ReplayTV RTV5516 160-Hour Digital Video Recorder
Buyer's Remorse with ReplayTV
I first was exposed to DVR technology through my former roommate.  She bought her first TiVO back in the fall of 2000.  During the next two and a half years, I got hooked.  Then when she got married and moved out, I realized that the TiVO was going with her, so I had to go out on my own.<br /><br />I found a ReplayTV unit and thought--hey, this is cheaper.  In the subsequent year and a half, I've found out why.<br /><br />Our first unit started shutting itself off within the first month that we had it.  With no warning, sometimes during times when we weren't home and were counting on it to record shows.  It wasn't terribly often, but enough to be annoying.  We called customer service and they had us send the unit in for repairs.  That only took a month, during which we were forced to watch TV regularly, and anyone who has had a DVR knows that it's *really* hard to go back.<br /><br />When the unit arrived again, it lasted for about two months and then the modem ceased functioning.  Not during a thunderstorm or anything--not really sure what happened.  But for those of you that know how DVR's work--it could no longer call in to get programming schedules and thus we ended up with a glorified digital VCR that only worked when we scheduled it to record manually.<br /><br />So we called customer service again, where, after a maddening round of questions (\\"is the unit plugged in?\\"  \\"now, let's try resetting it.\\" I know some people must actually not check these things before calling, but ARGH, when I'm TELLING you that it IS plugged in AND we already reset it, and the rep still has to start at the beginning of their list of questions, it makes me crazy!) they agreed to replace the unit.  We sent our old unit to them and it took another month for a new unit to arrive.<br /><br />It's been a year and the replacement unit stopped working about a month ago.  This time the whole thing just blew out and stopped working entirely -- wouldn't turn on at all.  (By the way, we moved from a house into an apartment during this experience, lest it sound like a problem with our wiring or something--these experiences took place in completely different locations.)<br /><br />At this point, honestly, I wanted to go back to TiVO.  My roommate gave her original unit to her parents and has gotten another DirecTV receiver/TiVO combo and reports that she's never had a problem with either of them.  However, my subscription was paid up for ReplayTV, so I just got my third unit in less than two years--the warranty was out for the unit that broke, so I actually ended up paying another $70 to replace it... a decision I may regret.<br /><br />I recommend just going with the industry leader.  The costs really are neglibly different, and my experience says that paying a little more is WELL worth it.  DVR technology revolutionizes the TV experience, but only if you can count on it to work.y, we moved from a house into an apartment during this experience, lest it sound like a problem with our wiring or something--these experiences took place in completely different locations.)   <br /> <br />At this point, honestly, I wanted to go back to TiVO.  My roommate gave her original unit to her parents and has gotten another DirecTV receiver/TiVO combo and reports that she's never had a problem with either of them.  However, my subscription was paid up for ReplayTV, so I just got my third unit in less than two years--the warranty was out for the unit that broke, so I actually ended up paying another $70 to replace it... a decision I may regret.   <br /> <br />I recommend just going with the industry leader.  The costs really are neglibly different, and my experience says that paying a little more is WELL worth it.  DVR technology revolutionizes the TV experience, but only if you can count on it to work.