ReplayTV - can it work with an old cable box with no input..

Chuck

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Nov 19, 2001
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Hi all,

Amazon is having a nice deal on the ReplayTV RTV5504 and I was
thinking of picking one up to replace our dying VCR, but I can't
really tell if it's going to work with the setup I have. We have a
pretty old cable box that has no inputs or outputs at all aside from
the coax. We have to have the cable box to tune in to some of the
higher numbered channels. Trading in the cable box for a newer one is
not an option because we don't have digital cable and that's all the
cable company wants to deal with nowadays.

Can the ReplayTV work with this kind of ancient cable box? All the
setup docs I've seen assume that your cable box has at least some kind
of input and output ports.

Thanks for any info you can provide.

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

Chuck wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Amazon is having a nice deal on the ReplayTV RTV5504 and I was
> thinking of picking one up to replace our dying VCR, but I can't
> really tell if it's going to work with the setup I have. We have a
> pretty old cable box that has no inputs or outputs at all aside from
> the coax. We have to have the cable box to tune in to some of the
> higher numbered channels. Trading in the cable box for a newer one is
> not an option because we don't have digital cable and that's all the
> cable company wants to deal with nowadays.
>
> Can the ReplayTV work with this kind of ancient cable box? All the
> setup docs I've seen assume that your cable box has at least some kind
> of input and output ports.
>
> Thanks for any info you can provide.
>
> Chuck.
More than likely you have no problem.
You "need" the old cable box because your TV is so old it will not tune
the higher number channels. The Replay CAN tune these channels. The only
exception to this would be if you lived in row houses/etc. Some cable
companies scramble the signal to prevent piracy and the box
de-scrambles. I doubt this is your case.

You would put a splitter on the cable before the box and feed the box
and the Replay separately. connect the audio/video outs to the TV a/v
ins. You can now watch and record different things.

BTW, Anything on this newsgroup is ancient history. Anything Replay
happens on the Replay forum at avsforums.com (beta testing, info,
problem fixes).

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=27


A PVR will totally change the way you watch TV. Be prepared.
 
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Chuck wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Amazon is having a nice deal on the ReplayTV RTV5504 and I was
> thinking of picking one up to replace our dying VCR, but I can't
> really tell if it's going to work with the setup I have. We have a
> pretty old cable box that has no inputs or outputs at all aside from
> the coax. We have to have the cable box to tune in to some of the
> higher numbered channels. Trading in the cable box for a newer one is
> not an option because we don't have digital cable and that's all the
> cable company wants to deal with nowadays.
>
> Can the ReplayTV work with this kind of ancient cable box? All the
> setup docs I've seen assume that your cable box has at least some kind
> of input and output ports.
>
> Thanks for any info you can provide.
>
> Chuck.

Does your cable box have an InfraRed Remote? REplay can work with those
if it has to... It is very flexible... Anywhere a VCR works, it can work
 
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Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv (More info?)

Although it takes 8-10 hours to transfer a 1 hour standard quality show,
it's still a valuable feature. If I miss something that I really want to
see I can usually find it on poopli.com and be able to watch it the next
day. Even without that feature I'd still recommend the 50xx models for
the Commercial Advance feature.

From:Mark Lloyd
mlloyd@5xxxmail.com5xxx

snip>
> That (IVS) might not seem so attractive when you think about how long
> it takes to send a show (about 870MB/hr at Standard Quality).
>
> Also, the presence of IVS has no effect on local streaming (to other
> Replays or DVArchive).
 
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On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 19:08:29 GMT, "BruceR" <brNOSPAM@hawaii.com>
wrote:

>Although it takes 8-10 hours to transfer a 1 hour standard quality show,
>it's still a valuable feature. If I miss something that I really want to
>see I can usually find it on poopli.com and be able to watch it the next
>day. Even without that feature I'd still recommend the 50xx models for
>the Commercial Advance feature.
>

Did you know that the more popular shows will usually be available on
newsgroups? You can usually download these in much less time, since
you're not limited by someone's upload speed. I've done that several
times for Enterprise and Stargate SG-1 episodes.

Of course, this lacks a good search engine. However many shows have
thier own groups.

>From:Mark Lloyd
>mlloyd@5xxxmail.com5xxx
>
>snip>
>> That (IVS) might not seem so attractive when you think about how long
>> it takes to send a show (about 870MB/hr at Standard Quality).
>>
>> Also, the presence of IVS has no effect on local streaming (to other
>> Replays or DVArchive).
>

--
60 days until the winter solstice celebration

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com
 
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Did not know that. I'll check it out. So do those files come into the PC
and show up through DVA?

From:Mark Lloyd
mlloyd@5xxxmail.com5xxx

> On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 19:08:29 GMT, "BruceR" <brNOSPAM@hawaii.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Although it takes 8-10 hours to transfer a 1 hour standard quality
>> show, it's still a valuable feature. If I miss something that I
>> really want to see I can usually find it on poopli.com and be able
>> to watch it the next day. Even without that feature I'd still
>> recommend the 50xx models for the Commercial Advance feature.
>>
>
> Did you know that the more popular shows will usually be available on
> newsgroups? You can usually download these in much less time, since
> you're not limited by someone's upload speed. I've done that several
> times for Enterprise and Stargate SG-1 episodes.
>
> Of course, this lacks a good search engine. However many shows have
> thier own groups.
>
>> From:Mark Lloyd
>> mlloyd@5xxxmail.com5xxx
>>
>> snip>
>>> That (IVS) might not seem so attractive when you think about how
>>> long it takes to send a show (about 870MB/hr at Standard Quality).
>>>
>>> Also, the presence of IVS has no effect on local streaming (to other
>>> Replays or DVArchive).
>>
>
> --
> 60 days until the winter solstice celebration
>
> Mark Lloyd
> http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com
 
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On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 19:22:51 GMT, "BruceR" <brNOSPAM@hawaii.com>
wrote:

>Did not know that. I'll check it out. So do those files come into the PC
>and show up through DVA?
>

They're things you download. Most are MPG format like Replay files.
It's supposed to be possible to make them acceptable to the Replay,
but that's complicated I just use DVD-RW if I want to watch one.

>From:Mark Lloyd
>mlloyd@5xxxmail.com5xxx
>
>> On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 19:08:29 GMT, "BruceR" <brNOSPAM@hawaii.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Although it takes 8-10 hours to transfer a 1 hour standard quality
>>> show, it's still a valuable feature. If I miss something that I
>>> really want to see I can usually find it on poopli.com and be able
>>> to watch it the next day. Even without that feature I'd still
>>> recommend the 50xx models for the Commercial Advance feature.
>>>
>>
>> Did you know that the more popular shows will usually be available on
>> newsgroups? You can usually download these in much less time, since
>> you're not limited by someone's upload speed. I've done that several
>> times for Enterprise and Stargate SG-1 episodes.
>>
>> Of course, this lacks a good search engine. However many shows have
>> thier own groups.
>>
>>> From:Mark Lloyd
>>> mlloyd@5xxxmail.com5xxx
>>>
>>> snip>
>>>> That (IVS) might not seem so attractive when you think about how
>>>> long it takes to send a show (about 870MB/hr at Standard Quality).
>>>>
>>>> Also, the presence of IVS has no effect on local streaming (to other
>>>> Replays or DVArchive).
>>>
>>
>> --
>> 60 days until the winter solstice celebration
>>
>> Mark Lloyd
>> http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com
>

--
60 days until the winter solstice celebration

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com
 
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Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv (More info?)

Sorry for the omission, but it can be east to forget to include
something in an explanation when you are used to it.

The files you download are usually RAR compressed files. You'll need a
shareware program such as the one at http://www.rarlab.com/ This
converts them to MPG files.

On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 15:53:41 -0500, Mark Lloyd
<mlloyd@5xxxmail.com5xxx> wrote:

>On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 19:22:51 GMT, "BruceR" <brNOSPAM@hawaii.com>
>wrote:
>
>>Did not know that. I'll check it out. So do those files come into the PC
>>and show up through DVA?
>>
>
>They're things you download. Most are MPG format like Replay files.
>It's supposed to be possible to make them acceptable to the Replay,
>but that's complicated I just use DVD-RW if I want to watch one.
>
>>From:Mark Lloyd
>>mlloyd@5xxxmail.com5xxx
>>
>>> On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 19:08:29 GMT, "BruceR" <brNOSPAM@hawaii.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Although it takes 8-10 hours to transfer a 1 hour standard quality
>>>> show, it's still a valuable feature. If I miss something that I
>>>> really want to see I can usually find it on poopli.com and be able
>>>> to watch it the next day. Even without that feature I'd still
>>>> recommend the 50xx models for the Commercial Advance feature.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Did you know that the more popular shows will usually be available on
>>> newsgroups? You can usually download these in much less time, since
>>> you're not limited by someone's upload speed. I've done that several
>>> times for Enterprise and Stargate SG-1 episodes.
>>>
>>> Of course, this lacks a good search engine. However many shows have
>>> thier own groups.
>>>
>>>> From:Mark Lloyd
>>>> mlloyd@5xxxmail.com5xxx
>>>>
>>>> snip>
>>>>> That (IVS) might not seem so attractive when you think about how
>>>>> long it takes to send a show (about 870MB/hr at Standard Quality).
>>>>>
>>>>> Also, the presence of IVS has no effect on local streaming (to other
>>>>> Replays or DVArchive).
>>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> 60 days until the winter solstice celebration
>>>
>>> Mark Lloyd
>>> http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com
>>

--
60 days until the winter solstice celebration

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com
 
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Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv (More info?)

Mark Lloyd wrote:


> Did you know that the more popular shows will usually be available on
> newsgroups? You can usually download these in much less time, since
> you're not limited by someone's upload speed. I've done that several
> times for Enterprise and Stargate SG-1 episodes.

My long term plan is to have DV-Archive store in a shared directory on a
LINUX machine with an FTP server program pointed to said directory as
it's "root" (not the real root, that is never shared) and a very high
speed (Cable) connection to the internet... Same cable will, of course,
feed the RTV that will sit next to the LInux box (less I built an "Home
brew" rtv into the linux box,,, it can do that, Linux (SuSe 9.x) has
support for TV cards built in)

But till then...... Can you give me any places where I might find
Enterprise and SG1 and ALIAS!!! (Crossing Jordan, CSI, Medical
Invesitgation, and a few other shows) for download in 5x format? (Or for
that matter any mpg format... Power DVD with Elcard codecs is not very
fussy) Thanks
 
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On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 23:45:10 GMT, John in Detroit
<Blanked@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

>Mark Lloyd wrote:
>
>
>> Did you know that the more popular shows will usually be available on
>> newsgroups? You can usually download these in much less time, since
>> you're not limited by someone's upload speed. I've done that several
>> times for Enterprise and Stargate SG-1 episodes.
>
>My long term plan is to have DV-Archive store in a shared directory on a
> LINUX machine with an FTP server program pointed to said directory as
>it's "root" (not the real root, that is never shared) and a very high
>speed (Cable) connection to the internet... Same cable will, of course,
>feed the RTV that will sit next to the LInux box (less I built an "Home
>brew" rtv into the linux box,,, it can do that, Linux (SuSe 9.x) has
>support for TV cards built in)
>
>But till then...... Can you give me any places where I might find
>Enterprise and SG1 and ALIAS!!! (Crossing Jordan, CSI, Medical
>Invesitgation, and a few other shows) for download in 5x format? (Or for
>that matter any mpg format... Power DVD with Elcard codecs is not very
>fussy) Thanks

You need to search the list of newsgroups in your newsreader. The name
will have "binaries" in the name, as well as the show title or some
variation. If there's no "enterprise" group (there wasn't at the time
I downloaded an episode), look for "startrek".

--
60 days until the winter solstice celebration

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com
 
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Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv (More info?)

Went and searched for some shows but found little of interest. I'll
stick with poopli.com - easy and comprehensive albeit slow through IVS.

From:Mark Lloyd
mlloyd@5xxxmail.com5xxx

> On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 19:22:51 GMT, "BruceR" <brNOSPAM@hawaii.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Did not know that. I'll check it out. So do those files come into
>> the PC and show up through DVA?
>>
>
> They're things you download. Most are MPG format like Replay files.
> It's supposed to be possible to make them acceptable to the Replay,
> but that's complicated I just use DVD-RW if I want to watch one.
>
>> From:Mark Lloyd
>> mlloyd@5xxxmail.com5xxx
>>
>>> On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 19:08:29 GMT, "BruceR" <brNOSPAM@hawaii.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Although it takes 8-10 hours to transfer a 1 hour standard quality
>>>> show, it's still a valuable feature. If I miss something that I
>>>> really want to see I can usually find it on poopli.com and be able
>>>> to watch it the next day. Even without that feature I'd still
>>>> recommend the 50xx models for the Commercial Advance feature.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Did you know that the more popular shows will usually be available
>>> on newsgroups? You can usually download these in much less time,
>>> since you're not limited by someone's upload speed. I've done that
>>> several times for Enterprise and Stargate SG-1 episodes.
>>>
>>> Of course, this lacks a good search engine. However many shows have
>>> thier own groups.
>>>
>>>> From:Mark Lloyd
>>>> mlloyd@5xxxmail.com5xxx
>>>>
>>>> snip>
>>>>> That (IVS) might not seem so attractive when you think about how
>>>>> long it takes to send a show (about 870MB/hr at Standard Quality).
>>>>>
>>>>> Also, the presence of IVS has no effect on local streaming (to
>>>>> other Replays or DVArchive).
>>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> 60 days until the winter solstice celebration
>>>
>>> Mark Lloyd
>>> http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com
>>
>
> --
> 60 days until the winter solstice celebration
>
> Mark Lloyd
> http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com