Why use ReplayTV at all? - Page 2

My 80-year old mom knows how to work the Replay and loves it. I have tried to introduce her to internet broadcasting & netflix but she does not like them as much. She has been working with computers for 30+ years and uses it for everything else. It is just easier to setup the record functions and then watch them at some later time in a neatly formatted "replay guide". I keep an extra Replay in case her unit needs work. The quality is still very good on a 32" HD set.

Almost ditto here. My 86 year old mother loves her Replay 5520. She records mostly Turner Classic Movies, some sports events, and Dancing With The Stars watching them at her leisure. Time shifting TV changed (and rocked) her world! Mom would be very upset without it and probably have trouble learning a new DVR system.

Why continue to use Replay? Well, I have 2 5000 series with big hard drives that are networked together. One in the living room and 1 in the bedroom. My wife primarily uses the one in the bedroom. She is a game show watcher and I am not. They may be getting old now, but are very reliable and my "non-techie" wife has no problem using them. If she can use it, anyone can. My daughter has a TIVO and I was over helping her just this past week. Every time I mess with that thing I am so glad I have the Replays. TIVO user interface is so slow after using Replay and not very intuitive as well. Of course the negative about Replays now is that they are unsupported by the manufacturer. But with the forums available and WIRNS, I get all the support I need. But they just keep running and need almost no attention. The other negative is they don't do HD. There was a period of time 2 years ago that I went from Comcast to Dish. At that point I used the digital antenna converter boxes so my Replays were hooked to the OTA antennas and I recorded non- OTA stuff from Dish on my Dish DVR. It was pretty good and I really got used to the HD, especially for football games and golf, but for any sports. I find "regular" TV shows just fine with Replays SD picture. But then a couple months back I got a great deal from Comcast on their "triple play" package (TV, internet, phone) so went with it and saved some money. By the way, their DVR is the worst I have ever seen. I had it for 2 days and gave it back to them, then hooked my Replays back up to Comcast with their digital box on the living room and DTA on the bedroom. Missed my HD sports so bought a Channel Master DVR Pal for OTA recording of the network stations and most of the golf and football games. But here is the new addition. I bought one of these: http://www.amazon.com/Lenkeng-LKV351-Component-Converter-Scaler/dp/B007YGR0AQ/ref=pd_ybh_6 . It converts the component output of the Replay to HD and up converts it at the same time. I can not believe the quality of the picture on my Panny Plasma TV. No, it is not as good as true HD, but it is great. So with this addition I hope to be using my Replays for a number of years. Just hope by the time they die that there is something out there besides TIVO that can replace them. Anyone with an old Replay should take a look at one of these little boxes. You will be amazed.

BigHarry ... You're saying the the Lenkeng box gives you better PQ at 4:3 aspect, not that you somehow get 16:9, right?

Correct. The Replay still records in SD and at the aspect ratio sent to it, but the quality is excellent. Much much better then normal "high quality" mode. And I record all sporting events in high quality. So if the signal is sent as 4:3, it is just a better quality picture. Likewise if it is a "letter box" picture like Thursday night football (Go 9ers), it is still letter box but a much better picture. If you get it from Amazon and don't like it, you can easily return it. I figured it was worth a try. I now enjoy Thursday night football, not to mention the golf tournaments on Golf Channel.

Some dittos, but with nuance!

I have had my replay for about ten years. In that time, I have gone through three hard drives, each one with a higher capacity than the last. I swear by my ReplayTV because:

• Easy to fix
• No recurring electronic programming guide (EPG) fees
• Easy to set up
• “Extended” with DVArchive (bless their hearts!) which allows the download and upload to PC of shows, movies, programs. This allows me to save a program I really want either in digital form or, with the help of Womble, to DVD.
• Quiet (as long as you turn on quiet mode on your replacement drives and replace with quieter drives)
• AUTOMATIC COMMERCIAL SKIP (no button pushing, set and mostly forget) has allowed me to save hundreds of hours over the last 10 years by NOT watching skipped commercials. Works 95% of the time, no change from 10 years ago when purchased.

If my DVR cost me $450 ($150 plus $300 lifetime EPG subscription) and I have had it for ten years, then my DVR, EPG, VCR, pseudo-video-sender, etc, etc, cost me about $45 a year. And that drops every year!

Sure, I spent a little more money replacing drives and buying video and DVD processing suites. Yeah, I have spent more time than I should replacing drives, making coasters before hitting on my perfect video suite combination, but I have more than saved that time by not watching commercials.

No, it doesn’t have two tuners (I bought another used one for that). I don’t know if there was ever an HD model, I am waiting for….I am not sure what. No, it has no apps (a couple of easter eggs, though!)

I have often felt that in more ways than most modern electronics, it it fulfills some or all of many of the items on Mr. Jalopy's Maker’s Bill of Rights.


THE MAKER'S BILL OF RIGHTS

• Meaningful and specific parts lists shall be included.
• Cases shall be easy to open.
• Batteries should be replaceable.
• Special tools are allowed only for darn good reasons.
• Profiting by selling expensive special tools is wrong and not making special tools available is even worse.
• Torx is OK; tamperproof is rarely OK.
• Components, not entire sub-assemblies, shall be replaceable.
• Consumables, like fuses and filters, shall be easy to access.
• Circuit boards shall be commented.
• Power from USB is good; power from proprietary power adapters is bad.
• Standard connecters shall have pinouts defined.
• If it snaps shut, it shall snap open.
• Screws better than glues.
• Docs and drivers shall have permalinks and shall reside for all perpetuity at archive.org.
• Ease of repair shall be a design ideal, not an afterthought.
• Metric or standard, not both.
• Schematics shall be included

I do a manual record from my blueray or dvd player to the Replay via S-video. I then transfer the movie to my computer. I edit it with Womble or VideoRedo and convert it to xvid. Sometimes I create a DVD. Since the blueray and dvd input signals are so good, the replay mpg makes a very high quality DVD and compressed movie (xvid, divx etc.) .

I regularly record from my Tivo and do the same thing.

Also, a widescreen picture recorded from a dvd player, cable box or Tivo etc. is in 4x3 format on the replay. However, the original format of the recorded movie is not actually changed. Put your tv on widescreen when you play the video from the replay. It will output at the correct aspect ratio.

On the computer:
When playing a replay mpg or compressed file made from a replay mpg, just adjust the aspect ratio in the video player you are using to get the proper output.
Edited by JJON2121 - 1/17/13 at 8:03am