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?"

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[dimer0]

The lesson here is this: You get the smallest TiVo you can find (14 hour, 20 hour - Walmart supposedly had the 14 hours on sale for $109 or something), and then read this.

I had a 20 hour TiVo, and after a trip to pricewatch to grab a 5400rpm drive, and 9thtee.com to get the mounting bracket for the new drive, my cheapy TiVo unit now holds 130 hours.

Re:ReplayTV advantages

[McSpew]

TiVo and ReplayTV each have their advantages, but TiVo has some important advantages in ease-of-use. Some people like to think of ease of use as "moron" features, but can openers are easy to use and nobody thinks you'd have to be a moron to resent using a needlessly-complex can opener.

Now, with regard to Replay's "advantages":

• TiVo does charge $9.95 per month if you want to pay a monthly fee, or you can pay $249.95 to get the "lifetime" subscription. To be clear, the lifetime is the lifetime of your TiVo box, not the lifetime of its owner.
• TiVo doesn't offer a 30-second skip button, but most TiVo owners are quite satisfied with being able to reliably fast-forward through 3 minutes of commercials in five seconds (including the "oh, there's the show again" delay in hitting the play button). TiVo's two highest-speed fast-forward modes automatically correct for reaction time delays and backtrack to before you hit the button, allowing reliable commercial skipping with a minimum of effort. TiVo also has the 8-second instant replay button on the remote, so there's no advantage to ReplayTV there.
• Replay's internet website seems like a great idea, but the Replay box won't usually call out more than once per day, so it's not likely you'll often be able to program the device to record something you forgot about from work. More likely, it would be useful for extended absences from home (business trips or vacation). TiVo owners using the TiVoNet cards have actually got apache running on their TiVos. Some users are actually working on web-based interfaces to the TiVo recording functions, allowing you to connect to your TiVo from anywhere on the Internet (assuming you've got a full-time connection at home) and make changes to your TiVo.
• TiVo's user-interface is extremely efficient and intuitive. Every direct comparison I've ever seen with Replay indicates that Replay's interface is clunkier, although that may have changed in recent ReplayTV software revs.
• TiVo allows much finer control of program selection, even going so far as to allow you to specify conflict resolution between overlapping shows for which you have Season Passes. Season Passes are vastly superior to Replay's method for recording your favorite shows every week, although once again, this may have improved in recent ReplayTV updates.
• TiVo allows users to determine when programs can be deleted, by specifying "save until I manually delete" or by giving a specific date when programs are safe to delete. The last I heard, Replay's space-management scheme was much clunkier.
• TiVo has the "To Do List" which is indispensible. Users can view upcoming programs which will be recorded and manually cancel or reschedule recordings. TiVo also has the "View upcoming episodes" feature which allows you to easily find another showing of a program. The To Do List also allows you to see Season Pass programs that will not be recorded and the reason why.
• TiVo offers suggestions. Some people find this feature annoying, but I love it. I give three thumbs up to programs I really like but don't want to create season passes for (such as Simpsons reruns). Whenever there's available space and nothing else is scheduled to record opposite, TiVo's suggestions mechanism will record those shows for you. In addition, TiVo will scout for shows it thinks you may like based on your Thumbs preferences. Occasionally, TiVo will find stuff you like a lot but would never have found on your own.

Overall, TiVo's ability to allow you fine-grain control over what you will or won't record, its superior management of disk space and its superior hackability all add up to compelling arguments for most people in the /. crowd.

Oh, one other thing. If you decide you like ReplayTV better for whatever reason, be sure to not buy the Panasonic ShowStopper models. Panasonic botched the implementation of Macrovision on their boxes. TiVo strips Macrovision, tags the show with a Macrovision bit and then reapplies Macrovision on playback. Panasonic ReplayTV units just flat out won't record anything with Macrovision.