Product Description

With ReplayTV, there's always something good on, and you don't ever need to be bothered by commercial interruptions again! Topping the charts of user-friendly features, Commercial Advance lets you choose to skip commercial breaks all-together when you playback recorded shows. No fast-forward, no remote control interaction at all. Just a split-second "blip" and you're right back into the action.

Product Details

• Brand: Replay Tv
• Model: 3060
• Dimensions: 3.25" h x 11.00" w x 17.00" l, 13.00 pounds

Features

• Digitally records up to 60 hours of programming without videotape
• Pauses live broadcasts and resumes play at your leisure
• QuickSkip feature bypasses recorded commercials
• Instant Replay plays back programming in 7-second increments
• Free programming guide with no monthly service fees

Amazon.com Review
ReplayTV's 3060 server provides up to 60 hours of storage space and offers a host of upgrades, including an advanced programmable remote control with a ReplayZones button that makes it very easy to find the shows you want to record. In fact, it's almost too easy. Once we grew accustomed to recording shows in advance, we found ourselves watching three times as much TV as we had in the past.

For those unfamiliar with the concept of TV servers, ReplayTV records programs digitally and stores the information on a hard drive. Like with a VCR, if you want to record your favorite show while you're away from home, you can store it on the 3060's hard drive and watch it later. Unlike a VCR, the personal TV server doesn't require tapes or other external media to store programming.

It's important to point out that the actual amount of space available for storing programs can vary depending 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. The highest-quality setting further reduces storage capacity, but the picture quality can approach 500 lines of resolution, depending on the source. We recommend using the highest setting for movies and the middle level for sporting events, sitcoms, and other programs, then erasing the content immediately after viewing it. However, you may want to consider taping the programs with a VCR before erasing them permanently.

One of the coolest features on the 3060 server is the ability to pause a live broadcast and resume watching it just like you would a recorded program. When you utilize this feature, ReplayTV acts as a time buffer by storing the show in memory so you can pick up the program from where you left off. A Return to Live button on the remote allows you to skip forward to real time, which is great if you're watching a sporting event and you wish 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 or sporting event in seven-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 for any program featuring a specific actor. You can also refine theme-based searches of programming. For instance if you wish to record Friends, you can limit your search to title only, so you won't waste time pulling 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, which is important since you'll be using the guide a lot to search for programs and to preview descriptions. ReplayTV's onscreen guide gets an A+ in this regard.

We also loved ReplayTV's QuickSkip feature, which allows you to instantly jump ahead 30 seconds, so you can skip through TV commercials on prerecorded programs. We also like the ReplayZones, 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 on to 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 an S-Video input and output. This enables users to hook up a DIRECTV receiver or other direct-broadcast satellite receiver to the 3060, 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 3060, 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 infrared code into Replay's universal remote control).

One feature we really liked is the ability to place the 3060 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, thereby keeping the unit cool and noise free. If you happen to be recording a show when you turn the 3060 off, it will continue to record, then shut down once the show is finished and stored in the hard drive.

Connecting the 3060 to our home theater system took about 15 minutes. Replay Networks thoughtfully provides a poster-size chart to guide users through setup without opening the manual.

The 3060 uses a phone connection to get program information. If you have an open phone jack, we recommend using it. Otherwise, you can use the supplied splitter to connect the 3060 to an existing line. (You do not need a dedicated phone line, since ReplayTV's programming updates take place in the early morning hours, for only a few minutes each night.) Or you can purchase a 56 Kbps wireless transmitter/receiver, which plugs into a wall outlet and allows you to connect the 3060 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. One major advantage to ReplayTV is that it doesn't charge any monthly service fee for downloading the program guide.

Ultimately, one of the best things about ReplayTV's service is that it's nonintrusive. After all, the whole concept of personal TV servers is 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.

Pros:

• 60-hour hard drive
• Easy-to-navigate onscreen guide
• Intuitive remote control
• Free programming guide

Cons:

• No internal fan to cool unit

Customer Reviews

Frustrating close to being great addition to a home theater
I've had this Replay unit for about a month now, and right now I'm trying to decide whether or not to keep it plugged in my home theater. There are lots of reasons I love the device, but there are enough little bugs that I'm thinking of unplugging it and waiting until a later generation of these TV recorders fixes these issues. To put this in context, I'm an early adopter, a gadget freak, so I generally have a high tolerance for the nagging quirks of new technologies. But I'm also a home theater nut, so I have a higher than normal bar for what equipment can be added to my system.

I have a DirecTV satellite dish in my system, and beyond that your basic home theater setup: bigscreen TV, DVD Player, Receiver, Amp, Speakers, S-VHS VCR. Setup was fairly easy using the diagram included. I just installed the Replay device between my DirecTV box and my receiver. I plugged it into a phone jack and walked through the setup menu which was straightforward. You have to let the device use your phone line for a while to download all the necessary initial setup info, like local channel listings and Replay Zone info.

After using the gizmo for a while, I can confirm that these things deserve a lot of the good press they deserve. (1) The device tapes shows when you're not around, so if you're a fan of a TV show you can set the device up once and you should never miss another episode of the show again. (2) I like being able to quickly rewind a show I'm watching, especially sports.

(3) If you tell it you have a DirecTV, it will download all the channel listings and allow you to just use the ReplayTV remote to change the channels on your satellite dish.

Now for the ugly: (1) The record quality at the low setting looks really lousy on a big TV. I think the Medium setting is as low as I'd ever set it. My S-VHS VCR record quality is somewhere between the Medium and High settings. (2) These devices are still way costly. I wouldn't recommend getting anything less than a 60 hour unit, and you're looking at a big chunk of change for those right now. At Medium and High quality settings, you'll fill the hard drive in no time if you watch just a few shows regularly. (3) The audio and video keep going out of sync for me. That drives me nuts. I don't know how to fix it when it happens, and I don't know why it goes away, but the only time I can guarantee it won't happen is when I'm watching taped shows. This even happens when I'm watching live programming. (4) You can't watch one show and tape another. Not a huge deal, because it's the same with my DirecTV, but something I think they could fix someday. (5) There's about a 3 second delay when you change channels before the next channel's video/audio comes in. It's hard to channel surf patiently that way. (6) I now can't use the digital audio output on satellite dish since the ReplayTV doesn't accept that input. If I plug it directly into my receiver, then the audio won't sync with the video from the DirecTV unless I use just the composite video output. I like having the digital audio output because the sound quality is much better through that, and it's the only way to receive Dolby Digital broadcasts, which some DirecTV channels broadcast in. They should think about incorporating component video inputs into the Replay device as well. (7) I prefer the channel browsing menu on the DirecTV, because it shows you a thumbnail of the channel in the corner as you browse. My Replay doesn't have that. (8) There's no locking mechanism so that the satellite receiver and the Replay are frozen when taping. One of my roommates turned off the satellite dish while the Replay was taping a show for me and I lost it. My DirecTV receiver didn't have that problem.

These are all solvable issues, and I expect we're about one to two generations away from a great product. I know Tivo just issued an integrated DirecTV/Tivo device, but I don't like how Tivo charges a monthly fee. You may not find the problems above to be an issue for you depending on your setup and TV viewing patterns. I can't wait to buy one of these once the problems are solved. By then the hard drives should be monstrous, satellite and personal recording devices should be integrated, and life will be merry. But until then, I feel like this is a device that is probably too difficult to set up and use for those who can't set the clocks on their VCRs, and just buggy enough to annoy high end home theater users. For some folks in between, it will be life-changing.

For you and me, not the rest of us
First off, I don't own the 3060 yet, but I own a predecessor with a smaller storage capacity. My unit has the same remote control and the same user interface and control software.

There's a little "religous" war going on between ReplayTV and TiVo advocates. I'm sure we all would love to have the other if we couldn't have the one we have. So people try to make big issues out of little things like a still ad image that most users will never notice.

The 3060 shares with the Phillips 60hr TiVo unit the bragging rights to being the highest capacity Digital Video Recorders (DVR's) available over-the-counter. Digital Video Recorders are great! I won't list the common virtues of ReplayTV and TiVo units here, but let me focus on the differentiators I've seen between the two:

The ReplayTV 3060 comes with a lifetime of free (prepaid)service. The TiVo will cost you more for a lifetime of service. If you expect your unit to work beyond 10 months, and I know I do, then the ReplayTV is more cost effective.

The user interface in the ReplayTV is information dense. The program guide shows you alot of programming on one screen. I haven't spent much time with a TiVo but I've read that it requires more paging around to view programs.

Some people love the TiVo remote control. It fits nicely in the hand and seems to be good for one-thumb button pushing. The ReplayTV remote can be used one-thumb but it may help to be double-jointed. The ReplayTV remote has alot of capability and all the buttons to show for it. The TiVo has cute logos and a red "thumbs down" button and a green "thumbs up" button - it lets you vote a show good or bad, and uses that accumulated data to recommend (and automatically record) new shows for you. The remote control is the primary means of controlling both the ReplayTV and the Tivo units, so you want one you'll like.

Soon Internet savvy users will be able to select programming for their ReplayTV units from any web browser. From home, from work, or from another country, they'll be able to capture those shows they don't want to miss.

Remember the old Apple computer ads for the Macintosh, the computer "for the rest of us"? It didn't appeal to me. I don't want an appliance that's dumbed down so I won't have to learn to use it. I am willing to learn powerful new features and new user paradigms. I'm willing to let a new appliance change the way I do things, whether it's writing a letter, heating a sandwich, or watching TV. This is why I prefer the ReplayTV. I covet the new 60hr units!

Nice little box
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 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.