Whoa, this is the advanced FAQ from the AVSForum Message Boards. You may want to check out the FAQ at:

http://www.replaytv.com/partners_products/faq.htm

Yes. Use the model number (PVHS-2000 for 30 hour or PVHS-1000 for 20 hour) and then the serial number.

No. You have to use the QuickSkip button to skip them. QuickSkip skips ahead 30 seconds instantly. Believe me, you really won’t mind that much. Also, beginning with version 3.0, you can enter a number and then QuickSkip to skip ahead that many minutes. For instance, 2 + QuickSkip will skip over a 2-minute commercial break automatically. You can also use this method with Instant Replay to go backward that number of minutes.

For the most part, yes. This is the power of ReplayTV. You can watch the beginning of any show while it is recording. In fact, most Replay users get to the point where they always start watching halfway through the show, so they can skip the commercials. You can watch any recording from the Replay Guide while anything else is recording. What you cannot do is watch one channel live while a different one is recording. To do this, you need to split your cable signal and run it separately to your TV on another input. Of course, this will not work if you only have one digital cable box or satellite receiver.

0-Jump or 999-Instant Replay.

Well, most ReplayTV users rarely use Fast Forward because of QuickSkip, which instantly skips ahead 30 seconds (or any number of minutes). But there are 5 FF (& REW) speeds, which are activated by pressing the FF (or REW) key multiple times:

Yes. It is activated by pressing Play or Instant Replay to finish a FF or Rewind. It's not nearly as pronounced as TiVo's.

Better. When watching any show, you can enter a number and then jump to skip to an exact point in the recording. This is best described with some examples:

• 30 Jump - Jumps 30 minutes into the recording (30 minutes)
• 90 Jump - Jumps an hour and a half into the recording (90 minutes)
• 100 Jump - Jump an hour into the recording (think 1:00)
• 130 Jump - Also jumps an hour and a half into the recording (1:30)
• 180 Jump - Jumps 2 hours and 20 minutes into the recording (1 hour and 80 minutes)

• 2 QuickSkip - Jump ahead 2 minutes (heh, heh, heh)
• 1 Instant Replay - Jump backward 1 minute

There is no 800 number and yes, you will have to make toll calls. This can get very expensive ($20-$30 a month). You can check this out before purchase by going to http://www.replaytv.com/customer/dial.htm. Some people get around this by unplugging the phone cord and only letting their unit dial out a couple times a week. Other people put in the wrong Zip Code so they can dial a cheaper number, but I don't know what this does to cable listings. You might try going to the web site, writing down the number and then adding that as your dialing prefix (this works). The additional digits of your Replay-chosen number will be thrown away. You could also use this method for 10-10 numbers, if that would help.

Usually less than an hour.

They have the modem silenced, there is no fan and the hard drive makes about the same amount of noise as any other Quantum hard drive (fairly quiet by hard drive standards). The 60-hour units use Maxtor drives instead, which are generally slightly louder than Quantums.

Maybe. There are a few workarounds that have been suggested:

• Your cable company may have an addressable converter (a cable box that arranges the channels so that they are in order instead of two separate feeds) available for a very low cost (maybe $3-$5 per month). This is probably your best option if you can get it.
• You can run one cable directly into the ReplayTV and the other through your VCR and then into the line inputs. This is a complicated setup, but some people have gotten it to work (don't ask me, because I really don't understand how). ReplayTV will add 100 to the B channels if you do this.
• With prices falling the way they are, you may want to just get 2 ReplayTVs and put one on each cable. This is another good option, if you are not tight on cash.

Use a long phone cord. If you can't do that, use a wireless phone jack. They can be had for around $75. Make sure it is rated for 56K modems, as many still on the market are only rated at 14.4. People have had good success with the RCA 930 (not 926) and the Phonex PX-441.

Only DirecTV is supported for serial contol. This means that digital cable boxes and DISH Network are not supported (apparently they have no support for channel changes on the serial port).

The following DirecTV satellite receivers have worked for some people:

• Sony B3 DSS
• RCA DRD203RW (use the Wideband data port)
• Sony SAT-B1

The following receivers have had problems with serial control for some people:

• Hughes D45
• Sony SAT-B1

Check out this site, it may help you out:

http://www.carltonbale.com/dish

You can use both. ReplayTV adds 1000 to whichever one has less channels so the channels don't overlap.

Yes, but you will find that ReplayTV replaces most (but not all) of these features with very functional equivalents. But if you are in the market, you may want to consider a low-cost receiver, since you will not be using it's features much anyway.

You may need to build an "IR fort" around the IR blaster, so that no stray signals come in from the outside. Basically, just cover the IR blaster somehow so that no outside light can get in. You may also want to check out the Tweaker section for information on IR fine-tuning codes.

No. According to Replay employees, the unit cools using convection, and this would defeat it. In fact, putting it into a completely enclosed cabinet with poor ventilation is not a good idea. Definitely do not put it under something that will block the vents on top or next to another device that feels hot to the touch.

No. For broadcast channels, e-mail the list of missing channels to marknu@flash.net. He has offered to help on the AVSForum and has been able to do something about it in the past.

For cable or satellite channels, call Customer Service and notify them of the situation. Or, you can go to TMS' website and submit the changes yourself. Generally it takes a couple of days.

In the meantime, you can set up a Manual Record on that channel by hitting Display when you're on the channel field. Then you can enter the channel manually.

Also, if you have a shared channel in your lineup, you may want to look around. Replay will put the shared channel on a different channel number, but it will still tune correctly behind the scenes.

Call Customer Service. Most people get their new unit within two days. It is cross-shipped and your Credit Card is not charged if you return your old unit promptly. Some people have reported recently that it may take 3-4 weeks to get a replacement and that it is no longer cross-shipped.

Probably not. It can record 60 hours at Low (ReplayTV) / Extended (Panasonic) quality. At this quality, motion tends to become significantly pixellated and computer graphics may crawl noticably. Many find it to be unwatchable for all but talking head shows. At Medium quality, most shows are pretty watchable, except for those that have a lot of action or motion (sports, action movies, etc.). Shows with a lot of motion may still noticeably break up at Medium, although some people find it to be okay. At Medium, you can record only 30 hours total (so Medium takes 2x the listed space). High quality takes 3x the listed space, giving a total of 20 hours. You can mix and match quality levels on a per-record basis. The Live buffer is always at High quality, and always reserves at least 20 minutes (which, if you are following this, is 1 of your hours). Without going into details, let me just say that the sound is affected similarly by the different compression levels.

There are several things that affect the acceptability of recording levels:

• Size of your television
• Picture quality of your television
• Signal strength (and you may introduce an additional split when using ReplayTV)
• How good your vision is
• How good your sound system is
• How much of an audiophile you are

Try out the different levels and see how they work for you.

There is no limit to the Live buffer. You can Pause up to almost 20 hours (on a 60 hour unit) if you have nothing else recorded. It is always going when you watch live TV. You can't stop or limit it.

It makes no sense, but if you are in the Channel Guide and want to bring up the menu options for a show that's currently playing, you have to press Enter instead of Select. At all other times you would press Select. According to Replay, this is not a bug, but a design decision.

• The most serious difference between the two units is the implementation of Macrovision copy-protection. The Replay-branded units will allow you to watch a copy-protected signal (like a DVD or a rented videotape) through the Replay as well as let you record it to the Replay. So you could, if you wanted to, rent a DVD and record it to the Replay for viewing later. Note that the Replay will re-insert the copy protection when you play the program back, so you can't make an illegal copy. The Showstopper unit handles this differently: if Macrovision is detected on the incoming signal, the unit will refuse to record the signal at all. This means that not only can't you record a copy protected program to the unit, but you can't even view it through the Showstopper. This isn't really a problem if your TV has plenty of inputs, but if you are short and want to run the DVD or VCR through the Showstopper, you're going to be out of luck. However, there have been some recent complaints from Showstopper owners who have seen their units block a standard broadcast signal because it erroneously thought that it was copy protected. Replay and Panasonic are apparently trying to sort this out... But the vast majority of Showstopper owners are not having this problem at all, so chances are that you won't come across this. But if you feel at all insecure about this, you should consider a Replay-brand unit instead.
• One other recent difference was also that when the Replay 3.0 OS was released, Showstopper owners had to wait a few additional weeks before they received the upgrade while Replay-branded units already had it. This was obviously disconcerting to Showstopper owners at that time, but it was really only a matter of a few weeks, and no one will really remember it into the future.
• Also, Panasonics have a 90-day labor, 1 year parts warranty. So, this amounts to a 90-day warranty, since it's probably cheaper to buy a drive (most likely thing to fail) than to repair one and pay the shipping and labor costs. ReplayTV brand units have a 1 year parts & labor warranty.

Panasonic and ReplayTV 3xxx and later – Yes, ReplayTV prior to 3xxx – No. There is currently a bug in CC that causes it to disappear when you go into the Advanced recording options menu for padding or choosing days of the week. Resetting your Replay by holding the Power button on the front of the unit for around 10 seconds (until the screen flickers) will bring it back.

The tuner in the older ReplayTV units (2020, etc.) is not very good. This problem does not seem to happen in the Panasonic models. Obviously, the easy way to fix it is to come in with RCA jacks and bypass the internal tuner. If this is not possible, many people have found the 15-1961 from Radio Shack to be very helpful in working around this problem.

ReplayTV – Yes, Panasonic – No. ReplayTV strips out Macrovision protection and then adds it back in after playback. Panasonic completely blocks Macrovision and will give a warning message on the screen instead.

No. Only commercial recordings such as DVDs or VHS tapes from major studios have Macrovision protection.

This is a known bug. If you are seeing this and you can still return your unit, I would do that. The ReplayTV branded units handle Macrovision differently and do not do this. Apparently some signals on some cable systems appear to be Macrovision-encoded to the Showstoppers even when they are not. If you are having this problem, it will likely be ongoing on that channel.

Another option might be to get a filter which cleans the signal on its way into the Showstopper. Some people have used their VCR for this purpose.

You can save things to videotape as long as they are not Macrovision protected. You currently must save shows to VCR one at a time, although the ability to chain shows for Save To VCR is an often requested feature.

Some PPV systems now have full listings. Other PPV channels now show up in the guide with just empty blocks. However, you can use these channels for Manual Recordings, even if the are not in your Channel Guide. You can also do a Manual Recording from an input by pressing Display where it asks you for the channel.

You can indeed record the Line inputs directly. In the Manual Record sequence, when you reach the page where you select the channel, just press DISPLAY. This will allow you to select the input of your choice. If it was configured in Setup as a device Replay knows how to tune (e.g. a DirecTV receiver), then you can optionally have the ReplayTV send tuning commands to the connected device. In the case of 4DTV, since ReplayTV doesn't have tuning commands for that device, it is unable to tune it.

Take a look at www.iwantptv.com

Between 2 AM and 6 AM.

It will try again later, up to 3 times per night according to ReplayTV employees.

Yes. But how many calls do you make between 2 AM and 6 AM?

Beginning with 3.0, they have taken great strides to ensure this will not happen. Now, you are more likely to miss your download.

It will stop downloading and recover gracefully. It will try again a couple hours later, up to 3 times per night. This is the official word, although some people dialing over long distance have reported as many as 13 attempts.

If your ReplayTV fails to dial in to the network, it will pick up everything the next time it dials in (usually the next day). You can use the unit normally, but will be unable to schedule anything 8 days in advance. If you are worried about it, or you see "holes" in the channel guide, you can force a Net Connect by going to live TV and pressing 243-Zones. From there you will see an option to do a net connect.

If this does not fix the holes in your Channel Guide, you can go into setup and select a different zip code, do a full download and then go back and change back to your own zip code and do it again. Some people have had success with this.

Or, you could just schedule manual recordings for the missing times.

"Could not connect to the network." Try hitting Menu, going into the Setup for Phone Numbers and see if you can select a different number. Also, make sure that the latest software upgrade did not add or remove of some of the extra digits you need to use (such as 1-562 becoming 562 or vice versa or these digits being dropped altogether in favor of a 7 digit string). Also, you might try selecting an alternate number and see if that works better.

Also, did you recently discontinue call waiting from your phone company? If so, you might still be entering the code to disable it on your ReplayTV.

This often happens because of voice mail from your phone company. When you have a message, you will get a stutter tone instead of a normal dial tone. ReplayTV will not dial out unless it senses a true dial tone. Check your channel guide to see if you have full listings for the next 7-8 days (you can use FF and Rewind in the channel guide to go forward and back 12 hours at a time). Some people have seen this message even after a successful download. If you are missing data, you can force a network connect by going to Live TV and pressing 243-Zones.

To fix the problem, go into the Dialing Prefix setup screen and press Zones. From there, you can turn off dial tone detection.

Here is a list of steps you can take:

1. Change dial-up numbers. Go into Menu, Setup, Change Dialing and Input Options and select a different ("alternate") number. Some people have had success by changing their zip code (and area code?) to a different one and then changing it back later to refresh the dial-up number list.
2. Unplug everything from the phone line except for the ReplayTV, especially cordless devices. Some cordless devices generate less interference if they are sitting on the base unit.
3. If you are using a wireless jack for the Replay, try a stringing long cord temporarily to see if that helps.
4. Reboot your machine by powering it off on the front panel, waiting until you hear the disk spin down and then pulling the plug. Wait 30 seconds and plug it back in.
5. Go to live TV and press 411-Zones and see if the modem is listed on the screen. If it never displays the modem's response string, it is probably fried. If it says "empty I6 response", that's not an error. It's just that that particular brand of modem doesn't return "Link Diagnostics" information.
6. If your phone cord is going through a surge protector, unplug that from the loop.
7. Here's a really unorthodox one. Some people have gotten their Replay to dial in by listening to the connection on another extension or especially a muted speakerphone. While seemingly a bad idea, apparently this seems to cause enough noise to force the modem to negotiate down from 56K to a lower setting (33.6 or 28.8 or something). This causes a more stable albeit slower connection, which is less likely to drop carrier.

Press Menu and you will see the Messages menu, perhaps with an envelope next to it. This is where you have to check for messages. You will receive no other notification about failing to dial in or anything else.

Contrary to what you read below, it is my belief (based on personal experience and that of other users of this forum) that even "Guaranteed" Themes and Zones are not guaranteed, and they will sometimes be overridden by "Non-Guaranteed" single or show-based recordings. Also, if you set your show up as non-guaranteed and it did not record, you may be out of space. Count up your recordings and multiply by the quality levels (2 X Medium, 3 X High) to see if your unit is full. Basically, Themes and Zones are not guaranteed, period. "Guaranteed" refers to the space being reserved, not the program being recorded. If you absolutely MUST see a show, do a single or recurring show-based Guaranteed record. Also, among similar priorities, shows beginning earlier get precedence over shows beginning later (a one-hour show starting at 8:00 will get precedence over a half-hour show starting at 8:30). If all else is equal, the recording created first will take precedence over the one created later. In the case of Zones, however, the one on the lower numbered channel will be selected if all else is equal.

Here's the official word from Replay:

CHANNEL RECYCLING RULES
Before we launch into the discussion of priorities, I should take a moment to lay out the rules for channel "recycling" -- the deletion of one show in a channel to make room for a new show. I'll describe the channel recycling policy, and I'll also let you know about a bug I recently found which some of you may experience as well.

The policy is this:

• Single-record channels don't recycle. They record once, and that's it. Non-guaranteed single recordings may be deleted to make room for new guaranteed recordings in other channels, but guaranteed single recordings (this includes "Preserve this episode") stay until deleted by the user.

• Show-based channels recycle based upon the number of episodes you have told the channel to keep. In the case of guaranteed show-based channels, they will record every time the show is on at or near the time you specified, on the channel you specified. When the channel is "full" (it has two episodes in it, and it's set for two episodes), the oldest episode in the channel will be deleted to make room for a new episode. By definition, Show-based channels won't record more often than about once a day, since they're looking for a show to be on at a particular time.

• Non-guaranteed show-based channels behave just like guaranteed ones, EXCEPT: since non-guaranteed channels don't reserve space on the disk, it's also possible for an episode to be deleted before the channel is "full" (e.g. you've told it to keep two episodes, but your disk is pretty full so it deletes the single episode in the channel to make room for recording the new one).

• Theme-based and Zone-based channels are also configured for how much programming they will hold (1/2 hour, 2 hours, etc.), and the oldest program(s) in the channel will be deleted to make room for a new one coming in. Programs in a theme-based channel won't be deleted to make room for a new program until the oldest program in the channel is at least 23 hours 59 minutes old. This way, Theme-based and Zone-based channels that find lots of hits won't just spend all day recording and "starving" other channels.

• ANY non-guaranteed show may be deleted at any time to make room for a new guaranteed recording. If this is necessary, the oldest non-guaranteed recording(s)on the machine will be deleted first.
  

The bug: I found this bug the other day. In 2.0, if your disk is full, and (say) your 2-hour non-guaranteed Science Fiction Zone-based channel has one hour of programming in it when Star Trek comes on, it may delete the show that's in the channel to record the new Star Trek, even if the show in the channel isn't a day old yet. I'm working on a fix for that now, and I'll let you know as soon as I can when we have a date for it to be rolled out.

PRIORITIES
What happens when more than one Replay Channel could potentially record something at a given day and time? Obviously, we can only record one thing, so one of them will have to "win". Which one wins is determined as follows:

1. The highest-priority channels on ReplayTV are guaranteed Show-based and Single-record channels. These are not allowed to be created in conflict with one another, and the intention is that they should always record, barring unusual circumstances like a change in schedule that causes two of them to move into conflict. In this exceptional case, the older channel (the one created first) wins.

2. The next-highest-priority channels on ReplayTV are guaranteed Theme-based and Zone-based channels (including guaranteed Theme-based channels created via Find all Episodes). These will take priority over any non-guaranteed show, but will not interfere with guaranteed Show-based or Single-record channels. No effort is made to prevent the scheduling of overlapping Theme-based or Zone-based channels. In the event that two or more guaranteed Theme-based or Zone-based channels find matching shows that overlap, but start at different times, the show starting first wins. If two or more shows star