Ok, stupid question. Will both the tivo and replay tv work in uk? How do the subscriptions work and which is 'best'.

What picture quality do they deliver, and can I edit both on a PC to make VCDs, DVDs etc? Would you advise purchasing on ebay - is that the cheapest?

I really don't have a clue so any help and advice is appreciated.

I was considering a ReplayTV over a TiVo recently, and had started a thread about it which now has some good information in all of the replies, including links to sites where you can get more details on both units. You may want to check out that thread here.

As for your questions, you will probably get different answers depending on who you talk to.

Picture quality will likely be full of opinions from whomever you ask.

As for editing video, I believe the new units (Replay 5000's & TiVo Series 2's) do not allow copying of the video files to your PC for editing. But it is possible with older units of both types (Replay 4500 or earlier and TiVo Series 1), if you're willing to hack them.

And purchasing on eBay may be a good way to get yourself a deal on one of the older units, especially if the unit already has a lifetime subscription attached to it, or any hacks that you think you'd like to use (backing up video to PC, for instance).

As for me, by the end of the thread I had linked you to, I had decided to wait on my decision until I was finished with Christmas. Well, my shopping is done, and I've got some extra cash. I've decided to get a ReplayTV 5040. Listing my reasons would probably double the length of this post, though. Good luck.

I'm not sure but a better place to ask that question might be here: http://www.avsforum.com look for the forum called ReplayTV & Showstopper PVRs

Well if he goes to a Replay forum and asks whether to buy a ReplayTV or a TiVo, I'm not so sure the answers will be unbiased over there. I figured the thread here on the bbs would be a good starting point, and that link is in there, too, as well as several others which provide objective reviews/opinions.

Do you have Sky ? If so, have you considered Sky+ ?

It seems Replay won't work in UK, so it'll need to be a Tivo. Theres several on Ebay. Do I NEED a subscription if I just want to hit the record button? I don't really have an interest in its fancy stuff.

2ndly, how do I hack it to record to mpeg on the PC? Is this a software thingy?

It'll nag the living crap out of you if you don't have a subscription. And it might actually not be possible to record in any useful fashion.

If you managed to get an older one, then that wouldn't so much be the case, but I doubt that there are any PAL ones that qualify as older.

I use TyTool Alpha 5 to get my shows off my DriecTiVo. I think TyTool works with both SA and DirecTiVo. Then I follow these instructions to get them onto DVD.

I really need to be able to put stuff on the PC. Is it software that prevents the data being used in this way. I stupidly assumed I could just use the ethernet dongle on a series 2 and use a crossover cable to send it to the PC and edit it? No?

No, that won't work I don't think.

On a Series 1, you have to buy an additional card and do a little hacking on the player.

I strongly recommend the subscription. I didn't have it for a while and the thing is pretty unusable.

Without the subscription you would need to manually set all recordings and you would get no show data (title, episode etc)

Is it possible to use the TurboNet card and access the online listings thereby going around the subscription req.? I remember this being discussed long ago on the TiVo board but never kept up with it.

Ok, I'm looking at this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1943342580

But i'm still none the wiser about transfer to PC. Anyone?

Well good point, I've got two replays a 4160 and a 4040 that I have upgraded to 320GB using two 160GB maxtor drives of course I'll recommend Replay over TIVO... BUT I wasn't sure if they would work in the UK so I thought the replay forum would give him a quicker answer.

Cheers!

I believe you can, and someone talked about it in the thread that Deadfire linked at the top of this thread.

You will find UK special deals on Tivo's in this thread. The only UK model in known existance is made by Thompson and they will not be manufacturing any more units and no other manufacturer has been confirmed AFAIK, possibly this is connected to the firesales seen by the High St. stores. They have been on sale here for between £99 and £149 recently but you will be lucky if you can find a store with stock now. I would suggest that you bid on that auction up to £149, otherwise keep an eye out for other deals on that forum from other UK retailers looking to dump their stock.

There was speculation over Tivo pulling out of the UK entirely but that's considered unlikely by most, after all, the monthly subscriptions are their steady revenue stream and that's money for old rope.

Video Extraction (not UK specific in general terms):
You need a network card from 9thtee.com - someone on that forum made a bulk buy to save on US->UK carriage costs.
You need TiVoWeb
TiVo Linux bin tools such as http://www.stevejenkins.com/tivo/newbie.html#_Toc16501013
Mfsstream (a plugin for TiVoWeb) to grab .ty files from TiVo (no link handy, sorry)
+ a whole load of other crap to process the video stream into something useful. This I'm currently learning myself so I have very little to add ATM.

IMHO extraction is a PITA but I always expected it to be that way. There are some tools still in development that will hopefully make the process less painful but from what I've read recently, and I'm a newbie to this myself, the technology is not that evolved - no disrespect meant to those developing these tools but point-and-click (which is what _I_ want) appears to be some way off right now

If the extraction of shows from the unit to your PC is at all important to you, I cannot urge you strongly enough to buy a Replay. Tivo is great if you want a mindless experience and a pretty GUI experience, but if you are a "nuts and bolts" type of person (I would venture to say most Empeg owners are) then Replay is for you.

The best analogy I have heard lately is this:

"The Tivo is the Mac of the PVR world, where the Replay is the PC equivalent."

I think that statement is dead-on. If you want to tinker, or don't want to become a command line ninja, then stick to the Replay. I am much happier as a Replay owner from an extraction and show manipulation perspective.

Just my opinion...

Rob

"The Tivo is the Mac of the PVR world, where the Replay is the PC equivalent."

No way. If a Mac person were to buy a PVR, I don't think they would care about video extraction. The TiVo community is "the business." I have 4 hacks running on my machine that give me an ultimate PVR experience that (I think) Replay can't match.

• Caller ID - TiVo doesn't include this officially because they don't want to pay a license. I use YAC, but another is elseed.
• TiVoWeb - I can scedule recordings from any web broser with Java capability (Java needed for VNC).
• TyTool - Server that serves a Windows client recordings (video extraction to a Windows PC). It is currently alpha status, but works extremely well.
• TiVo Control Station - This thing is also very new. It allows a text overlay of lots of info retrived from WWW pages. I can track eBay auctions, get the weather report, get sports scores, and get a record of who called while I was out while my fat ass is lounging on the couch. It is a little buggy (causes the TiVo to reboot) but it will get better.

I used to recommend Replay to my friends with cable TV simply for the video extraction. Since I started becoming a TiVo command line ninja, I see the ultimate power of the box and recommend TiVo. TiVo ownz Replay!

hmmmm....well when I was in the market Tivo did not offer an ethernet connection whereas the replay offered the 10/100 connection to access the internet. Another favorite feature of mine is the ability to copy pictures to the replay for a slideshow as a screensaver. Can Tivo do that yet? Not debating just curious....

Jerz

Short answer: No

Long Answer: The TiVo does have the ability to resize and display a JPEG. The only real use right now is to display a weather radar map with TiVo Control Center. Someone would have to write the software, but it should be very doable.

Another cool feature of replay is the ability to stream video from one unit to the next. So say I have only one digital cable box (since they're around ten bucks a month) and want to watch a show that requires the box in another room I can simply stream from the replay that has the cable box to the replay that doesn't have the cable box (providing of course that particular show is already recorded). Likewise I can do that if one replay has a show recorded that I want to watch but the replay that I'm watching doesn't have that particular show recorded. Streaming from replay to replay is very cool but I suppose you can accomplish the same thing with a channel modulator. At the time I made my decision Tivo couldn't stream from one unit to the next but of course that could have changed by now.

later...

There is wording in the TiVo beta program agreement that suggests streaming from box to box (within the same home) will be an official feature in an upcoming release.

People have gotten shows to copy from one TiVo to another though (unofficially).