Black Boxes: ReplayTV 5040

by Melinda Adams
Summer/Fall 2003

COMPANY SONICblue
CONTACT (408) 588-8000
WEB SITE www.sonicblue.com
PRICE $300

The ReplayTV 5000 series marks SONICblue's latest attempt to turn up the heat on the burgeoning DVR market. Though the company has gained a name in consumer electronics by consistently offering superior products, they appear to have rushed things a bit with this new model. With an even lower street price than the previous generation of ReplayTV's, the 5000 models have the potential to steal away loyal TiVo users, but unfortunately SONICblue needs to work out a bug or two before it can be declared the clear winner in this battle.

Ready, Set.... Ouch, That Hurt!
Having tested other ReplayTV products in the past and finding them to be excellent, we couldn't wait to get our hands on the new 5040 model. The first test machine we received, however, had some problems. Even with the aid of an experienced network person, we couldn't get our Microsoft network to recognize the DVR over our Ethernet connection. This is necessary for the unit to be able to share programs. The unit was also extremely slow to respond to basic commands such as flipping channels or displaying menus and it frequently crashed even when we weren't interacting with it. Restarting the machine after such crashes often took 10-15 minutes.

We also experienced problems with SONICblue's customer support, as we initially opted to contact them via their standard consumer line rather than as Smart TV & Sound reviewers. The ReplayTV's documentation claimed phone support ran until 8:30 pm in our time zone, yet each time we phoned after 5:00 pm we heard a recorded announcement that "all lines are busy" and were disconnected. We eventually got through and SONCblue agreed to send a replacement machine for testing, noting that the problems were likely caused by damage during shipping. We were unable to confirm this.

Out of the Box
Fortunately, we had better success with our second unit and had it up and running within thirty minutes. After connecting our surround receiver, two VCRs, and a DVD player using the ample RCA and S-Video ports we were ready to go. The new unit easily interfaced with our network via the Ethernet port, though it required a bit of manual configuration. Once connected, the ReplayTV was able to download the latest software updates and our local channel guide in about fifteen minutes.

The Nitty Gritty
The new unit was definitely of a different breed than the first. Start-ing the machine took a fraction of the time (1-3 minutes), the unit responded quickly to the remote and we experienced only a single crash in our rigorous two-week test period. Maybe it was just our changing luck, but this time we also had better luck with SONICblue's tech support: When we called before 5pm, we were able to speak to a support person in less than three minutes. This is the ReplayTV we anticipated.

Like the excellent previous models we've tested, the 5040 records at either standard, medium or high quality with the quality being balanced against storage space. We saw sharp picture quality at both the medium and high settings, but we did notice some compression artifacts in programs recorded at the space-saving low quality setting. The 5000 series is available with hard drives that hold from 40 to 320 hours of programming (thus the model numbers for the 5000 series: 5040/5080/5160/5320).

One of the most-lauded qualities of recent ReplayTV units is the somewhat controversial Commercial Skip feature, although it isn't controversial with consumers. Of course it is easy enough to fast forward through commercials on any prerecorded program, even on ancient VCRs, but ReplayTV monitors recorded shows and automatically skips through the ads. Although SONICblue includes a disclaimer that Commercial Skip may not be 100% perfect, we found it to be extremely accurate and even more reliable than the previous 4000 series.

The 5000 series also includes program-sharing capabilities, although a broadband ISP connection (e.g. DSL or cable modem) is required to use this feature. Program sharing allows you to send and receive recorded programs to and from another ReplayTV 4000 or 5000 owner. The system is reliable, much more so than in the 4000 series, but even over relatively fast connections like our DSL, a movie recorded at high quality can take an entire day to transfer.

Though the program-sharing feature was likely designed to be used among friends and acquaintances, there are free, third-party services emerging on the Web that allow anyone to search for programs on other ReplayTV units anywhere in the world. In theory, the use of these Web services is a little like music-trading systems such as Napster. In practice it's a lot slower and less reliable due to the large size of a video file and the fact that such services essentially work on the honor system in which you rely on others to send the programs you request. Again, we should mention that such services aren't related to SONICblue in any way, but the services are definitely something to consider when weighing a ReplayTV purchase.

More Features
In order to better compete with TiVo, SONICblue has drastically lowered their prices on this generation of units. With rebates, the ReplayTV 5040 can be found at a street price of $200. SONICblue has recently followed Tivo's lead and implemented a subscription fee for the MyReplayTV channel guide service. The good news is that, like TiVo, buyers have a choice of paying a $250 one-time fee that follows the machine forever, or an open-ended monthly rate of $9.95 that is billed to the user rather than the box (compare with Tivo: $300 one-time or $12.95/month).

The 5040 is not just a simple DVR anymore, but is evolving in to a sophisticated mix of technologies. Besides commercial skipping and file sharing, this model has a great new interface and a great organizational tool (Show Organizer) that lets you sort your programs into categories. The hardware technology is also rapidly advancing, including 480p (progressive scan) quality video for HD televisions via the component video outputs. The optical digital audio output is also nice, but we don't really see it as a significant advantage since the ReplayTV does not record Dolby Digital bitstreams via the analog audio inputs. The final feature we want to mention is the ability to program the ReplayTV via the Internet using MyReplayTV.com as an intermediary. Since your ReplayTV only connects to the service only once a day (usually in the wee morning hours), you need to program it well in advance (up to a day) via the Net. This means you won't be able to instantly record Oprah from work. It does mean that you can make programming changes when you are on the road for work or on vacation, although we didn't find a use for this during our limited testing period.

Although the replacement unit ended our tests on a good note, we are concerned that the earliest 5000 series units were rushed out the door, probably as a result of the intense nature of the competition in this market. In any case, we assume these problems are not inherent in the product, and ultimately found the 5040 to be a great product. The basic ReplayTV technology is solid and the performance/price ratio has never been better.

SMART SPECS
Storage: 40 Hours
Dimensions: 3"(H) x 14"(D) x 16-7/8(W)
Ports: Infrared blaster, Serial, RJ-11 telephone, Ethernet port, USB
Inputs:
  RF/ANT
  Line One (stereo audio, 1 composite video)
  Line Two (stereo audio, 1 composite video, 1 S-video)
Outputs:
  Line One (audio, 1 composite video)
  Line Two (stereo audio, 1 composite video, S-video)
  RF/ANT/CATV out
Component Progressive output (YPrPb)
Digital Audio output (Optical)