I currently own one ReplayTV unit (lifetime membership) and I've set up one Windows-based PC with DVArchive that acts as a server in the basement. It has 300GB of HD (for now) and as shows are recorded, they get dumped nightly to the DVArchive machine and deleted locally from the ReplayTV unit, then played OnDemand from the server.

Keeping in mind I'm already $1000 invested into the system, which does serve it's purpose ($250 lifetime Replay, $150 ReplayTV box itself, $600 for a PC) I'd like to know what all of you think my best options are for bringing my video library to a few other TVs in the house. My goal is CHEAP!

I've read up a bit on the new Netgear unit, MythTV, ReplayTVs new software based package and a few others. There are upsides and downsides to each of course, but again, the goal here is CHEAP! MythTV requires me to change out what I've got as none of it is Linux-based at the moment, but if it's hands-down CHEAP, so be it. Otherwise, since I have the lifetime membership and a ReplayTV on one set anyway, wouldn't I be better suited leaving that untouched and getting some type of "client" for the other couple TVs that can stream what I have already? And what would anyone suggest? And don't get me wrong... it's not all about cheap, but that's a large part of the plan. I do not want something problematic as my life is already too gadget-complex.

Your thoughts?

Do you have any wiring to those rooms (ie CAT5/RG6)?

If it's just SDTV, something like wireless media extenders is pretty cheap. Not sure how you'd integrate it with replayTV, i've only been paying attention to the SAgeTV/client integration, but that insinuates tossing your ReplayTV. But, there must be some way to integrate it.

This may be better posted in the replaytv forum, but..........

If you are ok with all TVs showing the same thing, get a modulator with IR passthrough. Take the output of the replay and broadcast it on a channel. I used a channelplus 5555-hr or some such similar. It is a kit.

If you want different TVs to be able to watch different things, get a (several?) Happauge Media MVP. If you end up getting one, I can help you through the setup, but in short it is a network device that displays replay content. It will show DVA and the replay(s) as devices, and you browse them similarly to how you do on the replay itself. I got my MVPs for $50 each at ratshack, but they are discontinued now, I think. Check Ebay. For research purposes, the MVP runs MVPMC (MVP Media Center). I have a program to easily boot the MVPs called winMVPMC, but I doubt you'll find that. The author emailed it to several people on the replaytv board.

First, to answer the last posters question, yes, all rooms in question have 10/100 wiring. The house is also wireless, but for streaming purposes, wired connections will be my method of delivery.

OK, I just looked at the Happauge MVP and $100 per tv is certainly fair (I'm trying to avoid devices that are closer to $200 or more per set) This device (and a couple others out there) claim to be UPnP, but also state requirements for Windows XP, Media or 2000. Do they really need that? If this is a client that sits PC-less on a television, and it can talk to DVArchive, why does it matter what OS you're running?

The reason for the question is the PC I'm using is a Win '98 (fully firewalled and secure) but it happens to have some legacy hardware that I'd like to hold onto and some valuable software I don't have installers for any longer... but it's used so lightly, it also works very well as a movie archive box. Is the fact that my DVArchive PC is Win '98 going to affect my chances of a viable solution for serving the movies it stores? If the Happauge will work, for $100 I'll grab 2 without batting on eye.

One final question... current method is to record on the ReplayTV, dump to server, watch later. Is there an easy / viable way to use the DVArchive / Win '98 box (which does have a TV tuner card installed in it as well) to do the actual recording of shows, instead of tying up the main ReplayTV (bedroom) but still have them in a format that ReplayTV and items like the Happauge can stream later? Not a huge deal either way, but from things I've read, the ReplavTV boxes aren't great at playing back stuff they didn't record, and DVA doesn't seem to handle the job.

This may be better posted in the replaytv forum, but..........

If you are ok with all TVs showing the same thing, get a modulator with IR passthrough. Take the output of the replay and broadcast it on a channel. I used a channelplus 5555-hr or some such similar. It is a kit.

If you want different TVs to be able to watch different things, get a (several?) Happauge Media MVP. If you end up getting one, I can help you through the setup, but in short it is a network device that displays replay content. It will show DVA and the replay(s) as devices, and you browse them similarly to how you do on the replay itself. I got my MVPs for $50 each at ratshack, but they are discontinued now, I think. Check Ebay. For research purposes, the MVP runs MVPMC (MVP Media Center). I have a program to easily boot the MVPs called winMVPMC, but I doubt you'll find that. The author emailed it to several people on the replaytv board.

The key here is that the MVP, in practice, _IS_ a replaytv. You can pull the shows onto DVA, or not. It doesn't make any difference. There isn't a good way to use the tv tuner in the computer though. That's a whole different thing.

The booting program I have should work fine with win98 (I think), though I've only used it on 2k. You aren't using the MVP's software, so their reqirements are out the window. Basically, this boot program (winmvpmc) is a dhcp server, tftp server, and time server. All are reqirements for the MVP. It lets you boot the MVP media center, which is the software that makes the whole thing work.

I'll see if I can dig up the *huge* MVP-thin-client thread for you.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=458363&highlight=mvp+thin+client

OldYellow is the one that has the booting program, and it is mentioned in there somewhere. It is long, but it might give you a understanding of the evolution.

I can send you the boot program, the .bin and the .config that I use. It'll auto-find the replays, etc. Not too bad........

PM me your email address and I'll send you that MVP booting program.
You can try it on win98 and see if it'll work.

Run CAT5 and buy old replays for each room off ebay. (The same family you use to record). Then you can stream from DVarchive to several rooms.

That will work? I already have CAT5 in every room in the house. I was under the impression that a ReplayTV box without subscription just sat there looking pretty. It does make sense though... hmmm... ok, so will it also allow me to "control" live tv? If so, then my IDEAL situation would be 1 or 2 ReplayTV units... I don't care about being able to record in the future or have a guide on these sets, so as long as it would let me stream and pause/etc. live broadcast, that's my answer.

Side note 1: If I have a 5040 now, does it matter what I get for the other rooms?
Side note 2: I know RTV dropped hardware support, but do they currently allow the option of adding monthly or lifetime service if we did decide to?

Hmm. Good point.

I only have tried it with the older units with lifetime subscription. (40xx, 45xx).

The 5xxx units have some video differences. I don't know if DVarchive or other public tools can fix that.

Radio shack has some switchers that are remote controlled. Buy some baluns to convert video through the cat5...voila. Oh, a remote extender.

I want to start by thanking everyone who responded with ideas and comments. I didn't expect many to help, but it's really great how people can come together for a common goal.

It looks like, for my present needs, MediaMVP is the hardware I need... so I just bought one online. I will be messaging a couple of you individually to accept your offers for software to run it since I do need it to talk to DVArchive on my "movie storage" computer. Again, I really do appreciate all the free help you've all offered.

I expect to receive the unit in a week, and since it sounds easy, have it up and running a few days later. Shortly thereafter my wife will change her mind and declare that she needs the ability to pause/fwd/rwd live tv on the additional sets and/or watch pre-recorded stuff on all televisions in the house, but hey... this is a start.

Note to Comcast customers: Now, if they could just get my OnDemand service working!!!!! What a crock!!!!

OK, I have the MediaMVP in my hands, I've installed and configured the WINMVPMC application that one of the forum members was kind enough to send me, I've (for the sake of simplicity) turned off my routers DHCP client and configured my 3 PCs to static IPs... the ReplayTV was always a static IP... I've created the shortcut and edited the .config file file for WINMVPMC...

Like most seemed to believe previously, you cannot run this as a SERVICE in Windows 98. It needs to be run in CONSOLE MODE. Is anyone able to help me with that procedure / syntax. I believe it's the only piece left... and maybe a time server... right now I have the app set to use the default internet time server. If that proves problematic I'll just download a local time server, but that's a smaller / easier issue for later. How do I run this WINMVPMC app in CONSOLE MODE?

This post is just an FYI for anyone having time synch problems since around April 2007. I spent some time troubleshooting, trying to figure out why my MediaMVP stopped having the correct time on recent reboots. I originally thought it might be something to do with the fact that Daylight Savings Time was ORIGINALLY set to take place the first weekend in April... but that isn't the issue. And the issue also is not specific to the Hauppauge MediaMVP. As it turns out, I set my config file to set time (rdate) to time.nist.gov - which the present time is not present. It's either down, gone or something... but when I set to another nist server like
time-a.nist.gov or time-b.nist.gov
it works perfectly. So, for all you StrongBad fans out there:
The system is down yo! We have our top men working ON the clock.