ReplayTV - great gadget (1 Viewer)

[Mark_E_Smith]

Pat
The question is why do you need more than 1 VCR? I have 4 DTV DVRs (TiVo), 3 SA TiVos (not all at the same location)You are not yet as insane as I but I jumped on this pvr thing in 1999 when it started. My 2 year old daughter doesnt have the conceept of shows coming on at a certain times. She has her own SA. At bed time we have to tell her that the programs have gone to sleep.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Well, I bought the 3 VCRs over 4 years ago. I finally got into PVRs in January.

 

[Parker Clack]

I really like the ethernet/usb connections on the 5000 series. I have the 4080 with the ethernet connection hooked up to my Linksys via wireless connection and it works great. In a couple of months I am planning on getting the 5040 or 80 to have upstairs.

The other nice thing that the ethernet connection does for you is if you have something recorded on one unit you can watch it on the other. So if Sue and I are upstairs watching CSI and then want to watch ER that we recorded in the living room we can set the unit in the bedroom to show us ER. I look forward to having this setup in the next couple of months.

Replay has a great deal on their ReplayTV 5040 with two $50 mail in rebates. So you can get it for $199 instead of $299.

Parker

 

[TimothyE]

For Christmas I got my wife our second ReplayTV, a 4508 (80 hour) for $199 after rebates from Costco. She says over and over how great it is.

Using it with DVArchive and a 120GB drive on my computer, I have two recorders and three players and the ability to offload commercial-free programs to CD/DVD for use on almost any DVD player.

Add in a firewire removeable drive and storing the .mpg file and its corresponding .ndx file, you could conceivably remove all limitations of program space. Some of the Replay geniuses are even working on the possibility of creating .ndx files for your own .mpg files so you can stream those through the Replay as well.

Now we just need HD, although the Replay has been giving me near-DVD quality widescreen recordings of HDTV downconverted to 480i by my Hughes HIRD-E86.

Cheers,

Tim

 

[Chris Gerhard]

You can get a ReplayTV 5040 now for about $130 after two $50 rebates. It is being explained on the avsforum. I bought my second Showstopper yesterday, found a brand new one in a box but since I already have 2 DirecTiVos and one Showstopper recording programs everday I am not even going to hook it up now but I couldn't pass up the deal.

Chris

 

[Patrick Sun]

Amazon was offering the 5040 for $229 (comes with 2 $50 rebates to bring the price down to $129, and there's a $10 coupon code, MAPAMEXCARDS, to lower the price to $119), but they are now out of stock, and by the time the new stock shows up, the rebates purchase deadline will most probably have passed, one rebate is dead on 3/31/03, and the other rebate is dead on 3/13/03.

 

[Bob McElfresh]

is if you have something recorded on one unit you can watch it on the other. So if Sue and I are upstairs watching CSI and then want to watch ER that we recorded in the living room we can set the unit in the bedroom to show us ER.

Whaaaat?!? That is just too cool. This feature alone might be enough to draw me away from my love of DSS based PVR's.

(drool)

 

[Michael Napier]

The rebate coupon says that you have to purchase it by March 31. Shouldn't they honor it if you placed you order before then?

I hope so, because I ordered one today.

EDIT: I just called SonicBlue and they said that as long as the paperwork shows that you ordered it within the rebate period, you will still qualify for the rebate.


I have a question. How does the Replay work with a digital cable box? Does it control the box and set it to the correct station to record your shows?

 

[Kyle McKnight]

I hope Amazons paperwork will show that Michael. I ordered one too.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Michael, the older ReplayTV unit came with this funky little wire and bud called the IR Blaster. The bud has adhesive on one side, and you stick it over the IR sensor of the Digital Cable box. On the other end the IR Blaster cable, you stick it into the IR Blaster socket on the backside of the ReplayTV unit.

Then you have to connect the A/V output from the Digital Cable into one of the A/V Inputs on the ReplayTV unit. For this example, let's use A/V Input 1.

Then it's a matter of going through the Setup menu, and tell the unit that A/V Input 1's source is the Digital Cable box, and then you are prompted to scroll through a bunch of different Digital Cable box manufacturers so that the ReplayTV unit knows which remote codes to use when sending the change channel command through the IR Blaster. If you don't find the manufacturer's name in the list, you can also go through (exhaustively) a bunch of remote codes, and once you find the right code, use it. You just keep trying codes until the Digital Cable box turns off (or on, whichever state it wasn't in before).

Once you find the right remote code, you then go through and tell the ReplayTV which cable system you want to use. Once it has you input your telephone number, it comes up with a list of possible cable TV providers. Sometimes there are 5 or 6 possible cable TV plans from the same provider, and you simply have to pick the one that most resembles your cable plan, have ReplayTV download it, and take a look and see if the channels match up to the Cable package you subscribe to. If not, you'll have to select a different Cable plan, have it downloaded, and look and compare it to what you expect to have with your cable TV plan. It's a bit of a trial-n-error process, but once you figure out the right remote codes and Cable TV plans, the rest of very easy.

Once that part is set up, you'll simply goes through the Channel Guide, once it's been downloaded and matches your Cable TV plan, then make the choice selection for the ReplayTV unit to record the shows you want it to record. Once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy to pick the shows you want to record on a weekly/daily basis.

When the unit is in action, it will send out a remote control signal through the IR Blaster to change the Digital Cable Box to the correct channel (thus sending the right channel content through the box's A/V output) and then start recording the source feeding the A/V Input 1 on the ReplayTV unit .

My IR Blaster bud didn't have the adhesive on it anymore, so I wound up using a rubber band wrapped around the box to keep the bud in place over the digital cable box's IR sensor.

 

[Michael Napier]

Does anyone know if the 5040 has the IR Blaster or does it do things differently?

Wouldn't the adhesive thing block the IR receiver so you couldn't change channels with just the cable box remote?

 

[Parker Clack]

Bob:

Yeah, it is a really nice feature. Also, if you want, you can set up the unit with myreplaytv.com so you can control your unit(s) via the web. So if you are on the road and forgot to tell your ReplayTV to record ER on Thursday you can get on the web and set you unit to record the show. You can even delete shows, etc. This is not an real time event as it requires your ReplayTV to do its daily connection to the ReplayTV network. But if you are say on the road on a Monday and want to program the rest the weeks stuff so you can watch it when you return you have yet another feature that you can use.

Parker

 

[Patrick Sun]

Michael, the 5xxx ReplayTV units also use the IR Blaster:

http://www.sonicblue.com/video/repla..._5000_tech.asp

I can still change channel with my remote, even with the IR Blaster bud "covering" up the IR sensor (there is probably large enough sweet spot for the bud to co-exist with your remote control.

 

[Michael Napier]

Cool, thanks Patrick.

Now, another question. I remember some time back watching an infomercial. I don't remember if it was the Replay or the Tivo, though. Anyway, they talked about how you could program the device to record a show, and if you got home a bit after the show had started, you could start watching it from the beginning while it continued to record the rest of the show. Can the Replay do that?

 

[Patrick Sun]

Yup.

 

[Art_Courville]

>>if you have something recorded on one unit you can watch it on the
>>other. So if Sue and I are upstairs watching CSI and then want to
>>watch ER that we recorded in the living room we can set the unit
>>in the bedroom to show us ER.

>Whaaaat?!? That is just too cool. This feature alone might be enough
>to draw me away from my love of DSS based PVR's.

Even better, with third party software you can off-load shows to your PC and either stream them back to watch through one of the ReplayTVs, or watch them on you computer (e.g., on your laptop when you are traveling).

 

[Art_Courville]

>>they talked about how you could program the device to record a
>>show, and if you got home a bit after the show had started,
>>you could start watching it from the beginning while it continued
>>to record the rest of the show. Can the Replay do that?

Yes, and you can start watching ~15 minutes after a show starts, skip commercials and end at pretty much the same time as the live broadcast.

 

[Parker Clack]

I really like the commercial skip feature. It isn't perfect and sometimes will skip too fast but it works about 90% of the time just right.

The ability to pause a TV show that is currently on when the phone rings or to go back and watch a show that I recorded earlier even while another show is recording is a real plus.

Personally I don't know what I did without my ReplayTV. I have been using one now for about 4 years since ReplayTV invented the PVR and introduced them to the market. They really are great to have around for time shifting your favorite programs.

Parker

 

[Leo]

Yeah, the IR blaster is from Xantech. I've used it when building my home theater system and it works great. The adhesive is clear tacky substance (they give you a few spares in the package). The front of the bud is pass thru iirc.

 

[Kyle McKnight]

Guys, does anyone still have the links for the two rebates that were being offered on the deals page? I can't find them anymore. The one I'm really looking for is the one that expired on 3/13 or 3/16.

Thanks...