ReplayTV 2020 Digital Video Recorder
Almost everything you'd want it to be!
I loved this product right from the beginning, just from seeing how it combined the program listings from my cable and DirecTV providers into on guide, and would automatically switch between inputs depending on what channel I selected. Seems logical, but no one had ever done it  before!<br />The 2020 is the way to go at the moment, because you'll find this  so addictive that any less storage space will not be enough. I find that  the Standard recording quality (which yields 20 hours of recording) works  fine for me at the moment with both my DSS and cable programming,  considering it's better than I was getting with VHS. I suppose that if you  get hooked on the better quality, it would probably be hard to go back.<br />I  was disappointed that the 2020 does *not* come with Firewire ports as  advertised here on Amazon.com, as a box with future programming  improvements *and* expansion possibilities was really exciting. Once the  copy protection issues are worked out, I'd love to be able to add another  20 hours to the unit with an external drive, but maybe Replay will  facilitate that somehow.<br />Anyhow, the bottom line is: This unit is in many  ways the home entertainment appliance I've been looking for for many years.  It's smart, it's convenient, and it can only get better as features are  improved and small bugs are removed. When was the last time you were able  to upgrade the firmware of your VCR?