ReplayTV RTV5080 80-Hour Digital Video Recorder

• 80-hour digital video recorder
• Pause live-action TV shows
• High-quality slow-motion and fast forward effects
• Networking ability lets you send programs to other 5000 Series users
• Skip past annoying ads with Commercial Advance feature

Two negative reviews of this product (by "Greg from Avon" and "Red Byer") strike me as unfair because either (or both) misinformed about the features of Replay TV recorders or their primary purpose.

Hard disk video recorders are primarily intended to be shortto medium-term storage devices for time-shifting of shows and for enhancing the viewing experience through convenience feature such as pausing, rewinding and freezing "live" shows. Added features such as automatic commercial skip during replay and instant 7-second backwards jumps also greatly improve the viewing experience for recorded shows in comparison with what you get from a VCR.

Replay TV 5160 offers tremendous flexibility in those departments, if you care to read the manual and use the host of options available for selecting material for recording, deciding what should have priority if there is a timing conflict, deciding how many episodes of a show should be retained, as well as organizing and managing recorded content. In addition, easy networkability of several units does make it possible to use Replay TV recorders as long-term storage devices if so desired.

To counter a few of the complaints of negative reviewers:

1. Automatic commercial skipping (which works in about 80% of cases) is not a useless gimmick, but rather a great time-saver when you want to save a show to tape or DVD-R. With a Tivo, the only way to skip commercials is to manually trigger 30-second forward jumps.

2. In several weeks of constant use, I never experienced freezing of the operating system. I had to call Tech Support once to confirm my cable box's IR code and got through very fast.

3. The 7-second backwards jump feature is included with Replay TV 5000 series machine, and is not a Tivo exclusive.

4. I don't know about Sonic Blue/Repaly TV being on the verge of bankruptcy. What I know is that their video recorders are in short supply, which seems to indicate healthy sales.

A few words of caution: Replay TV (as well as other hard disk video recorders) is not for users who never read manuals and are barely able to use the most basic functions of a VCR. The buffering of video signals causes a significant delay when switching channels, so it is best to have a cable box or satellite receiver with dual tuners, allowing viewing one channel while recording another; such an arrangement gives you a choice between quick channel-surfing and viewing and/or recording wth the convenience features of the HD video recorder. Image quality is selectable, and the lowest setting is about par with standard VHS (without the video noise). However, the highest quality setting, reducing total recording capacity to some 50 hours, is best for serious viewing or archiving to DVD or S-VHS. Finally, the very shgort warranty period (90 days parts and loabor) suggests a lack of confidence from Sonic Blue in the long-term reliability of their products. Should do better than that.

Buy ReplayTV RTV5080 80-Hour Digital Video Recorder Now

This product will forever change the way you watch TV. Suddenly, you are in complete control of what you watch and when. I don't watch less TV, but I do watch the TV that I want to watch.

I wouldn't recommend this for someone who isn't somewhat comfortable with technology. And yes, it does crash at times, but the benefits far outweigh the inconvenience.

Purchase at least 80 hours of storage time if you plan to record on medium quality which I recommend.

The commercial skip feature is great. Ok...it isn't perfect, but it is by far the best available. This feature will be GOING AWAY with the introduction of the 5500 series due to pressure from the entertainment industry. Take a look at the article below.

-------------

ReplayTV has agreed to remove two features from its product that infuriated the ad and broadcasting industries even more than they delighted consumers.

ReplayTV's new 5500 model, on sale next month, has been re-engineered so that it cannot automatically skip entire commercial breaks without recording them. Nor will it be able to send recorded programming over the internet to other ReplayTV users outside a home network.

But the devices will still indefinitely store many hours of programming, while enabling users to skip manually in 30-second segments through recorded commercials.

Two years ago, a consortium of movie and TV studios sued Sonicblue � the former owner of ReplayTV and now in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection � for abetting copyright infringement with the device�s commercial-skipping feature. The company and its technology was subsequently acquired by D&M Holdings of Japan.

D&M executives insist that the dropping of these features was voluntary, although critics see the move as capitulation rather than an accommodation. Jim Hollingsworth, president of D&M�s ReplayTV division, denies this. �We did this on our own. There was no coercion. We will take features out because we want to be a positive force in the industry.�

But Jeff Joseph, vp and spokesman for the Consumer Electronics Association, is not convinced: �Companies are under considerable pressure to bow to the wishes of the entertainment industry. This is unfair and anticompetitive. If advertisers and broadcasters are seeing their traditional business model threatened, then it would behoove them to consider alternative business models.�

Read Best Reviews of ReplayTV RTV5080 80-Hour Digital Video Recorder Here

I have a Tivo and 2 Replays. Tivo is a touch easier to use (our 4 year old can operate the basic playback features), but for all but the technophobe, Replay is slightly superior in terms of flexibility. It takes a few extra key strokes but you have greater control of record options, sorting and grouping of recorded shows, etc. The commercial skip is AWESOME -but doesn't work right on all shows. When it doesn't work shift to regular play and you're fine. Recent units are much speedier than older ones (I assume a processor upgrade). Both either TIVO or Replay are 100x improvements over vcrs, so you can't go wrong.

Want ReplayTV RTV5080 80-Hour Digital Video Recorder Discount?

In the 3 days I owned this, I had the following problems:

1.Screen would suddenly go blank with erroneous error message "program not available"

2. when trying to record abc, unit recorded nbc but indicated it was recording abc

3. not compatible with sports package such as directv center ice

4. I spent one hour on hold but never got to talk to customer support to get help clearing these problems up

some things are just not ment to beI think an integrated unit of satelitedigital recording might be betterbeware if you buy this product and it does not go perfectlyyou probably won't get help troubleshooting from the company and the retail outlets seem to be bewildered too.

There are absoultely some bugs to work out in this critter, but hard disk recorders are still in their infancy if you ask me. Remember that the 80 hour version is 80 at the lowest quality about 60 at med and roughly 27 hours at the highest quality. I found it easy to use and set up. You can program it from the web if you like (nice feature). Yes the channel changing is slow because it is getting ready to record (it always records in a buffer every time you change channels). Great picture quality, by the way the USB connection for future wireless implementation is inactive now, but you can get a linksys wireless ethernet bridge from amazon for [a price]that will let you plug the replayTV right into your wireless system now with no special drivers! The search features are fantastic, making it very easy to find what you want in programming. I suggest you go to the replaytv.com website and download the manual in .pdf format so you can see what it does...I have the 80 hour version and find that it holds plenty of shows even at the highest resolution. If there is a show you really like you can "offload" it to video tape for long term storage. Hopefully they will eventually make an outboard drive that will let you transfer shows you like back and forth. Of course you can do this now by getting two units and hooking them up to your home network. Oh yeah, cool feature YOU CAN VIEW A PREVIOUSLY RECORDED SHOW AND RECORD A NEW SHOW AT THE SAME TIME!!! This is because the unit can read and write on the hard disk simultaneously. Is it pefect? No. Is it foolproof? NO. In that regard i've heard Tivo is more like a Mac and Replay more like Windows....But the features [are awesome] and they work the way they are supposed to for the most part (commercial skip is about 80% accurate and if it isn't a couple of presses of the jump button get you past the commercial. I will say this though, their tag line rings true..."There's always something on"