Rating: 
Summary: Try others before you buy
Review: I have to take exeception to the reviewer who complained about the difficultly in using Replay with a DirecTV IRD (integrated receiver decoder) to record programs. I have no problem using mine with two DirecTV receivers (it's a long story) simultaneously connected to the two Replay video inputs. The Replay program guide is as complete and easy to use as the DirecTV guide displayed through the IRD. I have the outputs connected to a Dolby amplifier and a VCR. If I could control the Dolby unit with the Replay remote, it would be the only remote required. I am in love with the 30 second skip ahead button!There still are some other things on the wish list, like the ability to record on one input and view the live feed on the second. Also, the IRD remote is still required to complete purchases on the DirecTV pay-per-view stations. I had a Tivo unit for evaluation prior to the Replay that was much more difficult to set up and actually required 24 hours for it to assimilate it's downloaded program guide and prepare itself to (over) organize my viewing. After the evaluation I was in no hurry to buy a Tivo and am very satified with the Replay.
Rating: 
Summary: Replay and DirecTV
Review: I have to take exeception to the reviewer who complained about the difficultly in using Replay with a DirecTV IRD (integrated receiver decoder) to record programs. I have no problem using mine with two DirecTV receivers (it's a long story) simultaneously connected to the two Replay video inputs. The Replay program guide is as complete and easy to use as the DirecTV guide displayed through the IRD. I have the outputs connected to a Dolby amplifier and a VCR. If I could control the Dolby unit with the Replay remote, it would be the only remote required. I am in love with the 30 second skip ahead button! There still are some other things on the wish list, like the ability to record on one input and view the live feed on the second. Also, the IRD remote is still required to complete purchases on the DirecTV pay-per-view stations. I had a Tivo unit for evaluation prior to the Replay that was much more difficult to set up and actually required 24 hours for it to assimilate it's downloaded program guide and prepare itself to (over) organize my viewing. After the evaluation I was in no hurry to buy a Tivo and am very satified with the Replay.
Rating:
Summary: Good Functionality - Lousy DirecTV performance
Review: I returned this device. The basic time shifting functionality was really great - it pauses live TV well, the quality is good and 30 hours is a decent amount of time for most families. However, the most glaring problem is that it is basically impossible to get Replay to tape your local channels on a DTV system. There is a VERY complicated workaround that may work for a small group of people. but in general, if you have the Local Channel option on DTV system and are interested in taping network shows like Friends or West Wing, I would NOT recommend purchasing this system.
Rating:
Summary: Replay Tv
Review: I was very impressed with this device. It will tape things you like even if you don't know they're on. I love it except for one flaw but to me a fatal flaw. It runs off of TV schedules which aren't always set in concrete. In the short time I have had it, I taped a football game that went a few minutes past the scheduled time. In this particular case it was no problem but how would you like to miss the game winning kick or TD. On another occasion, I watched a movie (action) where the finale was cut off also because the movie (actually the previous one) ran a little longer then programmed. Thus in the first week of ownership, two shows that I had wanted to watch were cut short. I wll buy this equipment in the future when they allow a buffer time for shows to be recorded.
Rating: 
Summary: I'll let you know when it works...
Review: I wish I could tell you that I liked this product because it works, however, I am afraid I do not know. I have not been able to try it out due to the following reasons. My cable provider (Phonoscope) was not listed as a provider in the setup sequence. After calling the on-screen number during setup (which by the way is the wrong number, it refers you to the toll free number ) because my cable provider was not listed. I was informed I would not have an accurate on-screen guide, and could not continue setup without waiting 48 hours for Replay (by way of Tribune) to add my cable provider. Furthermore I had to turn it off until this issue was resolved. I have had my 3030 for four (4) days without being able to use it. I still have no resolution, and tech support did little in the way of assistance. I actually at one point had to refer a tech to a particular page in the owners manual because they were having trouble telling me how to reboot it. To their credit they do answer the phone quickly, and they are very nice. I would recommend doing a phone call to Replay prior to buying one just to avoid the headache. I have had and returned a TiVo, now this... The TiVo has a lot of growing up to do. Early adopters BEWARE!
Rating:
Summary: New feature: MyReplayTV.com
Review: I've had my ReplayTV 3020 for a week now and thought i would express my views on it. The box has a lot of different setups, you need to choose the right one for you. Personally I just split my cable feed and ran it to both my TV and the ReplayTV box so i can watch live TV or ReplayTV. Then i have the Svideo out of the ReplayTV to the TV and treat it as a VCR. First i gotta say, the compression ratings that ReplayTV would have you believe are not exactly accurate. Standard recording quality can be as good as a VCR/Cable tv or worse it dependson the video being recorded. If the images are big and there's not too much movement it's pretty good. But if it's a crowd scene or a sporting event iwth lots of movement, it's worse than VCR. It can be very grainy uniless theres little movement or it's a closeup. It looks like you're watching an internet realvideo playback most of the time. The Medium quality is a lot better, i'd put it up there the same quality as a vcr using Svideo out. Highest quality is great, but if your'e going to record everything on highest you should get the 3060. It has lots of outputs on it to go out to a PC for video capturing or a VCR to save to a permanent storage which is nice. Also it has a few inputs, rca or svideo so you could record a DVD movie if you rented one and didn't have time to watch it unlike the Panasonic model which won't let you do this. The ability to control real TV is nice. It actually records as you watch live tv. So you can pause, rewind and replay a live broadcast that you're not recording. The bad part of this however is sometimes the audio/video get out of sync. I'm not sure yet why this happens but it happens very seldom and it does clear itself. The one great thing with this box is it doesn't come with the $10/month bill that TiVo has. Who needs another bill? And if you work in the cost of a lifetime membership to TiVo you could buy a replay. The box itself is pretty quiet and it's smaller than most VCR's. It does have an off button if you want to turn it off, but i'd recommend just leaving it on. The channel guide is nice. It's really easy to navigate around and select shows to watch or record. You can use this to replace your cable box if you want, then you don't need a TV guide or anything. I wish the channel guide displayed more listings per screen though, and i wish it started back at the beginning of the list instead of your current channel. Overall though it's very easy. I'd definitly recommend this box, it's been pretty good and i've enjoyed having it over the past week.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice little box
Review: I've had my ReplayTV 3020 for a week now and thought i would express my views on it. The box has a lot of different setups, you need to choose the right one for you. Personally I just split my cable feed and ran it to both my TV and the ReplayTV box so i can watch live TV or ReplayTV. Then i have the Svideo out of the ReplayTV to the TV and treat it as a VCR. First i gotta say, the compression ratings that ReplayTV would have you believe are not exactly accurate. Standard recording quality can be as good as a VCR/Cable tv or worse it dependson the video being recorded. If the images are big and there's not too much movement it's pretty good. But if it's a crowd scene or a sporting event iwth lots of movement, it's worse than VCR. It can be very grainy uniless theres little movement or it's a closeup. It looks like you're watching an internet realvideo playback most of the time. The Medium quality is a lot better, i'd put it up there the same quality as a vcr using Svideo out. Highest quality is great, but if your'e going to record everything on highest you should get the 3060. It has lots of outputs on it to go out to a PC for video capturing or a VCR to save to a permanent storage which is nice. Also it has a few inputs, rca or svideo so you could record a DVD movie if you rented one and didn't have time to watch it unlike the Panasonic model which won't let you do this. The ability to control real TV is nice. It actually records as you watch live tv. So you can pause, rewind and replay a live broadcast that you're not recording. The bad part of this however is sometimes the audio/video get out of sync. I'm not sure yet why this happens but it happens very seldom and it does clear itself. The one great thing with this box is it doesn't come with the $10/month bill that TiVo has. Who needs another bill? And if you work in the cost of a lifetime membership to TiVo you could buy a replay. The box itself is pretty quiet and it's smaller than most VCR's. It does have an off button if you want to turn it off, but i'd recommend just leaving it on. The channel guide is nice. It's really easy to navigate around and select shows to watch or record. You can use this to replace your cable box if you want, then you don't need a TV guide or anything. I wish the channel guide displayed more listings per screen though, and i wish it started back at the beginning of the list instead of your current channel. Overall though it's very easy. I'd definitly recommend this box, it's been pretty good and i've enjoyed having it over the past week.
Rating:
Summary: Almost too good to be true!
Review: I've had my ReplayTV for 9 months now. As a longtime time-shifter with a VCR, it's great to be able to watch a program while it is still recording. The quick-skip button is wonderful. Instantly zapping forward in 30-second intervals makes it a snap to avoid commercials. In fact, my family and I have taken to intentionally starting to watch programs with the Replay 5-10 minutes after their scheduled start time expressly to AVOID the ubiquitous commercials for programs I would never let my preschool and elementary school-age kids watch. Instead of watching commercials, we spend those 10 minutes talking to each other. Imagine that... technology that lets you spend more time with your family, instead of taking away from it! In all these months, I've only come across 2 downsides to ReplayTV ownership. If they cured these issues, I'd give the product 5 stars. - The interface doesn't do enough to warn about conflicting recordings. When the networks put two of my favorite shows on at the same time, unless I notice it myself beforehand and set the VCR, I miss the show that is lowest in alphabetical order. - When I bought my unit last summer, the good folks at ReplayTV thoughtfully put up several custom "channels" each month which would automatically record selected seasonal programs. When the new fall season started, this enabled us to easily sample the new shows! Around November, the company had a round of layoffs. Apparently, the folks who programmed the seasonal channels were among the casualties because the seasonal channels disappeared. Since those channels went away, the burden has shifted to us users to search more interactively. Had I not been a user before the layoffs, this might not matter as much. To get around the issue another reviewer mentioned of not being able to watch one program while the box is recording another, I would highly recommend installing it only on TVs that have A/V inputs. That permits watching shows with the TV's tuner while the Replay box is recording. A TV with S-Video inputs would be an even better choice for the best picture quality. In a nutshell, ReplayTV works great! I'd love to put one on every TV I own.
Rating:
Summary: Not a single problem
Review: I've read reviews that had people complaining that it was too difficult to set up. I took it out of the box and used the easy install manual (a large poster with pictures showing you how to hook everything up). It took me longer to open the box than to get everything hooked up. I even put on a splitter to run to my VCR so I could watch one show while the ReplayTV box is recording another. The on-screen setup was fairly straight forward, and once I got the correct cable listing (my cable prvider has 4 different listings in my area), everything has been great. I've had it for 4 days and already think that it's paid for itself.
Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended
Review: Replay TV met nearly every expectation I had, and then some. Very easy to set up - it dials out to get the program guide and you're good to go. My set up includes s-video and stereo cables out to the TV, and s-video and stero cables in from the DVD. I don't have a cable box, but it includes an "IR blaster" to control your set-top box. One surprise - you can't record one show while watching another like a VCR. However you CAN watch a previously recorded show while recording another. Also: There is a delay in Replay which causes the image from your DVD to become out of synch with the sound played through your home theater. That being said, imagine watching all your favorite shows whenever you want- sweet.
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