would be happy with either one (I do not have satellite service and so UltimateTV is not an option for me). The Tivo stocks and SonicBlue/ReplayTV stocks are not the most reassuring. I know that going with either one is taking a risk, but I would like to go with the less risky bet. I'd rather not invest in a $300 paperweight. Does anyone have a recommendation?"

Comments

ReplayTV attitude

[crow]

If you've been following the press, you'll see a distinct difference in attitude between TiVo and ReplayTV corporate marketing. TiVo seems to be working carefully to avoid upsetting the TV networks. When ReplayTV came out with a 30-second skip button for avoiding commercials and TV networks complained, TiVo said they would never include such a feature. Now the new generation of Replay boxes goes even further and will automatically skip commercials on playback. And taking it a step further, Replay 4000 units will even let you send shows to other boxes over the Internet (granted, they limit the number of copies you can make to keep from getting sued, and they probably also encrypt the MPEG files for the same reasons).

So while TiVo got a big boost from the open source world because they used Linux instead of a proprietary OS, I think ReplayTV is more in touch with the attitude of the community.

TiVo Isn't Going Away (And Is Hackable)

[rjsjr]

To address your concerns, I think its highly unlikely TiVo is going away anytime soon. Though they have a pretty high burn rate, they recently received $50 million in new funding and have major investments from a large number of networks, media companies, and partners. The entire stock market is in the sh*tter right now. Tivo needs to better define its role amid greater device integration (its likely all satellite and cable boxes will include PVR functionality over the next few years), but it has demonstrable benefits, the best user interface, and a lot of untapped revenue potential in more targeted advertising.

What's more, the service is emminently hackable so if they really did go down it wouldn't be hard to build a listings service that kept the unit functionality going in spite of a company closure. Several people have claimed to hack this already, though code is not readily available last I checked (for obvious reasons). Either way, I've got my daily calls going over my ethernet network, so it wouldn't be hard to sniff out the necessary bits or put some work into documenting the MFS partition formats and inserting it directly from a source like XMLTV.

So, for a fun project and damn useful toy, grab yourself a 20 hour Tivo cheap (see AVS TiVo Forums for pointers to cheap deals at Wal-Mart, Target, etc.), a big harddrive (most any 5400 rpm will do), and a hard drive bracket and ethernet adapter (here's a good tutorial). Then have fun with a device that's both well suited to the task (stable, nice tv based user interface, very sharp picture) and gives you a chance to sink your teeth into some fun hacks.

FWIW, I've been spending a lot of time hacking up my own media-box project of late and I really think that it isn't yet a viable option. Dual booting Debian/WinME with a AIW Radeon and SB Live Platinum 5.1 gives you the ability to do everything a TiVo can and more, but the interface, stability, and interoperability leave a lot to be desired. On the up side, its great to be able to play DivX, MP3, Emulators, etc. in the living room A/V system. Wonderful as a system oriented towards archived playback, music, and games, but don't buy one thinking its going to be nearly as useful in place of a TiVo.

... rjs