ReplayTV RTV5516 160-Hour Digital Video Recorder

• ReplayTV service subscription is either a $12.95 monthly fee or $299.99 one-time lifetime fee; discounted $6.95 monthly fee is available for consumers with more than one active unit
• 160-hour personal video recorder with theme record for capturing programs based on keywords or themes
• Built-in home networking capabilities via Ethernet; no extra costs to network
• Pause live-action TV shows, jump back 7 seconds for instant replay, enjoy high-quality slow-motion and fast forward effects
• Send programs between ReplayTV units in your home; blaze past annoying ads in 30-second increments with QuickSkip

First of all, the DVR (digital video recorder) category is amazing. It is not just an incremental step up from a vcr -these things make TV watching far more convenient. Start a show whenever you want, pause it, rewind live tv, etc etc. There are plenty of reviews on all of that, so just a word on choosing a Tivo or a Replay:

I have 2 Replays and 1 Tivo now. On the whole, both are great and for the most part, they do exactly the same set of things. The only "important" feature that Replay has that Tivo does not is the ability to skip commercials automatically, which works most of the time and is very cool. The only major feature Tivo has that Replay doesn't is that it automatically records "similar" shows to ones you've chosen in the past to fill unused disk space -also cool. Outside of these two, they are functionally very similar.

The main differentiator I find is power vs. ease of use. Tivo is slightly easier to use -our 5 year old is a pro at it. Replay requires a couple extra keystrokes, but is a bit more flexible, such as giving you more range on how many of each show to save to use your disk space, etc.

If any of the above are decision makers for you (commercial skip, auto record, or ease of use vs. flexibility), then go with it. If not, the rest really is about the same so just shop on price.

Enjoy -they're both great.

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I bought this after much debate between the TiVo and ReplayTV about a year ago, and am very happy with my Replay. Although the TiVo is easier to understand for most people, this doesn't mean the Replay is difficult by any means. While visiting some family friends out of town, I told them about my Replay and how much better it makes TV watching, and I set it up for them the next day. Since then, I haven't heard of any problems figuring it out. I'm also showing some local friends my Replay and encouraging them to get one. Although it sounds like I'm a ReplayTV missionary, I wouldn't convert my friends if it wasn't worth it.

Since getting my Replay 5504 about a year ago, I upgraded it from 40 hours to 120, something that's apparently more difficult to do on the TiVo. Also, although ReplayTV was hit with a lawsuit for the 5000 series because of the ability to automatically skip commercials, the "Show|Nav" feature does the same thing, although they can't advertise it as that and you need to push one (1) button now. The TiVo makes you fast-forward like a VCR.

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I have 2 Replaytv's, one 5504 and one 5040. I also have a Tivo. I can do much more with Replay than Tivo. Tivo is a closed system, Replay allows you to do more with the unit if you happen to technically inclined. With that said my 5 year old can work the Tivo, but has problems with Replay. You get alot more for your money with Replay. Also the picture quality is much better with the Replaytv.

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I wrote a review about this product about 3 weeks ago, but for some reason it never showed up so I'm writing it again.

I bought this unit about a year ago actually paid (if I recall) $600.00 for it at the time . . five months after I got it I was carrying it out, and pitching it in, to the garbage can with disgust and regret. WHAT a waste of money. ReplayTV refused to refund our money or make it right. We'd already returned it once and there seemed to be nothing they could or would do.

First of all I had to return the first unit because it had some sort of logic/software problem and we could not get past the first 3 steps of the "set-up" process.

Then, the replacement unit had a similar (but different) problem. Spent seemingly HOURS with ReplayTV's customer service people super-polite people but very stilted and it was as though they were reading canned scripted replies to my questions and comments. Extremely frustrating. It was sort of like talking to robots. There were two basic problems one was that it would (nearly daily) freeze up and have to be 'reset' -lots of programming was lost on a regular basis and when we went on vacation the unit stopped working after 7 days. The customer service rep told me that if "it" senses no activity from the user within a week time period it basically goes off line. . . it is designed that way (so she said) which is.....crazy.

And that wasn't even the worst problem. The worst problem was the dial-in phone number for programming download was "not working" they verified there was something wrong with it so suggested we use the Dallas or Fort Worth numbers...and yep, you guessed it those are significant toll calls to us. We live north of Dallas. . . .and there was no ETA for the local number to be fixed. The "fix" turned out to be a suggestion from ReplayTV for us to remember to unplug the phone line and just trigger a call once a week. Which I did. Until I got the phone bill at the end of the month and saw that even 1 time a week was racking up 40-60 minute calls per WEEK.

Then the unit just got to be so much trouble and seemed to have more and more bugs that kept surfacing (and the customer service folks were SO uninformed and "rote" in their responses it got so we didn't even bother calling them anymore)....well one day I just went to Best Buy and bought a TIVO. It was actually my 2nd TIVO (the original TIVO that I bought in 2000 is still working in our master bedroom) only reason I chose the ReplayTV was for the commercial skip feature (which they've now discontinued) . . anyway save your money buy a TIVO. They're GREAT. Read my other reviews and you'll see my review from the original TIVO superb customer service compared to ReplayTV. Now -I hope now that I've written this review twice now it will show up.

You know what. I actually had written a nice review about this product... I thought it was decent, not necessarily better than TiVo, but not bad none-the-less. I can't change my "star" rating on my review since it's an edit though, but I really give this unit 2 stars.

Now, 4 months later, I warn you, STAY AWAY from ReplayTV...

My ReplayTV has clunked out, so what do I do? Call for support! Yippy. I visited their website to get the support, and found that they don't even have an 800 number, yay, long distance calls required. Then, I was reading that their average wait time to get to an operator is 2 minutes for 95% of calls... great! So I called them up, thinking, well 2 minutes at long distance is no big deal... hmm... I waited 15 minutes listening to elevator music, then finally hung up, costing money ya know. So I called back the next day, and held up for 20 minutes, then hung up. WHAT IS THIS! It's long distance and I'm paying to sit on hold which I shouldn't have to do anyways. So I finally called back a third time, when the operator answered I checked my phone, 17 minutes, she was VERY friendly though thank god, but not very helpful. And if this didn't solidify my warnings about this product, I said to the support woman "these things probably break all the time," she answered, "god yes"... She spent 10 minutes having me go through simple routines, decided she couldn't help me, then transferred me to "level 2"... well, I then sat on the phone for 20 minutes waiting for level 2, they never showed up, again, I had to hang up the phone, I have now wasted over 1 hour long distance time with ZERO help from this company.

Thats just my customer service experience with them, I'm yet to get resolved, so I still have a broken unit. And now I've finally reached "level 2" and found that since I've had my Replay for over 3 months, they would be happy to fix it, I only have to pay $75 PLUS $20 in shipping just to have it "repaired under warranty", well hell, the new unit is only $4 more with free shipping.... garbage. How is this company in business!

But to get to the units themselves...

Although the ReplayTV works fine most of the time (before it breaks), it often freezes and stutters, or just has little glitches or problems that require a reset. Plus the software is just not that good. If you want to watch a show and not record it, but you know a recording show is coming on that will automatically change the channel, you cannot go and just stop that recording ahead of time, if you do, you'll remove all future recordings too, how stupid... the ReplayTV unit is just loaded with inconveniences like this.

The fact is, the latest TiVo's (SAME PRICE TIVO.com) do EVERYTHING the Replay does and does it better, more reliable, with real customer support. The TiVo for $100 does show sharing, you can connect multiple units and watch shows on each unit, you can even download your shows to your computer with a download manager, you can connect via ethernet, all the things the Replay "had" that the TiVo didn't, well, TiVo has it now.... again, same price. The TiVo unit is just that much better, there is truly ZERO reason to purchase a replay unit.

So please, read my review, and listen, STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY... do NOT buy a Replay.