TIVO or ReplayTV?

[cpals]

What is this basic service for free from TIVO? Is that something not available now?

 

[BornStar]

Originally posted by: cpals
What is this basic service for free from TIVO? Is that something not available now?

It's a more limited version of TiVo plus and only available on units that have another function (mine is the Toshiba SD-H400 that has a built in DVD player). It only gives you three days of programming and no season passes unfortunately. I haven't dealt with it yet because I'm carrying Plus service until I get my rebate.

 

[Apex]

Originally posted by: BornStar18

Originally posted by: Apex
I prefer the ReplayTV because the quality is better, especially from the progressive YPbPr output. The difference is small, but definitely visible on high quality displays.

Is that a statement that ReplayTV is the only one with progressive YPbPr or they have better output quality? While I can't argue with the latter (I don't know because I don't have a progressive TV hooked up to it), I can state that my TiVo unit definitely has progressive YPbPr.

edit: punctuation

Because ReplayTV's have cleaner output, even on S-Video (testing back to back, on all 3 levels of compression).

The TiVo I tested did not have component output, the back looked like this:

TiVo Series 2, rear panel

Which model do you have?

 

[BornStar]

Originally posted by: Apex

Originally posted by: BornStar18

Originally posted by: Apex
I prefer the ReplayTV because the quality is better, especially from the progressive YPbPr output. The difference is small, but definitely visible on high quality displays.

Is that a statement that ReplayTV is the only one with progressive YPbPr or they have better output quality? While I can't argue with the latter (I don't know because I don't have a progressive TV hooked up to it), I can state that my TiVo unit definitely has progressive YPbPr.

edit: punctuation

Because ReplayTV's have cleaner output, even on S-Video (testing back to back, on all 3 levels of compression).

The TiVo I tested did not have component output, the back looked like this:

TiVo Series 2, rear panel

Which model do you have?

I have the Toshiba SD-H400.

back panel

The output quality is my biggest problem with HTPCs. I have a PC connected to my TV over S-Video and the quality is terrible. I've tried both ATi and nVidia cards for this and neither is nearly as good as my TiVo.

 

[mwtgg]

Right now, the HDTV cards for computers can only do OTA hd, right? So if you have an hdtv subscription through a cable company, it won't work, will it?

 

[Apex]

Originally posted by: BornStar18
I have the Toshiba SD-H400.

back panel

The output quality is my biggest problem with HTPCs. I have a PC connected to my TV over S-Video and the quality is terrible. I've tried both ATi and nVidia cards for this and neither is nearly as good as my TiVo.

I haven't had a chance to test the SD-H400, but the problem with the TiVo is the compression isn't as good as the ReplayTV (thus, s-video to s-video, the ReplayTV is better). There is a chance Toshiba has some improvements though.

S-vid out of HTPC's does tend to rot. However, component and up is very clean.

Originally posted by: mwtgg
Right now, the HDTV cards for computers can only do OTA hd, right? So if you have an hdtv subscription through a cable company, it won't work, will it?

There are PCI HD cards that do QAM as well. Most cable companies encryt their HD feed though.

 

[ucjffj]

Originally posted by: Kilrsat

Originally posted by: BornStar18

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: Kilrsat
Your own HTPC.

Winner.

Advantage = no monthly fees + change your programming over the internet.

PC + Video Card + TV Tuner + PVR Software = Best PVR solution

I spent $80 on my TiVo and I have the option of either no monthly fees (TiVo basic) or changing my programming over the internet (TiVo plus). Even if I went with a lifetime subscription to TiVo plus I would have spent $380 which is at best the same price one would pay for a PC with a PVR quality tuner.

PVR-150MCEs are $70 or less, a Geforce FX 5200 works as a wonderful video card here (hardware mpeg-2 decoding) and can be had for $50, toss in a decent amount of ram, a good size harddrive, and the rest of it can be as cheap as you want. You don't even need gobs of storage if you already have centralized network storage at home. You can always automate the tasks of transfering from the recording PC to your storage one.

Plus you have the bonus of being able to do whatever you want with the recorded shows. Edit out the commercials, reencode in divx/xvid/etc for permanent storage, watch recordings from any PC, stick them on a cd/dvd/whatever, recencode for streaming to your pocketpc.

Its the last point that's the biggest, the recordings are yours to do whatever you want with. No restrictions, no forced ads if you're fast-forwarding through commercials (I really hope TiVo wises up and doesn't go this route), ability to transfer them to as many devices as you want, send clips to your friends on the internet, etc.

You also get the bonus of PCs being multi-function devices, so from this one box you can watch DVDs, listen to music, play games (through the wonders of emulation you can relive your childhood playing your old NES/SNES/Genesis/Sega master system/N64 games). All of that enjoyment for basically the price of your TiVo and its lifetime subscription.

but how does picture quality of pvr150+geforce compare to tivo?

 

[mwtgg]

Originally posted by: Apex

Originally posted by: mwtgg
Right now, the HDTV cards for computers can only do OTA hd, right? So if you have an hdtv subscription through a cable company, it won't work, will it?

There are PCI HD cards that do QAM as well. Most cable companies encryt their HD feed though.

Do you know which cards do QAM? Is there a rundown of HD cards somewhere?

 

[Apex]

Originally posted by: mwtgg

Originally posted by: Apex

Originally posted by: mwtgg
Right now, the HDTV cards for computers can only do OTA hd, right? So if you have an hdtv subscription through a cable company, it won't work, will it?

There are PCI HD cards that do QAM as well. Most cable companies encryt their HD feed though.

Do you know which cards do QAM? Is there a rundown of HD cards somewhere?

Don't know all of them, but here's an example of one:

DVICO FusionHDTV3 Gold QAM

 

[Kilrsat]

Originally posted by: ucjffj

Originally posted by: Kilrsat

Originally posted by: BornStar18

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: Kilrsat
Your own HTPC.

Winner.

Advantage = no monthly fees + change your programming over the internet.

PC + Video Card + TV Tuner + PVR Software = Best PVR solution

I spent $80 on my TiVo and I have the option of either no monthly fees (TiVo basic) or changing my programming over the internet (TiVo plus). Even if I went with a lifetime subscription to TiVo plus I would have spent $380 which is at best the same price one would pay for a PC with a PVR quality tuner.

PVR-150MCEs are $70 or less, a Geforce FX 5200 works as a wonderful video card here (hardware mpeg-2 decoding) and can be had for $50, toss in a decent amount of ram, a good size harddrive, and the rest of it can be as cheap as you want. You don't even need gobs of storage if you already have centralized network storage at home. You can always automate the tasks of transfering from the recording PC to your storage one.

Plus you have the bonus of being able to do whatever you want with the recorded shows. Edit out the commercials, reencode in divx/xvid/etc for permanent storage, watch recordings from any PC, stick them on a cd/dvd/whatever, recencode for streaming to your pocketpc.

Its the last point that's the biggest, the recordings are yours to do whatever you want with. No restrictions, no forced ads if you're fast-forwarding through commercials (I really hope TiVo wises up and doesn't go this route), ability to transfer them to as many devices as you want, send clips to your friends on the internet, etc.

You also get the bonus of PCs being multi-function devices, so from this one box you can watch DVDs, listen to music, play games (through the wonders of emulation you can relive your childhood playing your old NES/SNES/Genesis/Sega master system/N64 games). All of that enjoyment for basically the price of your TiVo and its lifetime subscription.

but how does picture quality of pvr150+geforce compare to tivo?

I don't have a TiVo to compare to, and my pvr-150 won't be here until monday, but my pvr-250 using s-video out to the tv matches nicely with straight s-video out from the DirecTV receiver. I'll still give the nod to the receiver, but it isn't much. My rough analysis says that unless TiVo can manage to use lossy-compression without any actual loss, I'd say it is at best a tie. Granted, I don't have an HDTV, just a regular Toshiba 27", so someone else that has better equipment may have a different idea.

The PVR-150 should produce the same or better results as the PVR-250, since, while its a single chip design, the encoder's capabilities are actually better.