[pcsperson]

This has been a really good forum to read, and this is my first post.


Well lets see how to being, I am a DirecTV customer, who was hell bend on getting a TiVo. Then I found out about ReplayTV, and now I am at the fork in the road. They both have great features, I am trying to find and old 50x series replay for the use of IVS but I wanted to know how well this really worked. I have contacted the TiVo company and they told me that I Can buy a regular TiVo and use it with my DirecTV, so the I would have access to all the HMO features. Then the only difference between the TiVo and Replay would be the 30 sec quick skip, which can be enabled on the TiVo and on the ReplayTV is called 'Quick Skip' instead of CA


My Question is well any advice when deciding between the two and How well does the over the IVS work when it comes to download shows I have read about a lot of connection failures.


Thank you all for any advice you may give,




Dave

 

[Creech]

Its slow but it works great. When I've had too many conflicts, an IR blaster misfire, or simply forgotten to record a show. The one trouble is that the IVS server (that affects the peer to peer connection between the sending and receiving units) is often down. That said, I think its a killer feature.

 

[sfhub]

For my usage it works extremely well. You just have to treat it like Netflix

(except IVS community frowns on sending movies and pay content)

where you request your show, get on with your life, and it just shows up

a day or 2 later.


The real benefit in my mind is the large collection of shows you can

choose from, mostly because Poopli has helped the IVS community

reach critical mass. Almost any of the top 30 shows can be found very

easily and is a life savior for shows you missed for whatever reason.

Many times people will have whole seasons available in case you catch

a show mid-season and end up liking it.


If you post your request on the main page it will usually be responded

to within 2-10 minutes (assuming popular show). There is also a DB to

search from.


Check it out at www.poopli.com

 

[sfhub]

Quote:

Originally posted by Creech The one trouble is that the IVS server (that affects the peer to peer connection between the sending and receiving units) is often down. That said, I think its a killer feature.

For the last 2 months it seems to have been pretty stable up until this

weekend when it went down. The problem in my mind is less that it

goes down, but that when it goes down during the weekend, it usually

doesn't get restarted until monday.


However, any transfers you already have going will usually continue,

just new transfers will not start.


Also if you use j.m. RDDNS proxy, even if the RDDNS server goes down,

your transfers can continue, even new transfers which have been sent,

accepted, but hadn't begun transferring yet.


j.m. et al are also working on backup RDDNS server.

 

[gweempose]

IVS is awesome. Go to Poopli and see how many shows people are sharing. You basically have access to any show that has aired within the last month. It may sometimes take a day or two to download a show, but that is dependent on both the sender and receiver's available bandwidth.


I'm not sure what you meant when you were talking about Commercial Advance, but it is a feature that is available on the 50xx series only. When the feature is turned on, it will automatically skip the commercials by using markers and a proprietary logic. The 5500 series Replays have the ability to read these markers as well (Scene Advance), but you have to manually press a button on the remote. Both models, however, have the 30 second quick skip you were referring to.


There are many threads where people compare Replay to Tivo. A quick search should reveal all of the information you will need to make an educated decision. Good luck!

 

[Paco II]

Let's not forget about how easy it is to pull shows from the ReplayTV to your computer. Whether using DVArchive, or just pulling shows, it makes it so easy to take your shows with you on a laptop, burn them to a DVD/CD, etc. Sure, Tivo is supposed to come out with something similar, but I doubt it will be as flexible.

 

[pcsperson]

Quote:

Originally posted by Paco II Let's not forget about how easy it is to pull shows from the ReplayTV to your computer. Whether using DVArchive, or just pulling shows, it makes it so easy to take your shows with you on a laptop, burn them to a DVD/CD, etc. Sure, Tivo is supposed to come out with something similar, but I doubt it will be as flexible.

Paco II,


how does DVArchive connect to your Replay is it as simple as plugging it the replay into my home network?



Dave

 

[Creech]

Quote:

Originally posted by pcsperson how does DVArchive connect to your Replay is it as simple as plugging it the replay into my home network?

Yep, DVArchive runs on pretty much any PC. You connect your ReplayTV units to your home network and they all talk with one another. I have two instances of DVA on my network--one running on a Linux box and one running from my Powerbook. You have to do a little configuring of your ReplayTV unit, but its pretty straight forward.

 

[corgi1]

When I chose to get a ReplayTV a couple years ago, I truly thought that IVS was one of those "gee, that's very cool but not something I would really use or need" type of features. Now, I have 4 replaytvs in the house and I use IVS all the time via Poopli.com. The majority of my use is sending shows to others, but it has been a marriage saver for me the times I have needed to get a show sent.


For example, Wife: "what do you mean you forgot to record the final Bachelor episode?" Me: "Sorry honey, I did not realize that it conflicted with (insert any uninteresting guy's show here), I will request it on Poopli right away!" Marriage saved. ;-)


ReplayTV has changed the way our whole family uses the TV.

 

[sfhub]

Funny, when I read "marriage saver" I immediately suspected it was

The Bachelor, without reading any further.

 

[RamblinWreck]

Dumb question time on my part. I went to the IVS test site ( http://www.lhaven.net/ivstest/ ) and it shows this crying smilely face (see the attached gif). An I correct in assuming that this means the Replay IVS servers are temporarily down ?


I know, I know, this is probably the dumbest question that's ever been asked, but I thought I would just double check.


Thanks !


RW


******

Oooops - Forgot the "ivstest" part of the link. The link is now correct.

******

 

[mhargr03]

It must be that, because IVS seems to be down...

 

[Creech]

Yeah, IVS is down. I'm pretty sure that it'll be back up when DNNA gets into the office tomorrow and can reboot that server.

 

[plyons10]

The only advantage TIVO may have for you, would be the dual tuner capacity on the DirecTIVO machines. I don't know, however, if that's what you were considering buying.


A separate standard TIVO box, just like a Replay, only has one tuner... which means that you cannot record one show while you watch another one (live). You can, of course, on both, record something while you watch a recorded program.


For me the Commercial Advance feature is more important and useful than IVS... but just barely.


For certain shows I watch all the time, like ER or NYPD Blue, it skips 95% of all commercials without me lifting a finger!