40xx or 50xx vs 55xx and motorola cable box

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv (More info?)

I am new to this forum and have been reading up all I can. I am thinking of
buying the 55xx due to the lower cost with rebates and all. I can get one
for $50. I have been checking E-Bay also, to find the best one.

My question, is the Internet Sharing and Commercial Advance that much
greater on the 40xx or 50xx? As I understand it, I can copy the show to my
computer and share it from there on the Internet. Or I can get a show from
the Internet and burn to DVD and watch on my DVD player or stream it to the
55xx. As for the Commercial Advance, I have heard good and bad about it.
With the 55xx's 30 second advance, I could go through the commercials with
about 5-6 clicks.

My digital cable box is a Motorola with a serial port on the back that has
"DATA" stamped over it. Can the Replay connect into this port and control
the cablebox to change channels? If not, I am left with the lower end
channels and no movie channels to record from.

Thanks in advance for your help and patience.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv (More info?)

On Tue, 26 Apr 2005 09:24:55 -0600, "Danny Hobbs"
<danhobbs_OutofHere_@valornet.com> wrote:

>I am new to this forum and have been reading up all I can. I am thinking of
>buying the 55xx due to the lower cost with rebates and all. I can get one
>for $50. I have been checking E-Bay also, to find the best one.
>
>My question, is the Internet Sharing and Commercial Advance that much
>greater on the 40xx or 50xx? As I understand it, I can copy the show to my
>computer and share it from there on the Internet.

Yes you can, and that works even better. However, there is a
limitation in that you can't get it back on a Repaly (you can actually
get DVArchive to recognize it, but that isn't easy).

> Or I can get a show from
>the Internet and burn to DVD and watch on my DVD player or stream it to the
>55xx

Yes. Consider DVD-RW for those you just want to watch once.

>. As for the Commercial Advance, I have heard good and bad about it.
>With the 55xx's 30 second advance, I could go through the commercials with
>about 5-6 clicks.
>

When it works. You may never know when it messes up. This is even more
likely if the show is still being recorded. The limitations apply even
to the manual method (Show|Nav) which does work on the 55xx units.

>My digital cable box is a Motorola with a serial port on the back that has
>"DATA" stamped over it. Can the Replay connect into this port and control
>the cablebox to change channels?

Probably not. Most cable boxes have this disabled, and the Replay is
set up to use serial only with DirecTV.

> If not, I am left with the lower end
>channels and no movie channels to record from.
>

There's the IR blaster.

>Thanks in advance for your help and patience.
>

--
Mark Lloyd
has a Replay 5xxx
http/notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"The idea that there is an invisible being who
created and still runs this old universe is so
childish, so obviously contrived, that it is hard to
believe anyone with even a modicum of education can
still fall for that scam."

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv (More info?)

As long as I can buy 50xx's I won't buy 55xx's at any price (I have 6 in
one house and 3 in another). While Commercial Advance isn't perfect it's
pretty damn good and greatly enhances my watching enjoyment by being
automatic.
As for Internet Sharing, as long as I have at least one 50xx in my home
for sending & receiving I guess I wouldn't really care about additional
units having it although it is more convenient. If this is your first
RTV then you want it. If you want to use www.poopli.com (and you will)
you'll need it. While a 4xxx has sharing, it's not compatible with a
50xx and there are very few 4xxx users to share with. Originally RTV
promised to make them work together but then, to their credit, decided
to just let anybody trade in either for the other. Most 4xxx units got
traded up to 50xx units when they offered the exchange so there aren't
that many left out there.
While I don't know if the data port on the Motorola box will work with
the RTV (it may), the IR blaster will and can change to any channel the
box can receive.

Fromanny Hobbs
danhobbs_OutofHere_@valornet.com

> I am new to this forum and have been reading up all I can. I am
> thinking of buying the 55xx due to the lower cost with rebates and
> all. I can get one for $50. I have been checking E-Bay also, to find
> the best one.
> My question, is the Internet Sharing and Commercial Advance that much
> greater on the 40xx or 50xx? As I understand it, I can copy the show
> to my computer and share it from there on the Internet. Or I can get
> a show from the Internet and burn to DVD and watch on my DVD player
> or stream it to the 55xx. As for the Commercial Advance, I have heard
> good and bad about it. With the 55xx's 30 second advance, I could go
> through the commercials with about 5-6 clicks.
>
> My digital cable box is a Motorola with a serial port on the back
> that has "DATA" stamped over it. Can the Replay connect into this
> port and control the cablebox to change channels? If not, I am left
> with the lower end channels and no movie channels to record from.
>
> Thanks in advance for your help and patience.

 

[ST]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv (More info?)

Danny Hobbs wrote:

> My question, is the Internet Sharing and Commercial Advance that much
> greater on the 40xx or 50xx? As I understand it, I can copy the show to my
> computer and share it from there on the Internet. Or I can get a show from
> the Internet and burn to DVD and watch on my DVD player or stream it to the
> 55xx.

I think if you're savvy enough to ask about it, you really want a 50xx.

There is a huge difference between clicking a button on IVS menu from
your couch and going to bed, vs... installing DVArchive, copying to the
PC, transcoding, getting the right codecs, babysitting the download,
cleaning up the virus installed by kazaa, converting downloaded files so
the replay can read it, etc.

> As for the Commercial Advance, I have heard good and bad about it.

It's great. It works most of the time, and when it doesn't, it's
trivial to turn off. It's the whole reason I bought a 5040, IVS is just
frosting (though delicious).

> With the 55xx's 30 second advance, I could go through the commercials with
> about 5-6 clicks.

Or just 2 clicks: 3 (advanced) to go forward 3 minutes.

 

[Steph]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv (More info?)

"BruceR" <brNOSPAM@hawaii.com> wrote in news:sQwbe.21230$JB.19173
@tornado.socal.rr.com:

> As long as I can buy 50xx's I won't buy 55xx's at any price (I have 6
in
> one house and 3 in another). While Commercial Advance isn't perfect
it's
> pretty damn good and greatly enhances my watching enjoyment by being
> automatic.
> As for Internet Sharing, as long as I have at least one 50xx in my
home
> for sending & receiving I guess I wouldn't really care about
additional
> units having it although it is more convenient. If this is your first
> RTV then you want it. If you want to use www.poopli.com (and you will)
> you'll need it. While a 4xxx has sharing, it's not compatible with a
> 50xx and there are very few 4xxx users to share with. Originally RTV
> promised to make them work together but then, to their credit, decided
> to just let anybody trade in either for the other. Most 4xxx units got
> traded up to 50xx units when they offered the exchange so there aren't
> that many left out there.

Whoa!!!! Big lump of mis-information there.
There are still plenty of 4xxx owners out there, the Yahoo group and
Poopli try to keep 4xxx and 5xxx traffic separate, as they do not as you
indicated inter-operate. I much prefer the 45xx series and have two
units.

SonicBlue (not RTV) offerred a deal for owners of both a 4xxx AND a 5xxx
-- you could trade one for the other, so I could have traded a newer
5040 down to an older 4504 since I already had a 4504 or vice-cersa to
have two 5040 units. I skipped the middle step and purchased a second
4504 to compliment my first, understanding the incompatiblilities of the
4/5 series' and not banking on vaporware promises.

Content is readily available via Torrents and the like, and are usually
faster to retrieve than using IVS. My colleague get the MPG/AVI from
Torrent then burns to a rewriteable DVD. I plan to follow suit soon.
He *could* alternatively, re-encode those MPGs and then stream them from
his PC to his 5xxx RTV --- I don't have that option as noone has
deciphered the MPG2 encoding used on the 4xxx series (hey if it was
easy, RTV/SB/DCCNA would have made the two units compatible).

I LOVE the CA feature. Works better than 95% of the time for me. But the
quick skip and scene navagation options in the 5xxx and 55xx would be
okay too.


>
> Fromanny Hobbs
> danhobbs_OutofHere_@valornet.com
>
>> I am new to this forum and have been reading up all I can. I am
>> thinking of buying the 55xx due to the lower cost with rebates and
>> all. I can get one for $50. I have been checking E-Bay also, to find
>> the best one.
>> My question, is the Internet Sharing and Commercial Advance that much
>> greater on the 40xx or 50xx? As I understand it, I can copy the show
>> to my computer and share it from there on the Internet. Or I can get
>> a show from the Internet and burn to DVD and watch on my DVD player
>> or stream it to the 55xx. As for the Commercial Advance, I have heard
>> good and bad about it. With the 55xx's 30 second advance, I could go
>> through the commercials with about 5-6 clicks.
>>
>> My digital cable box is a Motorola with a serial port on the back
>> that has "DATA" stamped over it. Can the Replay connect into this
>> port and control the cablebox to change channels? If not, I am left
>> with the lower end channels and no movie channels to record from.
>>
>> Thanks in advance for your help and patience.
>

You will control the cable box via an infrared extender, works fine.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv (More info?)

In article <Xns9644A3B028723skipatroluunet@66.75.43.157>,
Steph <CUT_skipatrol@hotmail.com_CUT> wrote:

> I skipped the middle step and purchased a second
> 4504 to compliment my first,

Really? What does it say? "Hey, good lookin'! Nice blue light there."

Oh, you mean complement.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv (More info?)

To explain a few things you have some errors in your thinking.

With the 40xx and 50xx replays you can indeed share via the internet (no
computer needed however) replay to replay direct, however the replay
must be of the same first digit (IE a 40 can not share with a 50) I
don't know about older units. The 55xx this feature is disabled

The 50xx has ALL the features of the 55xx PLUS IVS (internet video
sharing) and Automatic/manual commercial advance This includes the 30
second skip feature... I should add the 55xx has manual commercial
advance if you would like to try it and see how it works. (Actually
it's "skip to next event" Here is how... When the commercial starts hit
display and note the time code (where you are in the file, ie; 14
minutes, 53 seconds) then press the RIGHT navigation arrow key, If it
skips to say 16 or 17 minutes, and the show looks like "return from
commercial" it worked 100%, If it jumps to like 30 minutes (using the
example of a 14:53 starting time) then it skipped a program segment

But it works,,, It's called SHOW/NAV on the 55, same thing as manual CA
on the 50 though

Can not help you with the cable box, don't have cable, and we live to
help so you are welcome

Danny Hobbs wrote:
> I am new to this forum and have been reading up all I can. I am thinking of
> buying the 55xx due to the lower cost with rebates and all. I can get one
> for $50. I have been checking E-Bay also, to find the best one.
>
> My question, is the Internet Sharing and Commercial Advance that much
> greater on the 40xx or 50xx? As I understand it, I can copy the show to my
> computer and share it from there on the Internet. Or I can get a show from
> the Internet and burn to DVD and watch on my DVD player or stream it to the
> 55xx. As for the Commercial Advance, I have heard good and bad about it.
> With the 55xx's 30 second advance, I could go through the commercials with
> about 5-6 clicks.


--
John F Davis, in Delightful Detroit. WA8YXM(at)arrl(dot)net
"Nothing adds excitement like something that is none of your business"
Diabetic? http/community.compuserve.com/diabetes

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv (More info?)

From:Steph
CUT_skipatrol@hotmail.com_CUT

> "BruceR" <brNOSPAM@hawaii.com> wrote in news:sQwbe.21230$JB.19173
> @tornado.socal.rr.com:
>
>>snip
>
> Whoa!!!! Big lump of mis-information there.
> There are still plenty of 4xxx owners out there, the Yahoo group and
> Poopli try to keep 4xxx and 5xxx traffic separate, as they do not as
> you indicated inter-operate. I much prefer the 45xx series and have
> two units.

But if you're buying for the first time the 50xx has the bigger
population.

> SonicBlue (not RTV) offerred a deal for owners of both a 4xxx AND a
> 5xxx

Before DNNA bought them Sonic Blue WAS RTV.

snip>
>
>>
>> Fromanny Hobbs
>> danhobbs_OutofHere_@valornet.com
>>
>>> I am new to this forum and have been reading up all I can. I am
>>> thinking of buying the 55xx due to the lower cost with rebates and
>>> all. I can get one for $50. I have been checking E-Bay also, to find
>>> the best one.
>>> My question, is the Internet Sharing and Commercial Advance that
>>> much greater on the 40xx or 50xx? As I understand it, I can copy
>>> the show to my computer and share it from there on the Internet. Or
>>> I can get a show from the Internet and burn to DVD and watch on my
>>> DVD player or stream it to the 55xx. As for the Commercial Advance,
>>> I have heard good and bad about it. With the 55xx's 30 second
>>> advance, I could go through the commercials with about 5-6 clicks.
>>>
>>> My digital cable box is a Motorola with a serial port on the back
>>> that has "DATA" stamped over it. Can the Replay connect into this
>>> port and control the cablebox to change channels? If not, I am left
>>> with the lower end channels and no movie channels to record from.
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance for your help and patience.
>>
>
> You will control the cable box via an infrared extender, works fine.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv (More info?)

On Wed, 27 Apr 2005 01:18:01 GMT, John in Detroit
<Blanked@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

>To explain a few things you have some errors in your thinking.
>
>With the 40xx and 50xx replays you can indeed share via the internet (no
>computer needed however) replay to replay direct, however the replay
>must be of the same first digit (IE a 40 can not share with a 50) I
>don't know about older units. The 55xx this feature is disabled
>
>The 50xx has ALL the features of the 55xx PLUS IVS (internet video
>sharing) and Automatic/manual commercial advance This includes the 30
>second skip feature... I should add the 55xx has manual commercial
>advance if you would like to try it and see how it works. (Actually
>it's "skip to next event" Here is how... When the commercial starts hit
>display and note the time code (where you are in the file, ie; 14
>minutes, 53 seconds) then press the RIGHT navigation arrow key, If it
>skips to say 16 or 17 minutes, and the show looks like "return from
>commercial" it worked 100%, If it jumps to like 30 minutes (using the
>example of a 14:53 starting time) then it skipped a program segment
>
>But it works,,, It's called SHOW/NAV on the 55, same thing as manual CA
>on the 50 though
>

And fails the same way too. Show|Nav has been known to skip
commaericals AND part of the show. This is even more likely if the
show is still recording.

>Can not help you with the cable box, don't have cable, and we live to
>help so you are welcome
>
>Danny Hobbs wrote:
>> I am new to this forum and have been reading up all I can. I am thinking of
>> buying the 55xx due to the lower cost with rebates and all. I can get one
>> for $50. I have been checking E-Bay also, to find the best one.
>>
>> My question, is the Internet Sharing and Commercial Advance that much
>> greater on the 40xx or 50xx? As I understand it, I can copy the show to my
>> computer and share it from there on the Internet. Or I can get a show from
>> the Internet and burn to DVD and watch on my DVD player or stream it to the
>> 55xx. As for the Commercial Advance, I have heard good and bad about it.
>> With the 55xx's 30 second advance, I could go through the commercials with
>> about 5-6 clicks.

--
Mark Lloyd
has a Replay 5xxx
http/notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"The idea that there is an invisible being who
created and still runs this old universe is so
childish, so obviously contrived, that it is hard to
believe anyone with even a modicum of education can
still fall for that scam."

 

[Steph]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv (More info?)

"Elmo P. Shagnasty" <elmop@nastydesigns.com> wrote in news:elmop-
EF5B26.21025226042005@text.usenetserver.com:

> In article <Xns9644A3B028723skipatroluunet@66.75.43.157>,
> Steph <CUT_skipatrol@hotmail.com_CUT> wrote:
>
>> I skipped the middle step and purchased a second
>> 4504 to compliment my first,
>
> Really? What does it say? "Hey, good lookin'! Nice blue light there."
>
> Oh, you mean complement.
>

Yeah... I MEANT
complement = as in add to the value of the first.

The 45xx units don't have that cool Blue light
only Red and Green

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv (More info?)

On Wed, 27 Apr 2005 15:32:42 GMT, Steph
<CUT_skipatrol@hotmail.com_CUT> wrote:

>"Elmo P. Shagnasty" <elmop@nastydesigns.com> wrote in news:elmop-
>EF5B26.21025226042005@text.usenetserver.com:
>
>> In article <Xns9644A3B028723skipatroluunet@66.75.43.157>,
>> Steph <CUT_skipatrol@hotmail.com_CUT> wrote:
>>
>>> I skipped the middle step and purchased a second
>>> 4504 to compliment my first,
>>
>> Really? What does it say? "Hey, good lookin'! Nice blue light there."
>>
>> Oh, you mean complement.
>>
>
>Yeah... I MEANT
>complement = as in add to the value of the first.
>
>The 45xx units don't have that cool Blue light
>only Red and Green

LEDs used to not be available in blue. The lowest frequency of visible
light is red, the highest is blue, green and yellow are in between.

--
Mark Lloyd
has a Replay 5xxx
http/notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"The idea that there is an invisible being who
created and still runs this old universe is so
childish, so obviously contrived, that it is hard to
believe anyone with even a modicum of education can
still fall for that scam."

 

[Steph]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv (More info?)

"BruceR" <brNOSPAM@hawaii.com> wrote in news:v6Fbe.21321$JB.10296
@tornado.socal.rr.com:

>
>
> From:Steph
> CUT_skipatrol@hotmail.com_CUT
>
>> "BruceR" <brNOSPAM@hawaii.com> wrote in news:sQwbe.21230$JB.19173
>> @tornado.socal.rr.com:
>>
>>>snip
>>
>> Whoa!!!! Big lump of mis-information there.
>> There are still plenty of 4xxx owners out there, the Yahoo group and
>> Poopli try to keep 4xxx and 5xxx traffic separate, as they do not as
>> you indicated inter-operate. I much prefer the 45xx series and have
>> two units.
>
> But if you're buying for the first time the 50xx has the bigger
> population.
>
>> SonicBlue (not RTV) offerred a deal for owners of both a 4xxx AND a
>> 5xxx
>
> Before DNNA bought them Sonic Blue WAS RTV.
>

Stickler for semantics? RTV was SonicBlue. That is the RTV division,
formed independently (ShowStopper, etc.) was owned by sonicblue. They
also owned MP3 player mfgs and other ventures (GoVideo, etc.).

SoncBlue went bankrupt, the assets of RTV were sold to DNNA

moot I guess.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv (More info?)

Mark Lloyd wrote:

> And fails the same way too. Show|Nav has been known to skip
> commaericals AND part of the show. This is even more likely if the
> show is still recording.

Uh, I kind of said that (I said to hit display first and note how many
minutes it skipped ahead, skipping 2-4 minutes, good, skipping 15
minutes (about) means it skipped a bunch of program.

--
John F Davis, in Delightful Detroit. WA8YXM(at)arrl(dot)net
"Nothing adds excitement like something that is none of your business"
Diabetic? http/community.compuserve.com/diabetes

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv (More info?)

"Danny Hobbs" <danhobbs_OutofHere_@valornet.com> wrote:

> My digital cable box is a Motorola with a serial port on the back that
> has "DATA" stamped over it. Can the Replay connect into this port and
> control the cablebox to change channels? If not, I am left with the
> lower end channels and no movie channels to record from.

My 50xx unit can only control the Motorola cable box I have via
IRBlaster; the cable did nto work at all.


--
Jeff

===================================================================
NOTE: Remove underscores from my e-mail address to reply personally.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv (More info?)

On Thu, 28 Apr 2005 02:26:14 GMT, John in Detroit
<Blanked@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

>
>
>Mark Lloyd wrote:
>
>> And fails the same way too. Show|Nav has been known to skip
>> commaericals AND part of the show. This is even more likely if the
>> show is still recording.
>
>Uh, I kind of said that (I said to hit display first and note how many
>minutes it skipped ahead, skipping 2-4 minutes, good, skipping 15
>minutes (about) means it skipped a bunch of program.

True. Also, it can be difficult to recover from an accidental press of
the Show|Nav button (you'd then need to press 'display' BEFORE that
accidental press).

--
Mark Lloyd
has a Replay 5xxx
http/notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"The idea that there is an invisible being who
created and still runs this old universe is so
childish, so obviously contrived, that it is hard to
believe anyone with even a modicum of education can
still fall for that scam."

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv (More info?)

On Thu, 28 Apr 2005 02:38:28 -0500, Jeff Lindstrom
<j_r_lind@adelphia.net> wrote:

>"Danny Hobbs" <danhobbs_OutofHere_@valornet.com> wrote:
>
>> My digital cable box is a Motorola with a serial port on the back that
>> has "DATA" stamped over it. Can the Replay connect into this port and
>> control the cablebox to change channels? If not, I am left with the
>> lower end channels and no movie channels to record from.
>
> My 50xx unit can only control the Motorola cable box I have via
>IRBlaster; the cable did nto work at all.

As people say, the serial cable works ONLY with DirecTV receivers.

--
Mark Lloyd
has a Replay 5xxx
http/notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"The idea that there is an invisible being who
created and still runs this old universe is so
childish, so obviously contrived, that it is hard to
believe anyone with even a modicum of education can
still fall for that scam."

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv (More info?)

Mark Lloyd wrote:
> On Thu, 28 Apr 2005 02:26:14 GMT, John in Detroit
> <Blanked@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
>
>>
>>Mark Lloyd wrote:
>>
>>
>>>And fails the same way too. Show|Nav has been known to skip
>>>commaericals AND part of the show. This is even more likely if the
>>>show is still recording.
>>
>>Uh, I kind of said that (I said to hit display first and note how many
>>minutes it skipped ahead, skipping 2-4 minutes, good, skipping 15
>>minutes (about) means it skipped a bunch of program.
>
>
> True. Also, it can be difficult to recover from an accidental press of
> the Show|Nav button (you'd then need to press 'display' BEFORE that
> accidental press).

True, which is why I said to press DISPLAY before the INTENTIONAL press
of the Show/NAV

--
John F Davis, in Delightful Detroit. WA8YXM(at)arrl(dot)net
"Nothing adds excitement like something that is none of your business"
Diabetic? http/community.compuserve.com/diabetes

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv (More info?)

On Thu, 28 Apr 2005 20:43:48 GMT, John in Detroit
<Blanked@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

>Mark Lloyd wrote:
>> On Thu, 28 Apr 2005 02:26:14 GMT, John in Detroit
>> <Blanked@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>
>>>Mark Lloyd wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>And fails the same way too. Show|Nav has been known to skip
>>>>commaericals AND part of the show. This is even more likely if the
>>>>show is still recording.
>>>
>>>Uh, I kind of said that (I said to hit display first and note how many
>>>minutes it skipped ahead, skipping 2-4 minutes, good, skipping 15
>>>minutes (about) means it skipped a bunch of program.
>>
>>
>> True. Also, it can be difficult to recover from an accidental press of
>> the Show|Nav button (you'd then need to press 'display' BEFORE that
>> accidental press).
>
>True, which is why I said to press DISPLAY before the INTENTIONAL press
>of the Show/NAV

Yes, and then I added that you'd need to press DISPLAY before any
UNINTENTIONAL presses too.

--
Mark Lloyd
has a Replay 5xxx
http/notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"The idea that there is an invisible being who
created and still runs this old universe is so
childish, so obviously contrived, that it is hard to
believe anyone with even a modicum of education can
still fall for that scam."