Hey Tom,

I used to work at DIRECTV and am familiar with both of the products that you are referring to.

Currently, the UltimateTV product has the advantage of having dual tuners in the box so that you can record one channel and watch something else, or just record two channels when not watching anything. The only drawback is that the feature set is less than what Tivo gives you.

The Tivo unit does have a dual tuner in it, but the software to activate the second tuner is not yet available. From my friends at DIRECTV, I know they are going to do a software download to the Tivo boxes to activate the second tuner. The problem right now is, no one knows when they are going to do it or are going to be ready to do it.

So, I guess what it boils down to is what it more important at this point, a good set of features, or the dual tuner capability. Eventually, the Tivo units will have the dual tuner capability. Just don;t know when that's going to happen.

Hope this helps. You can e-mail me if you'd like.

 

There's a FAQ on the TiVo web site that indicates that the software upgrade to support the second tuner will happen "this summer". Since they already have a good set of features, I'm leaning this way. I don't think the dual tuner feature is more important to me than the richer features of TiVo, particularly if that feature will be available within months.

The avsforum.com has a very large TiVo forum (supported by TiVo) and a small Ultimate TV forum. There's a couple of people in the UTV forum who claim to have inside knowledge that there will be a software upgrade in May, although it's a minor one and will still not match TiVo's features. They claim that the software upgrade targeted for fall will exceed TiVo's features.

On top of all of this, there's all the rumors about Murdoch partnering with Microsoft and buying out DirecTV (what do you know about that?), which supposedly will mean the death knell for TiVo, who's already been hit hard financially and laid off 25% of their workers (hopefully not the ones working on the dual tuner capability!).

Who knows what the best choice will be in six months or a year?

 

anytime microsoft is involved, the inferior product wins.

 

I have to second the replaytv option... while not as hackable as tivo, there are no continuing costs and the feature set is excellent... had ours for 2 months and could not be more pleased. OK so maybe I could be if it could download info from my dsl instead of a phone line. I may buy a tivo soon though... found a place that sells out of the box units for $100 or less. Makes my financial risk if the co. goes under less and I can always pay the upfront 1 time fee to get lifetime service. although they will probably not last that long...

 

The argument for continued costs with the TiVo compared to th replay are invalid. TiVo gives their subscribers the option of paying monthly or paying a flat fee for lifetime service. A TiVo with the lifetime subscription comes out to be about the same price as a replay, at least when I bought mine. There may be other things about the replay that are better, but my research pointed me to the TiVo and I love it.

Mark

 

Best thing about tivo is that it is linux based... That being said, bought new with the lifetime thing, costs are about equal... but I had heard the ffwd, 30sec skip and other features were better, and ours is working well. Plus Replaytv can be programmed remotely(schedule a recording) from the web! The 2 tuner feature of tivo would be cool... but I have a question, if I have multiple tivos, do I pay $10/month for each? Also has anyone tried the Ultimate TV keyboard on the Tivo or Replay?? I heard you can use it as a wireless keyboard and enter searches much easier.

 

You pay a subscription fee for each TiVo being used.

 

Just FYI, ReplayTV doesn't really exist anymore. They have changed their business model to become a licenser of technology instead of building a box and selling it. So, from a consumer standpoint, ReplayTV no longer exists and it becomes a choice between Tivo and UltimateTV.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Red_s2k
[B]I have to second the replaytv option... while not as hackable as tivo, there are no continuing costs and the feature set is excellent... had ours for 2 months and could not be more pleased. OK so maybe I could be if it could download info from my dsl instead of a phone line.

 

I can assure you, Replay does still exist, my paycheck today confirms that. You can still find some Replay units under the panasonic name. And the company that is in the process of acquiring us, sonicBLUE, has a strong retail presence (they own Rio, Diamond, Sensory Science and Cal Audio and distribute Loewe tv's in the US). Plus, you have the ear of a Replay developer and fellow S2000 owner (me).

 

When TiVo activates the second tuner there will be no additional charge from DirecTV since there is only one access card and it is treated as one receiver.

If you have multiple DirecTiVo receivers and/or stand-alone TiVos, you will get charged $10/month for each physical box.