Black Boxes

by Chuck Peters
Winter 1999/Spring 2000

Let's Go to the Replay
ReplayTV 2001 Personal Television Server

Manufacturer: ReplayTV
(800) 266-1301
www.replaytv.com

Primetime. Anytime. That's what the ReplayTV Personal Television Server promises. And it delivers right on the money. Setup is fast and easy. It took just 10 minutes to cable the VCR-sized unit and about 20 minutes for it to download our local program info to the built-in program guide. Half an hour after opening the box, we were putting ReplayTV through its paces: pausing live TV, watching on-demand instant replays and setting up our own Replay Channels to automatically record our favorite programs.

The unit we tested holds about 10 hours of programming. ReplayTV units that hold 14-28 hours of programming are available at higher price points.

On the Air
Hooking up is as easy as cabling a VCR. The instructions provided in the Quick Start Guide were easy to follow, breaking the setup procedure into just a few simple steps. First we connected the VCR-sized set-top unit to our cable TV, antenna or satellite and to your existing TV/VCR combination. Then we connected a telephone line using the provided line splitter. Finally, we hit the power button, and followed the on-screen instructions to configure the unit, dial-up and retrieve the local program listings. The program guide is attractive and easy to read, displaying a full week of program information. The guide shows the start time and length of each program, and it provides a brief summary of each show you select. Recording is done with the touch of a single button. Simply highlight a program on the program guide and press the red record button on ReplayTV's remote control once to record an episode. Click it twice and ReplayTV will record every episode of that program that occurs at that time. And, we should note, there are no monthly fees to pay. The ReplayTV service and upgrades are free.

Make Your Own Channels
ReplayTV allows users to set up their own Replay Channels, based on theme or show, for repeated taping of programs of a common title or theme. Show-based channels will capture first-run or syndicated programs from a specified television channel and time. Theme-based channels will seek out and record programs based on key words entered by the user, regardless of channel or air time. For example, a show-based entry for Frasier on Thursday night at 9 p.m. will record only episodes airing at that time. A theme-based entry with Frasier as the keyword will seek out and record any program whose title contains the word Frasier airing on any channel at any time. This entry would yield first-run or syndicated episodes of the sitcom, an Oprah Winfrey interview with the cast of Frasier, or Biography's behind-the-scenes look at how Frasier is made.

With ReplayTV there is no videotape to worry about. Recorded shows, whether selected from one of your customized channels or straight from the program guide, are stored as MPEG-2 files on the built-in hard drive. Picture quality is excellent; the recorded image looked almost identical to the original broadcast image. Only on close inspection, did we notice a small amount of digital artifacting, a common by-product of MPEG-2 video.

Is it Live or is it Replay?
Using the Replay remote control, you can watch live TV or programs that Replay has recorded. You can toggle between live television and programs recorded to the hard drive by clicking buttons on the remote control labeled Channel Guide (for live television) or Replay Guide (for recorded programs). Once you're inside the Replay Guide, a pop-up menu lets you decide to view a recorded program from the beginning, resume watching a program where you left off, or delete a show that you have watched. If you're a hard-core fan who wants to collect and archive every episode of your favorite TV series, you can offload files to videotape before deleting the MPEG-2 files from the drive.

Watching live TV is a whole new experience with Replay TV. And a likeable one at that. ReplayTV records every program as you watch it. Why? The answer to this question is the key to this product category. Because ReplayTV records and digitally buffers the signal before it hits your screen, you can take control of the program, pausing, rewinding and cueing on-demand instant replays. If you've ever missed the end of a movie, the last shot of a big game or the crowning of Miss USA because the phone rang, you'll love the pause feature. Just hit Pause on the remote and ReplayTV freezes the screen while it continues to record the show until you return. Press Play on the remote to pick up where you left off. Want to see something again? Press the Rewind button and shuttle back as far as the point when you turned on the unit, or when you last changed channels. The unit will continue to record the show as it airs while you watch a few minutes behind the live broadcast. When you come to a commercial break, tap the Quick Skip key to zip ahead. This feature displayed just one frame of each commercial when we tested the unit. Three or four taps of the Quick Skip button and we were back to the program. If you like, you can fast-forward through the buffered program until you catch up to the live broadcast. Pretty cool.

A Critical Eye
Overall, we were pleased with the performance of the ReplayTV 2001. It delivered on its promises and lived up to our expectations for what a unit of this type should be. But there were a couple of things that could be better.

While the program guide is attractive and undeniably useful, we found that it often got in the way of the program we were viewing. A picture-in-picture feature, ala WebTV Plus, would have been a nice way to allow a user to check the program listings or scan the Replay guide for recorded shows without obscuring a program. Sure, you can always pause a show while you check the listings, but, hey, we want it all.

Next on our list of beefs is the remote control itself. The unit is clunky, crowded with tiny buttons and not well contoured to the hand. We found that we were constantly straining to read teeny labels next to very small, identically-shaped round buttons. The problem of small type and small buttons is compounded when we tried to use the device in a dimly-lit living room. We would have preferred a larger remote with easy-to-identify backlit buttons, at least for those used most often.

Thumbs Up
Even when you take these critical observations into consideration, ReplayTV is a winner. The device does the job and does it well. Television has never been this user-friendly.

-- Chuck Peters

Tech Specs: ReplayTV 2001 Personal Television Server

Inputs and Outputs: Video In: S-Video, Composite Video RCA; Video Out: S-Video, Composite Video RCA (2); Audio Line In: Stereo L/R RCA (1 pair); Audio Line Out: Stereo L/R RCA (2 pairs); RF In: Cable Ready F-Connector Female; RF Out: none; Telephone: RJ-11 female; IR Control Out: Mini stereo audio jack, female; Serial Control Out: Mini stereo audio jack, female