Home > Consumer Reviews > ReplayTV RTV5080 80-Hour Digital Video Recorder

Two negative reviews of this product (by "Greg from Avon" and "Red Byer") strike me as unfair because either (or both) misinformed about the features of Replay TV recorders or their primary purpose.

Hard disk video recorders are primarily intended to be short- to medium-term storage devices for time-shifting of shows and for enhancing the viewing experience through convenience feature such as pausing, rewinding and freezing "live" shows. Added features such as automatic commercial skip during replay and instant 7-second backwards jumps also greatly improve the viewing experience for recorded shows in comparison with what you get from a VCR.

Replay TV 5160 offers tremendous flexibility in those departments, if you care to read the manual and use the host of options available for selecting material for recording, deciding what should have priority if there is a timing conflict, deciding how many episodes of a show should be retained, as well as organizing and managing recorded content. In addition, easy networkability of several units does make it possible to use Replay TV recorders as long-term storage devices if so desired.

To counter a few of the complaints of negative reviewers:

1. Automatic commercial skipping (which works in about 80% of cases) is not a useless gimmick, but rather a great time-saver when you want to save a show to tape or DVD-R. With a Tivo, the only way to skip commercials is to manually trigger 30-second forward jumps.

2. In several weeks of constant use, I never experienced freezing of the operating system. I had to call Tech Support once to confirm my cable box's IR code and got through very fast.

3. The 7-second backwards jump feature is included with Replay TV 5000 series machine, and is not a Tivo exclusive.

4. I don't know about Sonic Blue/Repaly TV being on the verge of bankruptcy. What I know is that their video recorders are in short supply, which seems to indicate healthy sales.

A few words of caution: Replay TV (as well as other hard disk video recorders) is not for users who never read manuals and are barely able to use the most basic functions of a VCR. The buffering of video signals causes a significant delay when switching channels, so it is best to have a cable box or satellite receiver with dual tuners, allowing viewing one channel while recording another; such an arrangement gives you a choice between quick channel-surfing and viewing and/or recording wth the convenience features of the HD video recorder. Image quality is selectable, and the lowest setting is about par with standard VHS (without the video noise). However, the highest quality setting, reducing total recording capacity to some 50 hours, is best for serious viewing or archiving to DVD or S-VHS. Finally, the very shgort warranty period (90 days parts and loabor) suggests a lack of confidence from Sonic Blue in the long-term reliability of their products. Should do better than that.

This is the first time I have been inclined to share my opinion of a product. My 5000 series replay TV is great in concept, but......

The main problem is with the lack of customer service. The first time I had to call was in the evening. After staying on hold over 15 minutes I checked the website which informed me that customer service was closed after five. You would think the recording could mention that. The other times, my unit, which is run through our computer network would display messages claiming it was not activated. When I would go online to activate it again, it would say the unit is activated. I then was on hold two different times for over an hour and finally give up. The machine fixed itself the next day. This happened again today, we had been out of town. Replay TV was suppose to record a bunch of movies. We have been back 24 hours and cannot get the darn thing to work. It claims it cannot confirm it is activated. I called the activation number and after staying on hold for 1/2 hour, the gentlemen informed me that my unit was activated and that it was a technical problem and he could not transfer me. I asked if perhaps their server was down and he didn't know. I have no idea if it recorded anything or not.

For something that claims to make your life easier it has taken over in a very negative way. I have spent hours trying to track down the source of its problems.

When it is working it is great. The remote functions are very slow, but I was getting used to it. I understand that they may be very busy activating new customers after the holidays, but if there are problems they should post it on the website.

This product will forever change the way you watch TV. Suddenly, you are in complete control of what you watch and when. I don't watch less TV, but I do watch the TV that I want to watch.

I wouldn't recommend this for someone who isn't somewhat comfortable with technology. And yes, it does crash at times, but the benefits far outweigh the inconvenience.

Purchase at least 80 hours of storage time if you plan to record on medium quality which I recommend.

The commercial skip feature is great. Ok...it isn't perfect, but it is by far the best available. This feature will be GOING AWAY with the introduction of the 5500 series due to pressure from the entertainment industry. Take a look at the article below.

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ReplayTV has agreed to remove two features from its product that infuriated the ad and broadcasting industries even more than they delighted consumers.

ReplayTV's new 5500 model, on sale next month, has been re-engineered so that it cannot automatically skip entire commercial breaks without recording them. Nor will it be able to send recorded programming over the internet to other ReplayTV users outside a home network.

But the devices will still indefinitely store many hours of programming, while enabling users to skip manually in 30-second segments through recorded commercials.

Two years ago, a consortium of movie and TV studios sued Sonicblue � the former owner of ReplayTV and now in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection � for abetting copyright infringement with the device�s commercial-skipping feature. The company and its technology was subsequently acquired by D&M Holdings of Japan.

D&M executives insist that the dropping of these features was voluntary, although critics see the move as capitulation rather than an accommodation. Jim Hollingsworth, president of D&M�s ReplayTV division, denies this. �We did this on our own. There was no coercion. We will take features out because we want to be a positive force in the industry.�

But Jeff Joseph, vp and spokesman for the Consumer Electronics Association, is not convinced: �Companies are under considerable pressure to bow to the wishes of the entertainment industry. This is unfair and anticompetitive. If advertisers and broadcasters are seeing their traditional business model threatened, then it would behoove them to consider alternative business models.�

In the 3 days I owned this, I had the following problems:

1.Screen would suddenly go blank with erroneous error message "program not available"

2. when trying to record abc, unit recorded nbc but indicated it was recording abc

3. not compatible with sports package such as directv center ice

4. I spent one hour on hold but never got to talk to customer support to get help clearing these problems up

some things are just not ment to be- I think an integrated unit of satelite- digital recording might be better- beware if you buy this product and it does not go perfectly- you probably won't get help troubleshooting from the company and the retail outlets seem to be bewildered too.

I have a Tivo and 2 Replays. Tivo is a touch easier to use (our 4 year old can operate the basic playback features), but for all but the technophobe, Replay is slightly superior in terms of flexibility. It takes a few extra key strokes but you have greater control of record options, sorting and grouping of recorded shows, etc. The commercial skip is AWESOME -- but doesn't work right on all shows. When it doesn't work shift to regular play and you're fine. Recent units are much speedier than older ones (I assume a processor upgrade). Both either TIVO or Replay are 100x improvements over vcrs, so you can't go wrong.