ReplayTV 5040 - ~$189 AR at CC (MSN Wallet)

[Kirsten]

Hi all, well I took the plunge and did this deal today and hooked it up this afternoon. Here are my findings:

First I hooked up the replayTV to my cable box and then the outputs to the TV. Then I connected an ethernet cable to my 8 port HUB.

Setup comes up on your tv as soon as you turn on the replayTV
It automatically connected to my DHCP server in my Linksys router and picked an IP address
Then it went to replayTV and updated the replayTV operating software and then rebooted itself to load the new OS

It then asks for your zip code after reboot and then goes and updates all the channels

then you tell setup what is connected to the various ports on the back of the replayTV unit, attach the IR cable to your digital cable box so it can control the cable box and switch channels automatically

voilà ...I am now recording a show and about 30 minutes into it I started watching it (SANS commercials) from the beginning using the commercial skip feature. The commercial skip is virtually transparent. What a great feature!

The only downside I can see so far is a slight degradation in picture quality on the TV when I am running thru the replay. Not playing back a recording, just viewing thru the replay. I'm going to have to work on this and see if it's a cable. If I click back and forth between TV coming from the Replay and TV coming directly from the cable box there is a noticeable softness in the picture from the replay (not as crisp).

This is my biggest gripe so far. I suppose you'd get used to it but why? I'm trying to push the envelope to increase the picture quality not reduce it.

Kirt

 

[worms]

Yes, any analog-input PVR will reduce picture quality. Also, due to the nature of mpeg compression, the worse your input signal quality is, the more your output will be degraded. I found that some effort ensuring the cleanest possible signal to the machine is well spent. (I.O.W. don't route the cable through the 6-way splitter in your amp.)

 

[Kirsten]

Good suggestion worms...that did help a lot but now that I have the feed going directly from the RTV to the TV I've lost the ability to play divx movies off my computer thru my A/V receiver... arrrggghhh.

Oh well... time to get a new HDTV with multiple inputs!

 

[dcorn]

I want to be clear here - the problem was with 2 4500 units in a row; I'm familiar with how recording reduces quality a little bit - this was a *huge* reduction in quality.

Compared to my ReplayTV 3060 and Showstopper, the 4500 was horrible - just *terrible* - while comparing each PVR's "HIGH" quality mode. There was snow and compression artifacts everywhere on the 4500. I was very disappointed - one would think quality would get better as time goes on, but not in this case.

 

[nealr]

So far the picture on my 5040 looks the same as my directv signal, so I'm happy with that. I'm just upset with the lag changing stations. I may re-wire some things in my house so I can hook-up my other directv reciever with the other inputs, so I can watch one thing and record another.

 

[Z80]

I have the original Panasonic Showstopper / ReplayTV 30 hour unit hacked to 80 hours. I just couldn't resist the Amazon Gold Box deal for the Tivo Seriers 2 60 hour unit for $250 AR. After one week with the Tivo hooked to a 55" Toshiba Cinema View, I have to say that the Tivo's programming is superior to the Replay TV's. However, the picture quality on the Replay at it's lowest quality (80 hrs) is alot better than the picture quality of the Tivo on both it's low (60hr) and medium (35hr) quality settings. The higher settings are good enough that I'm hard pressed to see a difference. The cool thing about the Tivo Series 2 60 hour unit is that it is very easy to add another hard drive. The mounting is already there. I'm looking for a 120 GB 5400rpm drive that will take me to 100 hours of high quality (223 hours of low) recording on the Tivo.

 

[nealr]

is there any way to hack these, so I don't need to sign up for their service. If there's a way to use http://titantv.com, or something instead, that would be cool.

 

[lizardboy]

Originally posted by: nealr
is there any way to hack these, so I don't need to sign up for their service. If there's a way to use http://titantv.com, or something instead, that would be cool.

no - it's part of the price

 

[TrayjikMayjik]

I am not really familiar with MSN wallet. Is there a way I can use the MSN wallet and PM at the same time? the reason why i ask this is because my friend was able to buy the 5040 for 249.99 at CC. Which will be 200.00 after the $50 rebate. If i can somehow use MSN wallet as well on this (take my friend's receipt and have CC pricematch and use MSN wallet as well, the price will be $150 AR and before taxes and shipping. That seems like a SWEET deal for me, cuz i bought the 4504 for 125 AR almost a month ago, and my time to return the thing is running out. Someone please shed some light on using MSN wallet so we may all prosper.

 

[xxxgirl]

Will this unit work with HDTV?
I assume it works with cable...