ReplayTV RTV5516 160-Hour Digital Video Recorder
Replay Vs. Tivo- Which do I get?
You know what.  I actually had written a nice review about this product... I thought it was decent, not necessarily better than TiVo, but not bad none-the-less.  I can't change my \\"star\\" rating on my review since it's an edit though, but I really give this unit 2 stars.<br /><br />Now, 4 months later, I warn you, STAY AWAY from ReplayTV...<br /><br />My ReplayTV has clunked out, so what do I do?  Call for support!  Yippy.  I visited their website to get the support, and found that they don't even have an 800 number, yay, long distance calls required.  Then, I was reading that their average wait time to get to an operator is 2 minutes for 95% of calls... great!  So I called them up, thinking, well 2 minutes at long distance is no big deal...  hmm...  I waited 15 minutes listening to elevator music, then finally hung up, costing money ya know.  So I called back the next day, and held up for 20 minutes, then hung up.  WHAT IS THIS!  It's long distance and I'm paying to sit on hold which I shouldn't have to do anyways.  So I finally called back a third time, when the operator answered I checked my phone, 17 minutes, she was VERY friendly though thank god, but not very helpful. And if this didn't solidify my warnings about this product, I said to the support woman \\"these things probably break all the time,\\" she answered, \\"god yes\\"...  She spent 10 minutes having me go through simple routines, decided she couldn't help me, then transferred me to \\"level 2\\"... well, I then sat on the phone for 20 minutes waiting for level 2, they never showed up, again, I had to hang up the phone, I have now wasted over 1 hour long distance time with ZERO help from this company.<br />Thats just my customer service experience with them, I'm yet to get resolved, so I still have a broken unit.  And now I've finally reached \\"level 2\\" and found that since I've had my Replay for over 3 months, they would be happy to fix it, I only have to pay $75 PLUS $20 in shipping just to have it \\"repaired under warranty\\", well hell, the new unit is only $4 more with free shipping.... garbage.  How is this company in business!<br />But to get to the units themselves...<br />Although the ReplayTV works fine most of the time (before it breaks), it often freezes and stutters, or just has little glitches or problems that require a reset.  Plus the software is just not that good.  If you want to watch a show and not record it, but you know a recording show is coming on that will automatically change the channel, you cannot go and just stop that recording ahead of time, if you do, you'll remove all future recordings too, how stupid... the ReplayTV unit is just loaded with inconveniences like this.<br /><br />The fact is, the latest TiVo's (SAME PRICE TIVO.com) do EVERYTHING the Replay does and does it better, more reliable, with real customer support.  The TiVo for $100 does show sharing, you can connect multiple units and watch shows on each unit, you can even download your shows to your computer with a download manager, you can connect via ethernet, all the things the Replay \\"had\\" that the TiVo didn't, well, TiVo has it now.... again, same price.  The TiVo unit is just that much better, there is truly ZERO reason to purchase a replay unit.<br /><br />So please, read my review, and listen, STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY... do NOT buy a Replay.ell, the new unit is only $4 more with free shipping.... garbage.  How is this company in business!  But to get to the units themselves...  Although the ReplayTV works fine most of the time (before it breaks), it often freezes and stutters, or just has little glitches or problems that require a reset.  Plus the software is just not that good.  If you want to watch a show and not record it, but you know a recording show is coming on that will automatically change the channel, you cannot go and just stop that recording ahead of time, if you do, you'll remove all future recordings too, how stupid... the ReplayTV unit is just loaded with inconveniences like this.    The fact is, the latest TiVo's (SAME PRICE TIVO.com) do EVERYTHING the Replay does and does it better, more reliable, with real customer support.  The TiVo for $100 does show sharing, you can connect multiple units and watch shows on each unit, you can even download your shows to your computer with a download manager, you can connect via ethernet, all the things the Replay \\"had\\" that the TiVo didn't, well, TiVo has it now.... again, same price.  The TiVo unit is just that much better, there is truly ZERO reason to purchase a replay unit.    So please, read my review, and listen, STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY... do NOT buy a Replay.