On Fri, 6 Jan 2017 16:24:26 -0600, Mark Lloyd
wrote:


[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).

I thought DNNA removed all of the monthly activation requirements. I
had a message pop up on my monthly that said it was set to lifetime.
If the machine was ever plugged in during that amnesty program it is
lifetime.
At any rate the Manual record does look like an old VCR timer where
you enter time, duration and channel.
My 4000 machine never had an immediate record like a VCR where you
just hit the record button and it bumped up the stop time a half hour
per push.


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.