ReplayTV 2020 Digital Video Recorder
Replay TV - the BEST way to watch TV
I don't know how better to describe this device than to quote my (non-techie wife), who exclaimed that &quot;It's the best way to TV.&quot; I've had mine since December, and now have the upgraded 2.0 software (a download which occurred overnight in the routine dialup).<br />The good: 1. A  great program guide that lets you see about 8 days of programming. To  record, you simply highlight a show and hit the record button and then you  decide if your recording is a one-time event, an &quot;always record&quot;  event, and how many episodes of the show you'll keep.<br />2. Pausing live  programming or rewinding a live show. This is great - you get a phone call,  hit the pause button and go back to the show. The nice thing is you can  catch up to live by fast forwarding the commercials.<br />3. The quick skip  button - lets you jump 30 seconds forward (through commercials). This is a  huge time saver and a 30 minute show can be watched in 22 minutes or so  (skipping intros and commercials). Seriously, I feel like I'm getting away  with something here and HATE watching live TV now as I must sit through the  commercials.<br />4. Search options. As part of the 2.0 upgrade, you can  search by show title, actor, dirctor, etc., and pick and choose what you  want to record.<br />5. You can watch one recorded show while it is recording  another, or walk in during the recording of a show and start watching it  from the start.<br />The Bad - or, wouldn't it be nice if they included that.  1. It is not clear what show will be deleted if your drive is full - they  should advise you at a menu or with a different color on the listing of  recorded shows that &quot;This goes next&quot;.<br />2. When you switch  channels during live programming, the buffer (for you to rewind to catch  dialogue you might have missed) is erased. I've found that if you use your  cable box remote rather than controlling the channels from Replay, this  gets around this problem.<br />3. No way to control the dialing in. It is set  to dial in every day. I pay for every call, so it would be nice to have it  call every other day.<br />4. Record options don't make perfect sense. You can  do a single record or a &quot;record all&quot;, the latter of which looks  for the same show EVERY DAY at or around the same time. If, for example,  you record an HBO show, which they show reruns of on other nights, it'll  record the new episode Sunday and the replays during the week. You should  have the option of saying record ONCE, DAILY, or WEEKLY rather than once or  every time it is on.<br />5. Channel guides should be translucen (like TIVO)  so that you can watch the show as you are programming other shows.<br />6. It  would be nice to see a &quot;task list&quot; where you could see a list of  shows that will be recorded today. As it is now, you just see a long list  and don't know when the show will be recorded. . .