ReplayTV RTV5516 160-Hour Digital Video Recorder
Perfect unit for recording your favorite shows
I recently purchased a ReplayTV unit due to the awesome price drop and connected it to my bedroom TV.  After a couple of hours I realized that ReplayTV has more options than Tivo but they all basically serve the same purpose, to record your favorite shows.  To me there are three things that bring the rating of this unit down from 5 stars to 3 stars.  My first complaint is that I have to pay $12.99/monthly (or $299 one time fee) to get the channel lineup and some other cool features.  That price is kind of high when I compare it to my Digital Cable companies price for their DVR set top boxes (which only go for $6.99/monthly and no up front purchase).  The second problem is that it takes almost 5 seconds to change channels.  If I enter a channel number or use the channel up/down buttons, it always takes 4 - 5 seconds.  This particular problem is driving my wife crazy and I don't blame her.  The third reason I only gave this unit 3 stars is because of its remote control.  Although the remote is simple to operate, its buttons layout is something that could use some improvement.  Lastly, would it hurt to have illuminated buttons?   <br /> <br />The cool thing I like about this unit is that I can transfer my JPEG images from my PC to its hard drive and view my photo on my television.  (Please note that progressive JPEG's are not supported.)  Another cool feature is that if you have more than 1 ReplayTV unit on your local network you can view a recording from a different unit.  BTW - You can only have up to 8 units or less on your local network and each unit will cost you an additional monthly subscription fee! <br />