Rio ReplayTV 5504 40-Hours Video Recorder

Pros: Can burn recordings to DVD (with other software). Easy to find and organize shows.
Cons: Remote must be pointed very directly. Support staffed by foreigners with poor English skills.

I am extremely happy with ReplayTV and have found it invaluable. One of the best investments I've made in the last year. After getting through some initial configuration problems with my router, the unit connects to the internet quickly and flawlessly ...

Pros: My TV doesn't control me - I control it!
Cons: It's slow flipping channels, which all but eliminates the hobby of "channel surfing."

I absolutely love Replay TV, but I'm not going to tell you about how you can connect it to your computer network, or how you can download programs and burn them to DVD (with additional equipment and software, not included of course). Very cool features ...

Pros: Upgradibility, ease of use and installation, enhances TV experience, better than TiVo
Cons: Could use HDTV support. That's about it.

The ReplayTV 5504 is in my opinion the best product on the market now. This includes all previous RTV models, TiVo and HTPC's combined for three reasons: simplicity, quality and upgradability. Now let's address the one major concern that everyone ...

Pros: Commercial Skip feature rocks (ahem.. rockED) over Tivo !
Cons: Financially unstable company, how long will it last?

This review covers Replay TV previously owned by Sonic Blue as well as changes in the Automatic Commercial Advance feature. So Replay TV, currently owned by Sonic Blue, which snapped the original company up for 42 million USD in equivalent shares is ...

Pros: Never having to watch another Commercial unless I choose to.
Cons: No way yet to transfer a lifetime subscription to a new unit.

You can ignore leisure Larry's review, he is actually trying to advertise for TIVO, and inferior product. To start with he is talking about the older 5040 unit, not the newer 5504. Secondly Sonic Blue entered Chapter 11 on March 21st 2003 with a ...

Pros: A great innovation and convenience when it works.
Cons: Never got my moneys worth on this product.

I bought this product 16 months ago. Loved it for the first 6 months. I loved the convenience of timely recording, pausing live TV and rewind, commercial skip and the find shows option. I couldn't live without it. In the past l0 months, I have had ...

Pros: Absolutely awesome networking capability
Cons: Not as well known as Tivo

Ok, so Tivo and Replay both record shows, and unless you're a complete idiot you can easily install and run either system. So why pick replay? If you have a home network and a broadband (DSL, Cable modem, etc) Replay is a slam dunk. - Your channel ...

Pros: JumpIt (skip commercials!), transfer recordings to PC/CD/DVD, watch recordings on other ReplayTV's
Cons: None that I can think of.

I've owned a ReplayTV for almost a year now, and can't remember anymore how I ever lived without one. I originally bought one because of it's ability to download recording to you home PC to burn to DVD. I then discovered that after I started using it fo ...

Pros: Looks stylish
Cons: EVERYTHING

Customer service is non-existant. First off, I was a DVR newbie a year ago, but with the Olympics coming on, I wanted to get all the action and not just the highlights. I got the ReplayTV 5504 with the 40Gig harddrive and soon found out that the ...

Pros: Potential for video extraction, networking, remote programming
Cons: The unit is junk. Stay away for now.

This unit will not record TV or allow live TV view for more than 10 minutes without the picture freezing and the audio looping over and over. Eventually the entire unit becomes unresponsive to the remote and a cold boot is needed to get to the main setup ...

Pros: Easy to use, descent remote, somewhat easy set-up, great features.
Cons: Slow channel changing....that seems to be it!

Tivo or ReplayTV that is the question? I spent a couple weeks looking at both companies and their 40-hour recording models. Tivo is differently a more financially stable company then the former Sonic Blue however the new parent company of ReplayTV has ...

Pros: Great System (when it works) -IP features great
Cons: -terrible Replacement procedures - Outsource tech support to India

I purchased the ReplayTV 5500 about 8 months ago and have loved it... until it broke - then the nightmares began. The features on the unit were amazing. I was very happy with everything about it but it started to act a little strange. It would ...

Pros: Nothing
Cons: Unethical Business Practices

I too am one of the people cheated by ReplayTV. It said on the Circuit City website, on the box, on the replaytv.com website, and inside the box that three years of service was included. When I called the technical support about an unrelated issue, THEIR ...

Pros: Simple, effective, works great!
Cons: Hard drive gave up the ghost after 3 years.

I've owned my 5504 for about 3 years now. It was one of the best investments I've ever made. I basically won't watch TV anymore without the Replay "in the loop". It lets me skip commercials (even skips most of them automagically!), lets me view programs when I want to view them, includes a program directory (I bought the lifetime contract, so there's no monthly fee, but that did cost $250), and builds a library based upon my program settings/choices.

Initial setup was almost trivial - I was running within 20 minutes (minus the program directory update, which took about 20 more minutes - I used a dialup connection).

The only complaint I would have is that the hard disk died recently, which seemed somewhat premature. But I found a company called DigitalRecorder.com that repairs them quite cheaply and, while they had it, I had them upgrade the drive to 320MB. Now I have tons of free space, and my subscription (to the program directory) is still intact.

Pros: I may only be out $115.
Cons: I will be out $115 and wasted a nice Saturday on this garbage.

I cannot even get past the Quick Setup using a new ReplayTV 5504. The modem fails to connect and now it is permanently hung. The minute I plug phone line back into unit, it hangs my phone line. I spent 5+ hours trying to troubleshoot to no avail. I waited for one 30 minute hold to talk to Support. They told me they would call me back on cell phone, so we could troubleshoot the line. They never called. Then I tried again later, holding for about 45 minutes. Then discovered they had closed while I was on the line.

So far this is the worst product and support I have ever experienced. My plan is to sign up for one month's service, lose another $15, get the $50 rebate, chalk the whole adventure up to a $115 loss and a wasted Saturday, throw the 5504 in the trash so I feel better and go buy a TiVo. How worse could it be?.