Home > Consumer Reviews > ReplayTV RTV5040 40-Hour Digital Video Recorder

I bought this product based on the good reviews but it soon turned into a disapointment. The picture went in/out between color and B&W. The fan noise was VERY loud, more than enough to be a distraction. Best of all, the SONICblue customer support could never be reached, regardless of how much time spent on hold or time of day. This box has the features but they don't work and the company can't support the product.

If you watch television, even a little, then you simply must have this product. Won't be around for an episode of your favorite show? No problem, just press "Channel Guide", scroll through the listings and, after you've found the show, press one button to record . . . et voila! You'll be enjoying the show AT YOUR LEISURE. Just missed that 60-yard touchdown 'cause you went to the 'fridge thinking nothing would happen? Never fear, simply "rewind" the game a few seconds (the unit is ALWAYS recording the show you're watching -- even when you haven't set it up to record!). Or maybe you missed a few seconds of dialogue . . . an "instant replay" is just a button press away. Or what if you want to find a show on a subject that interests you -- like, say, WWII? ReplayTV can, by keyword search, find all shows on the subject you specify within the next ten days.

The SonicBlue folks have created a truly fabulous machine, one that is significantly more reliable and functional than its competition. Its features are too numerous to list here. I own a lot of tech gear (including a prior generation ReplayTV unit), and I have to say that neither my wife nor I could do without our ReplayTV RTV5040. Thanks SonicBlue!

ReplayTV 5000 pros:

* internet show sharing
* streaming shows between other ReplayTV 5000s on your home network
* commercial advance can automatically skip most commercials
* remote scheduling over the web

Things to be aware of:

* commercial skip isn't completely reliable. It can fail to skip some commercials, and it can mistakenly skip parts of an actual show. I find I have to turn it off more often than I'd like.
* internet show sharing takes from 8-24 hours to send a 30 minute show at common broadband upload speeds. It's not something you'd want to have to use routinely to get a show the ReplayTV missed, and thanks to it's convoluted recording system ReplayTV can be annoyingly good at missing shows.
* calls to fetch remote scheduling requests made with it's web scheduling feature, MyReplayTV, only happen once a day even when using it's hooked via broadband, and the web interface won't even allow you to request shows that air before 6am the next day so you can't make last minute requests.
* only 4 days of trial use before the recorder disables everything, even channel changing and playback of shows it had already recorded. Make sure you don't set it up until you have time to try it out.
* despite having progressive output and a digital audio output, ReplayTV supports neither HDTV nor digital audio recording. It has no inputs for digital audio or video, only plain old NTSC 4:3.
* slow search features. searches on ReplayTV take minutes, while searches on Tivo take seconds. ReplayTVs search capabilities are also more primitive and less versatile than Tivos, and don't find as many shows because ReplayTVs guide data is less detailed.
* sluggish user interface. User interface and other functions respond more slowly than Tivo or even previous ReplayTV models.
* primitive recording control. It can't automatically ignore repeats, doesn't have a multi-level recording priority system.

Reasons to avoid ReplayTV:

* very poor system for managing recordings. ReplayTV provides no authoritative list of what will record like Tivo's to-do list does, and it's ability to warn you of conflicts in advance and let you control them is crude for some kinds of shows, nonexistent for others. It's system for resolving conflicts is complicated without being powerful, making it difficult to predict and time consuming to manage.
* wasteful disk management. ReplayTV requires you to "block out" space for shows. Make the blocks too small and you risk shows being deleted or not recorded even if the disk has space to keep them; make the blocks too big and you run into limits on how many shows you can schedule, even if the shows will get watched and deleted before they ever fill the disk.
* stability problems: ReplayTVs software updates have been getting less stable of late. Crashes, lockups, freezing video and reboots are not uncommon. I've tried two 5040s in a month, both crashed every 2-3 days on average, and so far one recording was lost to a crash. Both 5040s have suffered from sometimes severe bouts of freezing, pixellation, and stuttering or looping audio. This alone would have knocked it down to zero stars if that was an option.

For more detailed lists of pros and cons search for comparison sites like pvrcompare.com or egotron.com/ptv.

For the first few days the product worked fine, but after four days I was required to activate and pay the monthly fee. You would think that a rational corporation would make activation as easy as possible in order to get their money. Their website sent me in circles, so I phoned. After a half hour of recorded announcements, the phone disconnected, although I hadn't touched the speakerphone. After several similar problems, I finally got through on the last day. After arranging my payments, they told me that it would take 24 hours to activate and that I would not be able to use ReplayTv or record in that time. But it did not activate in 24 hours.After 2 hours of attempts I finally got through to them. I was told to press various buttons and that it would definitely activate in 4 to 8 hours. It didn't. So I called again and spoke to the supervisor, Jenny Johnson. I spoke to the supervisor three times, each time going through the usual aggravation. The third time she said I would be contacted the next day by a technician. I waited three days and then decided to return the set. I have seen terrible support and customer service before, but this was definitely the worst. I doubt that this company will last very long, and I think that all the users will be out a lot of money.

OK, I admit it, I'm hooked! I LOVE my ReplayTV, and one of the worst things about a business trip is having to watch "ordinary" TV without my ReplayTV! (if my wife would let me take it on the trip with me, I would!)

With ReplayTV, I can record hours of our favorite programs and watch them whenever it is most convenient. I can keep several of my son's favorite PBS programs available for instant viewing - great for keeping him out of the kitchen when dinner is cooking. Educational programs are much better AFTER a nap, rather than when the station broadcasts them! And he's lucky, he gets to watch his stuff with no commercials - BUT SO DO WE, since the ReplayTV can be set to automatically skip commercials! I'm sure glad I have a ReplayTV rather than a Tivo, which doesn't have that feature!

Speaking of my son -- I think having a ReplayTV makes me a better parent, since it never bothers me anymore when I am watching something and he needs a little attention. I just press Pause -- even on LIVE TV -- and pick up where I left off once he inevitably becomes interested in something else! Maybe ReplayTV makes me a better husband for the same reason ;>)

I love the ability to start watching a show LATE (like I did with tonight's basketball game). The ReplayTV just continues to record the rest of the game, even while I'm watching the beginning! I remember the old days with a VCR - I had to record the WHOLE GAME before I could start watching it - and because the tapes were only 2 hours, I either had to be there to change the tape, or record in EP/SLP mode with its terrible quality - and the ReplayTV quality is EXCELLENT - even in the "lowest" quality setting! (but sports looks better in medium quality)

You know how with phone calls, you can "take it in the study"? Well, now my ReplayTV lets me do that with TV shows. If I recorded something in the living room, but its one of those times when my son needs to watch his Sesame Street, I can "take that show" in the bedroom, using the feature that allows shows to be watched from one ReplayTV that were actually recorded by another elsewhere in the house.

I love my ReplayTV and really don't want to watch TV without it! It really will change the way you watch TV!