Originally posted by: Matt L
It's a good deal if you know what you're getting. The 508 is not a Replay or a TiVo PVR, it is a VR, video recorder, very much like a VCR. It doesn't have the features that put the P in PVR. All it's recordings are timer based, if your show moves it won't be recorded. Replay and TiVo are title based recorders, they follow a show around no matter when it's on.
If you don't have Sat. service you are much better off getting the DTiVo fro $199. Very easy to upgrade to 240 hours, and bug free.
Are you sure about this?
While I don't have the newer version, I do have a couple 7100, 7200 units, which were replaced by the 501/508's.
You simply do a search either with remote, or better yet with the included keyboard, and it finds your program.
You then have many options, one of which is to record that program anytime, which means if it's on Tuesday,
it will record it Tuesday. If the following week it is not on Tuesday but instead is on both Wednesday and Thursday,
it will not record on Tuesday, and will record the show on both Wednesday and Thursday instead. Not timer based,
but show based. Sure, you do have timer based as one of your options, and you can also have it simpy turn on your
VCR to record with that if you wish. Also, the 7 day guide is nice, but is supposed to be updated to 10 day guide
end of the month. Again, this is with the older unit that the 508 replaces, but would think newer would have more
features?
Also, quality of recordings is a little better with Dish PVR's than it is with either Replay or Tivo.
If you don't have Dish, then it's not for you.
Here is a very old link comparing the 3 type's of PVR's.
http://www.iwantptv.com/compare/UltimateComparison-page3.htm
Since then, huge improvements have been made in the Dishplayers, and probably the others.
But, even back then some things that stand out from the comparison:
DishPlayer Picture Quality - DishPlayer records the raw bitstream from the satellite receiver.
So, it's picture is exactly the same as the original.
ReplayTV Picture Quality. - While ReplayTV has to encode the Picture again, the loss of quality
(in the high and medium record modes) is only discernable on rather fast moving pictures.
TiVo Quality - The quality loss in TiVo is similar to ReplayTV in most modes. However there is a
difference when the input is already a below average quality picture, such as cable or satellite
satellite superstations. It appears that TiVo is doing something to the picture. I have been
told that it is a softening filter and will be removed in the 1.3 release.
EDIT:
Also just saw that ReplayTV Files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, so drop that one from consideration.
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20030322/D7PTSC7O0.html
BTW, does TiVo have jtag pads
