Tivo/ReplayTV/non-Tivo PVR questions

[imported_Phil]

Originally posted by: MrBond
You'll probably get used to the extra noise eventually. I bought a dehumidifier for my room this summer, it ran 24x7 during periods of high humidity. The first night it was on I had a little trouble getting to sleep, after that I didn't even notice it (in fact, now that it hardly runs, it seems weird without the noise).

A Tivo is a great purchase, I highly reccomend it. The Series 2 (Dark Grey) is quieter than the Series 1, the silver ones might be quieter still.

You want the AMSET program- have a look on Maxtor's website for it.

 

[JackHawksmoor]

I don't really have the option of sticking this in an entertainment center.

I went to Best Buy today to see what they have, and they do have a Toshiba RD-XS32 (with 80GB drive and DVD-RW) for effectivly $360, $20 less than a 40 hour Tivo. My head's telling me I should just get that, since it DOES seem to power everything down, and should work fine for me.

I was really wanting a Tivo though 🙁

Do you guys think I should really risk it, take home a 40 or 80 hour Tivo, but then probably have to return it? Dang, I love the idea of not having to look for schedule changes, which the Toshiba RD-XS32 can't do.

EDIT: Actually Best Buy has Toshiba's combination Tivo/DVD player for $200, which would make it an 80 hour Tivo for the same price as the normal 40 hour. Thing is, I've heard it's even louder than the stand alone unit.

 

[SpunkyJones]

I vote for just buy the Tivo and see how loud it is. I just go home and put my head next to my HR10-250 Tivo, and I hear a slight hum. But five feet away I hear nothing. Try it. I couldn't live with my season passes.

 

[ericb]

I can't imagine wanting to turn it off. I have two old DirecTivo units and have never heard a peep out of them including one in the bed room a few feet away from me. Besides it downloads the guides and updates the software in the middle of the night. Turning it off sort of defeats some of the main purposes of the Tivo...always having the 30 minute shift delay and having it always watching for your season pass shows and recording them no matter what time they're on.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: JackHawksmoor
EDIT: Actually Best Buy has Toshiba's combination Tivo/DVD player for $200, which would make it an 80 hour Tivo for the same price as the normal 40 hour. Thing is, I've heard it's even louder than the stand alone unit.

I would buy that instead of the Toshiba RD-XS32. One bonus feature is FREE Tivo Basic.

However if the monthly fees don't bother you and you don't really need a DVD Player, buy a Tivo series 2. Are they still offering a $100 rebate?

 

[RossMAN]

Interesting, look at what I found on TivoCommunity.com 🙂

Does Tivo really run 24/7? There's no way to change that? (Noise question)

 

[PKPunk]

Originally posted by: geecee
I have an old 20GB Panasonic Showstopper (Replay TV). It has an old Quantum drive in it and you can't hear it at all and it's like 8 feet away from my head in the bedroom. When you shut it off, it spins down the hard drive, but it will spin it back up occasionally to check if anything needs to be recorded, if it is recording, or if its doing the nightly download. It has never woken me up. I can't say if the new Replay models have fans, but the old ones do not, so it's only the sound of the hard drive.

BTW, I also have another Replay that I hacked with a 80GB Maxtor drive. That one I could never have anywhere near the bedroom because the Maxtor drive is ridiculously loud. If you do decide to hack a smaller unit into a larger one, definitely go with a Seagate as someone above suggested. The Maxtors and the WDs are just not quiet enough.

In the newer replayTV's the drive no longer spins down. In the replay 4000/5000/5500 series the drives are constantly on. But when you turn the replay it stops recording video, the hard disk is just spinning. I've got a 5000 series in my bed room and I could never hear the hard disk in it, I could only hear the fan cooling fan which wasn't very loud so it didn't bother. Later I upgraded it with a 120 gig Westren digital drive and it could hear the hard disk clicking if it was recording something in high quality. I could only hear the clicking during High quality records cause they take more bandwith.

To solve the nosie problem I just went to IKEA and bought a cheap 20 dollar TV stand with a glass door on it covering the selves for components. Once I put my upgraded replay in there the noise problem was solved and I'm not having any heat issues with the replay in a enclosed TV stand.

I'd definately get a replay if I were you, automatic comerical skip kicks ass. I can watch about 80% of my shows commercial free and I never have to touch the remote. This feature has been disable on the new replay 5500 because replay got their asses sued off, but you can easily enable it with a hack.

you can find info on enabling the auto comercial skip feature at this site link

 

[faZZter]

You can turn Tivo or ReplayTV off whenever you want to.....


unplug the cord.


Yes, you may hear the fans running a little but really either one of these PVR's aren't very loud at all.
They both have advantages so I won't say which I think is "better" but I will tell you I can't imagine watching TV again w/o them.


I have two ReplayTV 5000 series and one DirecTivo upgraded with a 160 gig drive FYI.