RTV2020 ReplayTV Digital Video Recorder with Lifetime Subscription Service

Other products by Replay Tv

Product Details

Product Manual [811kb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 11 x 17 x 3.1 inches ; 18 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 21 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00002ST80
• Item model number: 2020
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (122 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 4, 1999

Product Description

Amazon.com Review
With Replay's 2020 personal television server, it's easy to watch whatever you want, whenever you want, with or without commercials. ReplayTV's 2020 server provides up to 20 hours of storage space and offers a host of upgrades, including an advanced programmable remote control with a new Replay Zones button that makes it very easy to find the shows you want to record.

For those unfamiliar with the concept of television servers, ReplayTV records programs digitally and stores the information on a hard drive. Like a VCR, you can record your favorite show while you're away from home and watch it later. However, unlike VCRs, the personal TV server doesn't require tapes or other software to store programming.

It's important to point out that the actual amount of storage space depends on the video-recording quality that you select. A higher-quality picture will take up more storage space than a lower-quality recording. At the lowest setting, the picture quality is still better than standard VHS. At the middle setting, the picture quality is better than an S-VHS VCR, but storage capacity decreases by approximately 40 percent. If you leave the 2020 at the middle setting, you can anticipate approximately 12 hours of storage space. The highest-quality setting approaches 500 lines of resolution (depending on the source), but further reduces storage capacity to about six hours of recording time. We recommend using the High Record Quality setting for movies and the middle level for sporting events and other programs, then erasing the content after watching it.

One of the coolest features on the 2020 server is the ability to pause a live broadcast and resume watching it from where you left off. ReplayTV acts as a time buffer by storing the show in memory. A Return to Live button on the remote lets you skip forward to real time, which is great if you're watching a sporting event and want to catch up to the live action. There's also an Instant Replay button on the remote that allows you to rewatch portions of a show in 7-second increments, so you're not limited to rewatching only a brief segment.

ReplayTV also allows you to personalize programming for a specific theme. For example, you can set ReplayTV to monitor TV listings and record programs featuring a specific actor. You can also refine theme-based searches for programming. For instance, if you wish to record the sitcom "Friends," you can limit your search to title only, so ReplayTV won't pull up every movie and talk show that has the word "friends" in the description.

ReplayTV's onscreen guide appears with a blue background and white characters that are very readable. Since you'll be using the guide a lot to search for programs and to preview descriptions, it's important that you can read the text on a standard-size TV from your sofa.

We loved ReplayTV's Quick Skip feature, which allows you to instantly jump ahead 30 seconds, so you can skip through TV commercials on prerecorded programs. We also like the Replay Zones, which make it very easy to find programs that suit your tastes by searching according to genre. ReplayTV delineates programming into a wide variety of categories, from action and romance movies to cooking and home-improvement shows--and everything in between. ReplayTV also offers a Search Zone that allows you to input words such as "love" or "vacation" using the remote control and an onscreen keypad.

If you wish to save a particular prerecorded show, you can record it onto a VCR using the back-panel outputs. We were impressed by ReplayTV's inclusion of two sets of audio-video inputs and outputs, as well as an S-video input and output. This enables users to hook up a DSS or other direct-broadcast satellite receiver to the 2020, along with a VCR as an output device.

You can watch one program while recording another by using a cable TV splitter. Simply connect the cable from the wall to the splitter's input line; then connect a spare coaxial cable from the splitter's output line to the 2020, and another from the splitter to the TV. To watch a show while recording another, use the TV button on the Replay remote to switch sources (assuming you've input your TV brand's IR code into Replay's universal remote control).

One neat feature we really like is the ability to place the 2020 into "quiet mode," simply by turning off the unit. This keeps the server from automatically recording shows to the hard drive, which conserves power and keeps the hard disk from spinning. If you happen to be recording a show when you turn the 2020 off, it will continue to record, then shut down once the show is finished and stored in the hard drive.

Connecting the 2020 to our home theater system took about 15 minutes. Replay Networks thoughtfully provides a poster-size chart to guide users through setup so they don't have to open the manual. If you have an open phone jack, we recommend using it. Otherwise, you can use the supplied splitter to connect the 2020 to an existing line. (You do not need a dedicated phone line, since ReplayTV's programming updates occur for only a few minutes in the early morning hours.) You can also purchase a 56K wireless transmitter/receiver, which plugs into a wall outlet and allows you to connect the 2020 to an existing phone line across the room or in another part of the house.

Dialing into ReplayTV to download the free programming guide was much easier than we expected. In only 20 minutes, we received the weekly programming data and software updates from ReplayTV, and we were ready for couch potato duty. One major advantage to ReplayTV is that it doesn't charge any monthly service fee for program guide downloads.

We like the fact that ReplayTV's service is nonintrusive. After all, the whole concept of personal TV servers is intended to liberate viewers, so they can watch the programs they prefer, whenever they feel like it. ReplayTV is designed to make it as easy as possible for customers to find the programs they like and to record them for future enjoyment. --Eric Gill

Pros:

• Easy to navigate onscreen guide
• Intuitive remote control
• Free programming guide

Cons:

• No internal fan to cool unit
• Limited to 20 hours of storage at low-quality record setting

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

286 of 292 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars ReplayTV vs. Tivo, November 26, 1999

By	"photokev" (Minneapolis) - See all my reviews

I have spent the past 30 days evaluating both a ReplayTV and a Tivo personal digital recorder and this is a brief review of my experience.

If Tivo did not exist, I would probably tell you that ReplayTV was the coolest gadget that I have ever used. However, Tivo has done such a superior job designing their user interface and their remote control that there is no comparison between the two, Tivo is the hands down winner.

ReplayTV's major problem is that they have no sorting system to help you pick the shows that you might want to record. To find the shows that you want to record you must painfully sift through an on screen channel guide one time slot at a time.

Tivo in comparison gives you numerous ways to choose shows that you might want to record. You can view the upcomming two weeks of programming in catagories such as Movies, Sports, by channel, or by show name. Tivo will even automatically record shows that it thinks you might like based on shows that you have rated with their thumbs up or thumbs down rating system. At first I was skeptical that I would like this feature, but after a week I found that I loved it. I would get home from work and get a whole list of programs that Tivo went out and recored by itself while I was sleeping and while I was at work.

With Tivo I can scan through hundreds of Movies on my premium channels and in minutes tell it to record all the ones that I want to record for the next two weeks. With ReplayTV it took me so long to do this that after the first few days I found myself only recording shows that were on a regular schedule, like Seinfeld or the X-Files.

ReplayTV basically has a frustrating user interface that forces you to constantly look at the remote control to do every simple task. With Tivo almost all of your options are on screen, so if your sitting in the dark while you are watching TV you don't have to strain your eyes on what button you need to push.

My ReplayTV seemed to often (at least once a day) have a playback glitch. The fast forward or rewind would get stuck and I would have to power the unit on and off to get it to stop.

One last thing, a major one for me, ReplayTV gives you no indication of where you are when you are watching a show. You can't tell if there is 10 minutes or an hour left. I was watching Shindler's List a few days ago and I found this extremely frustrating. With Tivo you get a very helpfull progress bar that appears on the bottom of the screen whenever you fast forward, rewind or press slow motion. (ReplayTV has no slow motion or single frame advance.)

I just returned my ReplayTV and Tivo 14 hour unit, I ordered a TIVO 30 hour unit. My advise is to buy a 30 hour unit, you will probably record everything in a higher quality setting resulting in about half the recording time of either units advertised recording capacity.

131 of 134 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Replay on track, but still has glitches, December 12, 1999

By	James Hayes "technocrat" (Santa Cruz, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've been a ReplayTV owner for several months. That said, I am only somewhat satisfied with the overall quality of the system's software. I am satisfied with the ReplayTV hardware, with one caveat. I am not satisfied with Replay customer support.

With each new software release it seems that the same bugs linger and no new features appear. Of course it's hard to tell what bugs ReplayTV is actually fixing, because they won't tell you. Even when you ask. Nicely.

They won't tell you what improvements they're planning either. Of course you can guess that they don't want to tip off any competition, but considering the product marketing blitz coming from TiVo, replay needs to be forthcoming to survive. Replay is missing some very nice TiVo features.

I have 15 years of experience writing software for high-performance embedded systems (which is what ReplayTV is-- a sophisticated computer) and I can't seem to understand why ReplayTV doesn't have a handle on some serious bugs still present in the software.

While it's true, my unit doesn't flat out hang anymore, it still has some frustratingly random problems. Specifically:

* Sometimes it forgets to record a program even when disk space is available and no recording conflicts appear in the recording schedule.

* Sometimes is forgets which channels I have told it to ignore and not display, and sometimes it ignores channels I ask it to display.

* Sometimes the software is so busy doing something (who knows what) that it can't keep up with the video data being written to disk, and I get a show filled with 2 second drop-outs. (This is one manifestation of the much talked about flashing black screen)

* Sometimes the box forgets how to display a picture and displays a black screen instead.

* Sometimes the channel guide is wrong, or when the channel line-up, it may take several days to work the kinks out. (Recently DirecTV started offering local service, and duplicated some channels--including a special PBS channel for some customers. It took two days for ReplayTV to fix their channel guide. Meanwhile, I was without PBS.)

* Sometimes the audio is not synchronized with the picture. This happens often when skipping commercials, or when using fast-forward or rewind.

* The "recorded shows" listing is so slow (several seconds per line when scrolling), that I dread having to use it. You cannot use the page-up/down feature here.

Ok, what do I like?

* Multiple video inputs allow you to hook up cable-tv, an antenna, and satellite service at the same time. The program information is merged into a unified program guide. That's a neat trick.

* Knowing a few words in a title of a movie is enough for the ReplayTV unit to record a show. I use this as a recording "to-do" list. If I hear of a movie I'm interested in viewing, I just add it to the list and if it's ever on-the-air, it gets recorded.

* The commercial skip button is neat. And even though I over-shoot the program sometimes, the instant replay button takes me back a few seconds and I'm back in sync.

* The ReplayTV box controls my DirecTV satellite receiver through a direct wired hookup between the two. In my experience, this is much more reliable than using an infrared "blaster" that emulates remote control key presses.

* The user interface is somewhat spartan. Frankly, I love the simplicity of it all. The channel guide is well suited to my "surfing" habits because it emulates the Sony DSS Receiver listing format I am quite familiar with.

What needs improvement:

* Page-up/down in recorded shows listing

* Progress indicator when moving around within a recording

* Sorted list of recordings

* Frame-by-frame control

* List of upcoming scheduled recordings

* When viewing a recorded program, status messages about upcoming recorded programs appear on the screen. This is bothersome when you're actually copying something important off the system--perhaps to a VCR. You need a way to turn the messages OFF.

From a hardware standpoint, their system seems reasonable. My only complaint is that the unit runs very hot and thus may shorten its lifespan, or cause unpredictable problems when enclosed in a cabinet with an AV receiver and other heat generating components

Perhaps my most frustrating complaint is the "canned" reply you receive when sending e-mail to customer support, and the lack of content when they do finally reply. Yes, I *know* that it's a problem in your software. Duh. That's why I complained. How about telling me when it's going to be fixed, or what's causing it, or the tracking number you use so I can ask about it a month from now?

In summary, I give ReplayTV a 3 star rating. It mostly works. It has software problems. But I continue to rely on it, though sometimes it can be frustrating.

80 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars don't hesitate to buy it, November 29, 1999

By	Susan Long (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews

I have had my Replay for about two months now, and I don't remember how I was able to survive without it.

I almost bought a TiVo, but didn't, because Best Buy had a 15% restocking fee policy on any returned unit, and I thought it was quite possible that the unit wouldn't work with my cable box, and I didn't want to take the risk.

Amazon gives you a 30 day return policy, no restocking fee, so that was enough for me to choose the Replay. The price was essentially the same.

I can watch a lot of TV now in much less time - because I can fast forward or skip through commercials or parts of the show I am not interested in.

It is not perfect - there are clearly some potential improvements to be made in the remote and the software, and I would like to get some extra storage, but the good news is: the unit is upgradable, and surely the changes we want will become available in the near future!

Things I like: - live pause

- easy to set shows to record using the channel guide, nearly idiotproof

- watching shows from the beginning, even while they're recording

- watching any show already recorded, while you're recording another

- the fast forward and skip capabilities

- the theme channels

- the standard recording quality is plenty good enough for me

Things that need improvement:

- disk space management (they don't tell you what their algorithm is, so sometimes you will find a show deleted that you didn't intend; would be nice if they gave you more control over this)

- channel guide could be more clever (some errors in it)

- doesn't have slow motion and frame advance capability

- no way to advance to a particular point in a show (say, 45 minutes in) - you just have to FF to the point (which is fast)

- can't trim shows - to keep the 10 minutes of a two hour show that you really want, say

- can't set it like a VCR to, say, record channel 15 for 15 minutes starting at 8pm - you have to go by the shows in the channel guide (although you CAN set it to record any length of time starting now if you toggle it over to the RF input...)

- would be nice to have a search capability for the channel guide - find the next occurence of a show with the the string 'lincoln' in the title - you can tell it to record shows like that but it doesn't give you any help actually finding them beforehand in the channel guide