[mythtv-users] using replay's hardware

[John P. Poet]

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.

The ReplayTVs work extremely well, and are reliable.  They do glitch
occationally, but not near as often as Myth does.

I own three ReplayTV 4xxx units and use them every day.  The only reason I
am playing with MythTV is for HDTV.  Myth has a lot of potential and some
cool features, but I don't trust it like I do my Replays.

About the only feature Myth has which I wish the ReplayTV did, was to allow
recording a show at any time durring the day, but only on a designated
channel.  The ReplayTV can be told to record a show whenever it is on, but
it does so on any channel, not just the one specified.  It also does not
have the best conflict resolution.

The ReplayTV 4xxx units actually have reasonably good automatic commercial
detection/skipping.

Navigation within a show is excellent -- you can jump to a specific time
within a show, just by entering that time and hitting the JUMP button.  You
can skip forward/backward a specific number of minutes just by entering that
number of minutes and then hitting the SKIP button.  You can fast
forward/rewind at different speeds all the way to over 20x.

The Replays have "pre roll"/"post roll" capabilities.  They can also
*automatically* "post roll" sporting events by up to an hour.

Streaming between two ReplayTV 4XXX units works very well.  You can also
archive ReplayTV shows to a PC (using DVArchive), and then stream them back
from the PC to a ReplayTV.

As far as what is *in* a ReplayTV, yes it is proprietary.  It is running
some sort of specialized real-time operating system -- not Linux.

If you can get a 4504 for under $100, buy it and just use it for what it
is.  If 40 gigabytes is not enough for you, you can use DVArchive and a
networked PC to extend the storage, or you can replace the 40 gig drive with
a bigger one.

John
--

|         |
+--+  ==  |  John Patrick Poet                 Blue Sky Tours
|  |      |  Director of Systems Development   10832 Prospect Ave., N.E.
|     +---+  john at BlueSkyTours.COM             Albuquerque, N.M. 87112
|     |      Ph. 505 293 9462                  Fx. 505 293 6902

On Tue, 20 Jan 2004, David Bishop wrote:

> I see this last came up in September (though the lack of good archive
> searching may have me missing something), but has anyone tried to put a
> normal linux distrobution + myth onto something like the 4504?  The built-in
> remote-control, form-factor, and tv-out are awfully tempting, esp. when I can
> get one from a coworker for under $100.  I saw someone saying that they use
> some weird hardware, but I can't find any specs.  Any leads on finding out
> exactly what's in one?
>
> Any hints or tips would be greatly appreciated!  Thanks!
>
> --
> D.A.Bishop
>