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ReplayTV 2020 Digital Video Recorder

ReplayTV 2020 Digital Video Recorder

List Price: $399.99
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: BETTER than advertised.
Review: I really didn't expect the Replay unit to be as good as it is. It literally will change the way you watch tv - for the better... so much so that when you go over to someone elses house to watch TV you feel as if you've stepped back into the stone age.

It's a wonderful, wonderful machine... yes, you can see artifacting at times due to the compression of the picture, but never missing an interesting show and the ability to pause and rewind LIVE television more than makes up for it. After a few weeks you won't be able to imagine TV without it. The only thing I regret is having bought the mid-range 2003 model... I wish I had sprung for the top of the line 24 hr unit.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Changes the way you view TV.. Changes how you THINK about TV
Review: I purchased the 28 hour version of this unit when it was essentially hot off the assembly line. I got it home and got it hooked up and configured with about 10 minutes worth of wiring, and about half an hour of watching it download configuration info. It comes pre-loaded with a little video that walks you through the basic features; which is probably good, because the manual is in desperate need of a tech writer.

That very night I found myself taking advantage of the new features. I paused a show I wasn't recording when the phone rang; laughing hysterically when it warned me that I only had 14 hours of pause time left. After the phone call I decided I wanted some dessert, so drove to the local ice-cream place, picked up some stuff, came home, rewound a little to refresh my memory, and picked up the show. The great thing was that at this point I could use the "quick-skip" feature, which jumps 30 seconds forward, to quickly flash by the commercials. By 5 minutes into the next program I had caught up with "live" tv. Which was actually kind of sad; I was already addicted to commercial skipping. I've now developed a habit of not starting to watch a show until 10 minutes in, so I don't have to watch the commercials.

Programming is trivial; you just pick the shows you want, and whether you want all of them or not, if it's a series. Or you can put in keywords describing things. I've used this for not only finding people or themes I'm interested in, but also listing specials or shows I know will be on, but have no clue when; it lets the replay find it for me. The replay's very good about catching that an episode has a two hour special, or is going to air an hour early or late, or on a different day. You can't get *too* off though; airing at 6pm when it's supposed to air at 11pm is too far.

Two serious drawbacks of this, unfortunately, is that you can't allow for overrun. Shows on MTV, for instance, regularly start 2-3 minutes late, or early. I know that it'll run over, but I can't tell the replaytv that, so unless I also record the next show, I'm almost guaranteed to miss the ending or begining every time. Replay says they're aware of this problem, and are looking at solutions. The other problem is that it has no way of knowing that something's been delayed, say by sports running over. You can't program in times, just select programs. This means if you're *sitting* there, and hit record at the right time, because, say, football is over, it'll stop recording when it *should* have, if things weren't delayed.

There are also bugs in the keyword programming right now, things like ":" or ";" in a title prevent it from finding a show.

Still, the features make up for the problems in long run; it's far more useful than the vcr in general; I only use the vcr now to save a program that I really want to keep, or if I know I'll have a problem recording it with the replay (like it follows basketball...)

It's insidious. I watch at least 3-4 hours more of TV a week now (which means I'm spending 3-4 hours a week watching TV I wasn't before), because it's so simple to acquire shows I was at least vaugely interested in before, but not willing to go to the effort of finding and programming a VCR to find, getting a blank tape, etc. With the replay, even if it's recording something, you can just pick something in your library and watch it; switch to something else, and come back to the show where you left off if you like.

Once they release a new version of the software that fixes some of the bugs and maybe offers some extras like editing or slow-motion, it'll earn that last star.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Truly awesome
Review: This is really much better than a VCR. Easy set-up, easy to use. Really makes t.v. watching more efficient.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The future is here with replay TV
Review: I think this will replace the VCR's hold on the market. I can't think of a easier more thorough way to enjoy TV viewing. I just love it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great product features !
Review: Requires some bit of techie know-how to use and that's the only disadvantage it suffers from !

Overall, a good trendsetting tech tool for superb viewing pleasure.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Finally, TV on MY Schedule
Review: This is the perfect product for those "super professionals" where you feel lucky to spend 4 hours a day at home.

I have my favorite shows but I am never home to see them and refuse to take the time to program a VCR and then have to search the tape to find the start of each show, etc (plus, in the winter the power goes out every once in a while and you have to re-input all of your preferences into the VCR).

I purchased a Replay box and now all I have to do is select the shows I like from the on-screen program guide and it will always be recorded. When I am ready to watch them on MY TIME, I simply select the show from the on-screen list of shows I have recorded. Plus, I can skip through the commercials so it even saves me more time. Another great feature is the ability to pause live television when the phone rings.

Also, if you have DSS and cable and are tired of having to switch between the two the Replay box is for you as it seamlessly presents all channels on one program guide.

The only drawback is that even the new remote leaves a lot to be desired, as it is not very functional. This is a simple machine to use but the number of buttons on the remote would imply otherwise.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Good for the 1st month or so
Review: I purchased my Replay 2020 back in April 2000. Amazon replaced it twice before I was satisfied with its operation. If it doesn't work without problems out of the box, let Amazon know immediately. Amazon is dedicated to customer satisfaction!

My Replay 2020 has been working non-stop since May. I agree with the other comments concerning the 20 hour 'standard' recording quality is not great, however I do most of my recording in this mode. I watch the Replay 2020 on a Sony 53 inch projection TV and find it completely watchable when recording in 'standard'. I am willing to sacrifice picture quality for recording time. Once I started using the Replay 'themes', 10 hours of recording time (at 'medium' quality) was not enough. The only time I use 'medium' quality is if I want to save the recording to a VCR. I have never used the 'high' recording quality. If it had a larger hard drive I would use 'medium' quality more often. In ending, aside from my initial problems, I am extremely happy with the 2020 features, flexibility and ease of use.


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