Several months ago we got a ReplayTV to take care of all our DVR needs. Based upon the suggestions from several ReplayTV users it seems like a good way to go, so we picked up one of the newer 5500 series replays. Upon receiving the box, it was ordered online, there seemed to be a loose part rattling around inside. Heeding past experiences with warranty’s and so forth I made a call to ReplayTV asking them if I should immediately send it back for a replacement before I opened the factory seal. They recommended that I just open it up and try it and if something was wrong it could still be sent back for no cost and replaced. If at any point I still didn’t feel ok with it I could return anyway. That was nice to hear in an era where re-stocking fees of 15% and up are common at many stores. As it turns out everything was fine and we proceeded to set it up.

Set up took a while as it is tough entering longer pieces of information such as your activation code or local cable provider with a remote control. I found myself wishing there was some sort of web interface you could easily access after plugging the set into the network. After some tedious data entry we got the ReplayTV up and running, using an IR blaster to hook up to the Motorola/Comcast cable box. After establishing its connection to the internet the replay box downloaded all the local cable station information and authorized itself through replay’s network (you get several days of free programming before the box disables itself until activated, a la Windows and its activation key). One of the first short comings of the ReplayTV was that had a very noticeable delay when switching stations. I don’t know if that is to import data correctly or what, but there was about a 2-3 second delay. Based upon this we decided to keep using the cable box directly and by-pass the ReplayTV when view live TV.

Everything seemed to go smoothly as we set up several shows to record. It wasn’t until later in the week I noticed my biggest grip with the machine. So when I attempted to and watch a show I noticed it recorded something but not the show I had expected. This continued to happen several times in what seemed a random, intermittent pattern. Basically you’d have it all set up to record, let’s say, CSI on channel 34 at 8pm, but it would record say, the OC on channel 7 at 8pm instead, quite annoying. For several weeks we were quite complexed, trying anything we could think of including: re-importing the local cable stations, manually choosing our cable box, selecting different variations of related cable box settings, and so on. It finally occurred to me that the replay box had thought the cable box was already set to the correct channel. Basically because we were going back and forth between using the ReplayTV for recording/replaying shows and by-passing it for live viewing, the replay box would mistakenly think the cable box was still set to a particular channel and therefor making it unnecessary to send the IR channel change command. With this in mind we are now mindful to set the cable box channel to some obscure station using the ReplayTV prior to turning the replay off and using the cable box only. Our shows now seem to record properly and on the correct channel. I don’t know what it would entail on ReplayTV’s side, but a firmware upgrade where the replay will always send the IR channel command to the cable box would be very nice fix.

Aside from the channel problem the ReplayTV service is fairly powerful. It is possible to log in to ReplayTV’s customer service and set up particular recordings remotely, say from work or any other place with an internet connection. Another fairly useful 3rd party piece of software is from www.dvarchive.org. Once install on a computer with network access to the ReplayTV box it is possible to set up recording schedules and even pull recorded TV shows to that computer for local viewing. This is nice especially considering ReplayTV disabled the box to box sharing over the internet. If you have two or more replay boxes on the same local network you can still share shows between the two, but you can no longer do the same with your friends ReplayTV box down the street. Not to say you couldn’t set up a VPN connection and create a virtual LAN with them, it is just not part of the built in functionality as it was in prior replayTV series’.

With that said ReplayTV has just made news again with new that they are going to be going towards producing software for PC based TV recording boxes. Meaning they would be pulling out of the hardware end of sales and push their software only. This would be supported by their current availability of ReplayTV boxes from their online store: only a refurbished 5516 model box. I would predict big things from ReplayTV as they shy away from a market that will most likely be soon dominated by rental DVR boxes from cable companies such as Comcast. Hopefully they will be able to release some fully functional software for PC boxes, but it could be tough considering all the DRM restrictions currently out there.