Last week, I decided to finally take the plunge and buy a digital video recorder. My first question was on the differences between the ReplayTV 45xx series and TiVo Series 2.

First of all, I should tell you a couple of things about me: I am a picky consumer, always searching for the best value and optimal mix of cutting edge features. I value quality. And I am an electrical and computer engineer who used to work in a streaming-video interactive TV division at a Fortune 500 company as a software developer, so I know a LOT about MPEG2 and video compression, and that makes me even pickier.

After doing a bit of research on the net, the cool features available in these boxes was evident. It became clear that the bottom line right now is: if you watch lots and lots of shows and want sophisticated conflict resolution between recording, and want the box to suggest (and automatically record new shows for you) get a TiVo. If you want a consistent user interface, newer features such as broadband Internet show sharing,

Another factor which I will briefly touch on is what I'll call "hackability". Roughly, this means the possibility of adding or changing features on your box. Since the community using these is extremely tech-oriented, both boxes can be hacked to achieve greater storage, and other cool tricks.

The TiVo definitely wins in this department, being based on Linux and taking a hack-ambivalent stance which allows people to develop many cool features. The ReplayTV is view more as a "black box" with a great program called DVExtractor which can extract (save) video programs as MPEG2 files on your computer, over the ethernet broadband connection included. OK, this is fun, but the most practical hack is to add extra hard drive space. This is currently possible on either model, so in my view they are equal. However, note that this could conceivably be "turned off" in future software upgrades, since it might hurt the companies' bottom lines.

Let's talk a little bit about the back-end system that runs the service. When you buy this box for $350 or so, you must also purchase service. This means you pay $9.99 per month, or a $250 lifetime fee to use the box. Without paying for this, NOTHING works on the box. It will boot up with the logo, but NOTHING will function - no manual recording, nothing. When you buy the unit, you get 10 days for free to try it out.

Well, when I bought my unit, it was an open box special. What this meant was that I got $50 off the price, but it also meant that the 10 day trial had already been used. So, I figured I would buy a month of service. Well, when I called customer service, they were closed. 8am - 5:30 pm on weekdays only. This is a big limitation if you get the thing home on a weekend and expect to use it.

Next, I went to the ReplayTV web site and paid on there. You would figure that with such Internet-enabled technology, the thing would immediately flash a welcome message, right? Wrong. Even the next morning when I tried to use it, the box still told me to subscribe. This was a big disappointment, and honestly, a failure of Sonic Blue's infrastructure design.

You will run into the same limitation if you try to use their MyReplayTV service, which is a web site that lets you remotely program your ReplayTV: you must wait overnight for the changes to take effect, making the service useless in practice. I hope they will be able to fix this defficiency.

As for the day-to-day operations, the unit is quite cool. You can set up channels to record shows under criteria such as "Season Premiers" or "Foreign Movies", or enter your own search terms and record all shows meeting a certain word combination. For more detail on how the unit performs, see the FAQ at the bottom of this review.

The quality of the video is not super; I was a little disappointed, honestly, but it's not bad either -- my previously stellar analog cable picture (a rarity) became average-looking quality, with heavy artifacts whenever there is any serious sport-like motion. However, for the average sitcom or movie, it is adequate.

As I said, I am a picky consumer, but honestly, after all is said and done, the TiVo and ReplayTV are very similar in capabilities, and I would recommend either one if you are interested in a PVR and really think you'll benefit from one. Bottom line, what it came down to for me was the following: The ReplayTV had a nice looking silver case which matches my decor. It has component output (after purchasing a $20 adapter), which is the highest quality possible on my Sony 36XBR450 TV set. It has a broadband (ethernet) connection, so I can extract MPEG2 shows directly to my computer. Overall, these are the distinguishing factors that sold me on the unit. But let's not get into all the heat that SonicBlue is getting from the MPAA and others (lawsuits pending) -- this clouds the future of these features (and possibly the company itself).

I believe that PVRs are still in their infancy, and the software and hardware will both progress rapidly if and when they catch on. However, for someone who is ready to be an early-adopter, this new ReplayTV has tipped the balance of cool features and reasonable quality to justify a purchase.


For further reading:
A great (TiVo-biased) comparison FAQ: http://www.tivonews.com/features/comparison/tivo2replay45index.html
Another, more out-of-date comparison FAQ: http://www.egotron.com/ptv/ptvintro.htm


Recommended: Yes