[mythtv-users] using replay's hardware

[John P. Poet]

On Tue, 20 Jan 2004, Kyle Rose wrote:

> "John P. Poet" <john at BlueSkyTours.com> writes:
>
> > Why would you want to?  Myth is cool, but is not what I would call the most
> > stable system.  I also prefer the ReplayTV user interface.
>
> So, for some people, the extensibility offered by an open source
> system like MythTV provides the greatest reason to switch.


I agree with this.  Right now, however, a ReplayTV 4XXX series unit is more
stable/reliable, and has a better user interface.


> I have been a happy TiVo owner for about two years now.  I can't
> imagine going back to regular TV at this point, but the TiVo itself (a
> series 1) has problems that will never be fixed because TiVo wants to
> sell new equipment and associated new lifetime service contracts:
>
> (1) No commercial detection
> (2) God-awful slow interface (50 MHz PPC!  Ack!)
> (3) Inability to deal with DirecTV's fucking-over of RCA receiver
>     owners (more on that via email, if you're interested)
> (4) No categorizing of recordings, even by program title
> (5) No sharing of programs between machines or people
> (6) No ethernet support
> (7) No remote access or streaming to remote front ends
> (8) No burning of program data to VCD/DVD or trancode to open formats
>
> And the list goes on.  Lots of these (5, 6) are resolved by add-ons
> like tivoweb and tivo/turbonet, but they are hacks that TiVo could
> disable with a single software push.  That's too fragile for my taste.


Okay, but the ReplayTV 4XXX series does not have any of these problems
(except maybe for #3, I don't know anything about that).


> MythTV solves all of these problems, and opens the door to solving
> other problems and providing new features merely by virtue of the fact
> that it is *open*.  When I want another tuner, I don't need to run out
> and buy a new $400 TiVo and then blow $250 on a new service contract:
> all I need to do is buy a $130 PVR-250, stuff it into my existing box,
> and voila! extra tuner.


Agreed.  This is why I am playing with Myth.  Especially for HDTV, Myth is
attractive for exactly the reasons you specify.


> Anyway, there you have it.  Even in its current state, I would take
> MythTV over TiVo or Replay any day (and, in fact, have unplugged my
> TiVo in favor of it) simply because I know the thing won't be
> artificially obsoleted in two years time.  With luck, I'll be able to
> keep this box hooked up to my TV for a long, long time.


In it's current state, I would take a ReplayTV 4XXX/5XXX series over
MythTV.  I have high hopes for Myth, but for standard definition TV, the
Replay is just more reliable/usable.


> Cheers,
> Kyle


I am not trying to start an argument, so I hope you don't take my comments
that way.  I am a big fan of the Myth system.  It would be perfectly fine
with me if I end up replacing my ReplayTVs with Myth boxes.  It is just not
there yet.

John