Looks like ReplayTV is pretty confident about the progress of this early beta program of theirs, since not not even a month since opening up pre-release downloads of their
newly reinvigorated and resurrected ReplayTV product, we're already seeing the launch announcement. You'll be able to get your
ReplayTV PC Edition in a bundled pack included with a
Hauppauge WinTV tuner, as expected, or if you already have the right hardware you can snag the PC software release for $99.95 (with a $20 annual EPG service fee per year, of course). We won't compare that given retail price to the
whole free TiVo thing because ReplayTV and TiVo are now officially on total opposite ends of the DVR spectrum, but when you're looking at ReplayTV versus a Media Center PC, we can imagine some scenarios where it'd be a little difficult to justify that cost. Then again, you are getting such features as Surprise Me (think: TiVo WishList combined with recommendations to find programming with your favorite actors, directors, etc.), fast searches, and a whole slew of other features the other guys have long since used (like show overlap management, program grouping, custom channel lists, and so on). Sorry though everybody, you're still gonna have to wait until September to officially make over that PC into a ReplayTV box, so if you're in the market right now for a new HTPC DVR and didn't get in on that beta, you're gonna have to look elsewhere.
posted June 28th 2006 7:27PM
Ah, ReplayTV....I remember thee fondly. No question, when it was an actual DVR box, it was way ahead of TiVo. I had mine (on a lifetime subscription for more than 3 years now) until this month. I sold it on eBay for several hundred dollars. The auto-commercial skip model is getting rarer and rarer, so they command a healthy premium. I wish they would have kept developing it.
Not to mention a little product like Vista Home Premium that will nullify any advantage to this product on any level.
I am immortal I have inside me blood of Kings.... YEAH
I have no rival no one can be my equal...
Whale away Brian May while I try hard to drink away the memory of Highlander II and III.
DT,
What may I ask did you replace it with. I too have a Replay currently.
Will most likely look into this...
Rick,
I went with an HDTV DVR offered by my cable co. Great picture, dual-tuner, but I still miss the RTV interface.
One thing they could do to get a nice leg up on Windows MCE is to roll out with CableCard support. Not sure if there are any USB2 or PCI interfaces for CableCards yet but having some software support would help with that issue.
I can't see any reference to recording HDTV. I receive both analog and digital channels and some HD channels specifically in HD (2,4,5,7,11,13) and they are not encrypted. So it would be a pity of the new software ignored HD TV. As an existing ReplayTV owner I can atest tot he fact that replay software is very very stable.
Also when is the forst such softare going to allow (combining with hardware manufacturer of tuner cards) going to incorporate CableCard slots?
I have a Replay right now and I love it, but I can't imagine why people would pick this up and pay for the software/subscription with free or much cheaper solutions like MythTV and SageTV out there.
Yeah a monthly epg fee? What is that? Cake + eat = no.
Why get this instead of Myth or Sage? Becuase Myth and Sage suck ass, that's why. This is REPLAY man. The best DVR ever created now running on big ass PC iron with as much disk space as you can throw at it without hacing to resort to hacks. (owner of three hacked Replays here).
As to cable card support: only if Cable Labs agrees to it. In this space (digital cable and cable card) Cable Labs is god and they hold all the cards. The only way you'd see it with this mew Replay PC setup is if the Replay guys agreed to some draconian DRM stuff. I don't see this happening.
I had my first ReplayTV in 1999 and it was fantastic. I still have an upgraded unit in my kids room recording his kids shows. But for my living room and bedroom I have moved on to the cable company's HDTV DVR boxes.
Yet, I still use the ReplayTV occassionally to record a HD shows (downconverted to SD). I just plug it into the S-Video output of an HD cable box, set the cable box to send an anamorphic signal (so I get the true 16x9 signal) and I get a recording that is sharper than most DVD images. Just takes a little bit more to download it to my PC. Works fantastic.
I am a little dissapointed with this offering, honestly. I have been a die hard Replay fan since day one, I had at one point 6 Replay 5000 series units on my home network.
I was hoping they would integrate some backwards compatibilty with the old set top boxes, allowing us to stream from PC to set top and vice versa, but it looks as if that was not in the cards. Not like it would be that difficult, it is just software, after all.
Hopefully, successive versions will integrate something similar, and if not, maybe Gerry can find a way to update his fantastic DVArchive program to add some of that functionality.
The limited tuner support is kind of a killjoy as well, some of us already have a tuner in our system, but even when the full package launches, we wont be able to use it unless it is one of the 2 supported cards.
Also, I hope they do something to try and hang on to those of us that are loyal customers, maybe by giving us a discount on the purchase of the PC Edition with a tuner or by lowering the monthly subscription when added to an existing account, much like a new set top box subscription would be.
C'Mon, Replay, you have always been great at listening to your customer base and evolving your product to do things that no other DVR company has had the balls to do, it's time to step up and prove to us once and for all that you are still the company we hope you are, and that DNNA hasn't neutered you.
One of the superior features of ReplayTV was that it had its own operating system. Linux if Im not mistaken. However this new version goes on top of xp. I can just see the number of freezes and reboots required. Not to bash on winblows but common, we've all been there are sick of it.
No, ReplayTV never used Linux. The old ReplayTV boxes used some kind of proprietary OS. You are probably thinking of TiVo: TiVo uses Linux.
Face it, people, ReplayTV is dead. This is just going to be another also-also-also-also ran DVR software for the PC. Yawn.
I have both ReplayTV and TiVo, still use both. Compared to TiVo, Replay sucks balls. It's got to be the most unintuitive UI and unfriendly time shifting device ever - EXCEPT compared to all the other non-TiVo DVRs, which are EVEN WORSE.
You fanboys always talk about all the various unintegrated features you want, but never consider how these parts are integrated (or not integrated) into the whole. You don't get it. TiVo does. That's why TiVo is still in business and growing stronger every year, winning its patent battles, signing up new partners, increasing its subscriber base and constantly improving the feature set of the standalone TiVo software.
Whereas ReplayTV went bankrupt twice and is now being put out to pasture by its current owners in a no-win attempt to run as software on top of generic PCs.
Ian - no, this isn't ReplayTV. This is an all-new software package, with almost nothing to do with the old ReplayTV software, with the RTV name and logo slapped on it.
No multi-tuner support. No HD support. In fact, only *two* supported cards. Records in the DVR-MS format, no option for MPEG-2/4, DivX, etc. So standard video tools won't work on the recordings.
Compare the features - Beyond TV and SageTV both do more and cost less. And ReplayPC has a $20/year ongoing fee - the others don't.
I posted a small rant about how weak this is: http://www.tivolovers.com/318402.html
The article got it right. ReplayTV is not bringing anything new to the table.
SageTV and other HTPC DVR software is a lap ahead of this relaunched product. http://sagetv.com