Whatever Happened to ReplayTV?

Once as big as the once-big TiVo, ReplayTV was an early pioneer in the DVR business, offering its own excellent set-top box recorder with a supersmooth (and free) program guide. When TiVo emerged as a winner in the early DVR wars, ReplayTV went videophile, creating high-quality DVRs with the latest connections for high-end home theater systems.

But with the rise in inferior (but less expensive) cable-box DVRs, not to mention TiVo, ReplayTV just couldn't keep up. The company recently ditched its consumer electronics skin and has gone all software with the recently launched ReplayTV PC Edition.

This begs the question: Why would you need DVR software on your PC when you can just get it from your cable company or a Windows Media Center Edition PC (and soon, Windows Vista)? The answer is simple: Most of us don't own still-pricey Windows Media Center PCs, so to turn our PCs into TVs, much less DVRs, we need to buy an external tuner/PVR kit such as Hauppauge's WinTV-PVR (just connect the sandwich-sized peripheral into your USB port, and presto, you've turned your computer into a TV/DVR). Excellent and magical as the WinTV-PVR is, it has lousy program-guide and PVR software. And we all know how glitchy and unresponsive cable-box DVRs can be.

This is where ReplayTV's every-bit-as-smooth-as-TiVo software comes in handy. ReplayTV's PC version has a fast-reacting, user-friendly interface with useful features such as "Surprise Me," which is a little like TiVo Suggestions, where the DVR automatically records programs based on your actor, director, and genre choices. The program also lets you search based on categories such as "Primetime Shows" or "Series Finales" or put all your favorite channels together. As with its DVR boxes, the PC edition has Replay's QuickSkip feature, which lets you skip ahead 30 seconds (or any number of minutes depending on what number you punch in first) at the touch of a button.

The PC Edition costs $99 separately, plus an annual subscription fee of $19.95, but select packages of the WinTV-PVR will come bundled with ReplayTV's new program. You can download and try out the program and service for free for 30 days, and the first year of the service is free.

Dory wrote about ReplayTV PC Edition and its features when it was first announced last July, but the release and availability of the program was delayed until just under two weeks ago. With the inclusion of Windows Media Center in every Vista computer, the days of ReplayTV may still be numbered, but for college students or anyone needing an extra DVR, the combination of Hauppauge's WinTV-PVR and ReplayTV PC Edition makes a great holiday gift.