TiVo Community Forums Archives - Help Me Stop Him!!!

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Help Me Stop Him!!!
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Posted by: JCFrench

A friend asked me about the difference btween a SA TiVo and a Panasonic Showstopper. Said he liked the showstopper because there was no Subscriber fee. Someone give me the best arguement for TiVo and against Showstopper.
I can't let him make this mistake, but I don't know a thing about the showstopper.

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 JCFrench 

 18" x 24" Elliptical Dish 
2 DirecTiVo's (UHAOY) With 4 Inputs 
Networked & Output to 4 TV's & 1 60" RCA.

Posted by: Otto

Plug a VCR into the back of the showstopper and play a tape (any commercial tape, just about). The ShowStopper will notice the macrovision and stop showing anything. The Tivo will work just fine.

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All comments made in this post are my opinion and my opinion alone. Deal with it.
Otto, Zen TiVo Master - Moderator - AVS Tivo Forums - Tivo Underground, Tivo Coffee House
"The way of the portable computer user is as a stony path strewn with plugs and sockets, all the wrong size..." -- Terry Pratchett

Posted by: ybrew

ReplayTV:

1) No ToDo list. Not able to determine exactly what shows will record.

2) Very Confusing Disk management system.
Guaranteed/non-guaranteed recordings?!?!?

3) Menu System more complex.

4) Steeper learning curve compared to TiVo.

(not to say the replay is hard to use, cause it's not, but TiVo is easier. Some on the Replay board will say TiVo is too kid friendly and site this as a Replay advantage).

5) Upgradability. Yes, the ReplayTV has been hacked and you can add more disk space, but I believe doing so is more complicated than with TiVo

The number one reason I got rid of my Replay:

6) Replay compresses Audio at the lower recording levels.

Replay has 3 recording levels: Best, medium, extentend.

At Best, picture is great, audio is great.

At medium, picture is very good, audio is almost mono.

At extended, picture is good, audio is like AM Radio.

To me, the poor audio quality made the replay unusable in all but Best Quality, which wasted too much disk space.

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ybrew,
Colonel, USS TiVo
Moderator Extraordinaire
& Former Replay Owner

Posted by: Scott Stevens

Replay has a subscriber fee, it's just built in to the upfront cost of the box, with no choice like the monthly.

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"Just be the ball, be the ball, be the ball. You're not being the ball, Danny"

Scott

Posted by: JCFrench

Great Reasons!! What is a replay selling for these days. Does Tivo offer a 30 hour system?

------------------
 JCFrench 

 18" x 24" Elliptical Dish 
2 DirecTiVo's (UHAOY) With 4 Inputs 
Networked & Output to 4 TV's & 1 60" RCA.

Posted by: DrStrange

http://www.avsforum.com/ubbtivo/Forum1/HTML/004998.html

Other more speculative points:

Replays new machine requires an always-on net connection for it's guide data, it won't get it through dialup as Tivo and the Showstoppers do. If he has a net connection he should compare Tivo with the new Replay boxes instead of the Showstoppers, assuming he can afford one. From what I can tell the underlying PVR functionality in the 4000s is almost unchanged from the 3000/showstopper, so nearly all of my comparison still applies to the 4000. But the Replay 4000s lack of dialup access and persistent rumors that Panasonic has or will discontinue Showstoppers suggest that Replays dialup access is becoming vestigial which doesn't bode well for it's continuted existence.

[This message has been edited by DrStrange (edited 09-17-2001).]

Posted by: indexer_larry

Sony SVR 2000 is stand-alone TiVo, capacity 30-hours (basic quality, which is much better than VHS EP) and currently sells for $250-300 after $100 mail-in rebate. Plus subscription, of course.

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Box stock SVR 2000 TiVo installed 6 Sep 2001.

Posted by: DrStrange

Well, the built-in subscription argument against Panasonic doesn't really wash anymore since the hardware is so easily found for around the same price as same-size Tivo. But frankly that just looks like another sign the Showstopper is on the way out. I'd be more worried about the apparent lack of a successor that uses Replays dialup service, and what that means to dialup-dependent Replays sold today.