[snip]

I would seriously consider buying a Replay 4000 or 5000 series
machine.

I got one on eBay for less than $10. It works fine.

They are dirt cheap now that the guide is not supported

I use 4 Replay 5000s and have no problems with getting a guide. The
official one is gone, but there are alternatives. One is using the
software at http://wirns.com/ . There is a forum there if you need help.
The software (which runs on Windows 98 or later) is free but you do have
to pay for the guide (the usual one is $25/year for ANY NUMBER of
Replays). The software can "activate" the Replay, set the clock, and
transfer shows to a PC. You can even do automatic recording scheduling
across multiple Replays.

but
they work fine as a manual recorder (VCR type of timer)

That's SCHEDULED (Manual would be press 'record' to start and 'stop' to
stop). Anyway, it there's till a need for "activation". A used Replay
may not be usable without it. There's the software I mentioned above or
LaHo (http://www.percdata.com/faq/replaytv).

With a 320g drive in them, it is hard to fill one up and Sound Forge
has the tool (free) to send those shows to a PC.

Although its a lot easier to use WiRNS (see above) or DVA
(http://www.dvarchive.org/). WiRNS is probably better, since it does
other things too.

There are also files
on SF to reload the firmware if you replace/upgrade the drive.


Installing the patched software that allows ALL 5xxx Replays to use
Commercial Advance and Internet Video Sharing.

Source Forge (http://rtvpatch.sourceforge.net/). Note that you do NOT
have to take the drive out of the Replay to do this. You can use a
USB-IDE converter (the Replay acts as a power supply for the drive).

BTW, I have been using Replays almost continuously since late 1999. In
case you care "WiRNS" is Windows Replay Network Server.

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"Any belief worth having must survive doubt."