Rating: 
Summary: Great product, some minor issues
Review: Now that the 50XX series is out, the 55XX series is almost as good. The 5040 is/was a great deal since it was easily upgraded with cheap after rebate large drives. With the use of DVArchive, archiving/streaming/offloading movies is a snap even if you decide not to break the "void if removed" seal.
The India Support is well documented as a minus. But once you've gotten past the initial problems, things seem to just run smoothly. The alternative are the forums on avsforums.c o m. They are regularly read by Replay employees who are responsive and helpful.
Once working, this product will make you wonder what you did before it.
Rating: 
Summary: The Best
Review: I have both an old 2000 series and a 4000 series and if I could only keep on add on to my tv it would be replay tv. My 4000 series replay had some problems and the service staff at sonic blue were great. They had me send it back immediately and they shipped me a new one quickly. Try to get on with automatic commercial skip. It doesn't always work but most of the time it is great.They don't put it in the 5500 series, so it would be worth it to get a 4000 or 5000 series if you can.
Rating:
Summary: The Best - No Comparison
Review: I'm on my 5th ReplayTV. The 5000 series is the cream-of-the-crop. Even better than the newer 5500 series, which dropped the auto commercial advance feature. That alone is HUGE. Replay is way better than Tivo in quality, features, and ease of use. My brother went the Tivo route, and he likes it. Tivo is always playing catch-up (Ethernet, etc..). I'll stick with the leader of the pack. If you only buy ONE A/V item, you owe it to yourself to try the ReplayTV. Try to get the 5000 series before they are all gone. My auto-advance works perfectly 95% of the time, and I never have to use the quick-skip buttons. It truly is amazing!!
Rating: 
Summary: Good Idea, In Theory
Review: My wife and I chose Replay over Tivo for basically one reason: the commercial advance feature. The online record requesting is also a great feature. We loved it. Then the box stopped working for some unknown reason. Luckily it was still under the store's warranty (purchased at Good Guys) and they replaced it in store, no problem. The new boxed worked as great as the old one, unfortunately, as this replacment has mysteriously stopped working as well. Now I am having to deal with customer service at SonicBlue which, while being kind, has no idea what they are doing. It has been two months as of today and I still have not been able to get a replacement sent out dispite being told it was on its way multiple times.
Rating: 
Summary: When things go wrong, Support is HORRIBLE!
Review: I purchased a ReplayTV 5060 and within 2 weeks it broke. The product was absolutely amazing... When is was working. I spent 2 1/2 weeks on the phone trying to get the product returned to ReplayTV (because I purchased it directly from them) and they gave me a run-around that was absolutely insulting. When I finally did get it shipped back to them (with my own money), they sent a BROKEN UNIT in its place back. My opinion is to NOT get one of the older models, no matter how cheap the deal is because ReplayTV is awful at keeping customers with broken units happy.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad
Review: My only complaint was that the modem, which came with my replayTV often, was unable to connect. I finally got tired of it and connected it my local LAN via the network card. Other than that I am pretty happy. I haven't watched regular TV since I bought it. I certainly don't miss commercials.
Rating:
Summary: ReplayTV is Spectacular
Review: Setup was easy. There is plenty of hard drive space to hold the shows I record. Interface is easy to use. This product works as advertised! Commercial skip works automatically most of the time. ReplayTV will change the way you watch television. I am a completely satisfied customer.Negatives:
-You cannot really channel surf with the ReplayTV because there is a multi-second recording delay to buffer the content coming in.
-Steep lifetime activation fee
Rating:
Summary: Fairly good PVR, much better than VCR
Review: I've had my 5040 for about a week now. This is the second one, I returned the original to an online store because it had continuing problems getting software updates, intermittent lock-ups and so on. I noticed a difference as soon as I plugged in the new one - a blue power light that didn't work on the original. Compared to any VCR this is worth 5 stars, and I like it better than the DishPlayer I used to have. The Replay is a lot more versatile that that was, although there is also a monthly or one-time service charge that Dish didn't require. Like most electronics I've bought in the last few years, I found it essential to search online to comparison shop and for info from other consumers. The tech support is a joke if your call goes to India, they only seem to be able to go by scripts so anything even slightly unusual is beyond them. Even after waiting a long time for a 'manager' to be consulted, they had no help for me. I think I read that if you can call in the morning you're more likely to speak to someone in Texas who can help you, instead of the site in India. There are a number of undocumented 'Zones' codes to fine-tune your PVR and you can get them from tech support or by doing a search for "replay zones". I did compare features between all the Replays, the DishPlayer and the TiVo, and based on cost and upgradability, I settled on the Replay. It is supposedly much easier to add a second hard drive to a Replay, so after a 30-day 'burn-in', I'll void my warranty by opening the unit and then I'll have 200 hours of space instead of only 40. There is also a program that allows you to 'archive' video to your PC using the Ethernet port, but I haven't tried this yet. The main drawbacks compared to the DirecTV-TiVO is it takes longer (4-6 seconds) to change channels so you can't surf very well, and DirecTV-TiVo has a dual tuner so you can record two shows at once.
Rating: 
Summary: Difference of Opinion
Review: Unfortunately, my experience with Sonic Blue has been the opposite of what others have experienced. Although the product was highly recommended, I have been nothing but frustrated since my purchase. I was unable to connect my Replay TV via S-video or other cables, because Replay could not "see" my cable box. Once connected, it would not record, no matter what I did. When I contacted Sonic Blue, I was on hold for over 30 minutes before speaking with a representative, who seemed unsure of how to help me. In the end, I asked to return/exchange for a new model, as I am willing to believe that my unit is defective, and was told that I should pay shipping costs. Hopefully, Sonic Blue will help me, but until then I hold reservations about this product.
Rating:
Summary: Disatisfied to say the least
Review: I purchased the RTV 5080 in April of this year. When it works it works very well. However if there is a problem you can forget about their customer service. In the past three weeks I have spent in excess of 10 hours on the telephone with their version of customer service. If the problem can not be fixed by someone in India working from a scripted text, you are not going to get it fixed. I have a very basic system, it requires a telephone line to communicate to it's server. However you also need a telephone line to communicate with India, so...... I am not satisifed with my unit, I am now in the process of trying to get a refund so that I can purchase a TIVO. I did not purchase TIVO originally, due partially to the Replay TV's lower monthly charge, however the old saying hold particularly true in this case, you do get what you pay for.
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