ReplayTV Spared At The Zero Hour

After announcing the imminent demise of ReplayTV programming guideĀ services last month, D&M Holdings has had a change of heart. And perhaps keeping the lights on is more cost effective than litigation… given what appears to be a small but passionate letter writing campaign. So while guide data, and associated DVR functionality, was expected to cease 7/31/2011, the company writes:

After the announced shutdown of the ReplayTV programming guide service, we have had many positive, enthusiastic comments about the ReplayTV DVR products and services. In light of this response, ReplayTV and its parent company Digital Networks North America, Inc. have decided to continue the electronic programming guide service pursuant to the terms of your service activation agreement. We thank you very much for all of your support and enthusiasm over the many years these products have been sold.

Meaning, for now, that ReplayTV or Showstopper “lifetime” service has been restored. I assume TiVo Series 1 customers in the UK are hoping for a similar turnaround after all declaring an end of TiVo “lifetime” service – and at least one jilted customer intends to drag TiVo into court. Long live the standard def, IR-blasting DVRs of yore!

(Thanks for the photo satpro and for the tip sparc!)

11 thoughts on “ReplayTV Spared At The Zero Hour”

  1. Oh. My. God. I feel really happy for those people who still have their ReplayTVs. Especially the people I sold our old units to over the years. It’s still a nice platform for standard definition teevee watching.

    So, what’t the end-game for ReplayTV? How long will this last?

  2. Since the previous announcement, we tried Comcast’s DVR and it was terrible. Now using FiosTV and liking it (even w/o the 1.9a IMG upgrade).

    So, who wants two series 5000 ReplayTV’s? We were on the monthly plan which doesn’t yet seem to have a definite future.

  3. Terrific news. Great that D&M, DNNA and/or DTV did the right thing — if it was due to pressure per the states’ AG offices, well that’s what they’re there for and IMO ‘lifetime’ means that and as Replay changed hands over the years, these folks assumed those responsibilities as they acquired the assets and revenues generated by the service subscriptions.

  4. I’m glad they’re restoring service. It remains to be seen how long they plan on keeping it around, but they’ve treated the customers pretty fairly over the years. There must be quite a number of ReplayTV customers left for them to have even backtracked like this.

    If we got the ten years that Tivo Series 1 UK customers got, there might not have been as much resistance. A few more years and the ReplayTV user base probably would have thinned even more substantially as we moved away towards alternatives.

  5. The clock’s running on the hardware itself.

    Replays (especially the later models) are very, very picky about which PATA drive they use (no, adapters for SATA drives don’t work)

    Since DVR drives usually run 24/7 in a few more years there will be only a handful of users to complain.

    Looking at the forums that cover Replays, plenty went ahead and dumped them when the announcement was made.

  6. I am so glad they are keeping it around. I have an old one (PV-HS2000) and I still love it. I know it’s old, but it does what I need. I have never had any issues with it. I also was not looking forward to paying Time Warner. Their service has always been bad (at least in my area), so I was figuring on having issues with their DVR as well.

  7. My panasonic machine is 11 yars old. I have never had
    a problem with it. It still works as good as when it was NEW!! I use it every day. I hate commertials. You can skip them!!! Love It.
    Thanks ReplayTV.

  8. I’m sort of surprised my Replay (hardware and service) lasted this long, but I figured I’d have to replace it eventually.

    We bought a Tivo in mid-July, and picked up a CableCard from Comcast. Even with the Replay reprieve, we’re keeping the Tivo.

    I sort of miss Commercial Advance, but Tivo’s “overshoot correction” on fast-forward is almost as convenient, and more consistent.

    I definitely miss Replay’s categories. We had a general category, plus one for my wife’s shows, one for my daughter’s shows, etc. Tivo has all recordings in a single list.

    Otherwise, the Tivo runs rings around the old Replay. Better scheduling (season pass, todo list, etc.) Two HD tuners. Scheduling from the web. And fun sound effects. ;-)

  9. MikeTeeVee,

    ..runs rings around the old Replay? My Tivo is soooo slow. How can something built 8 years later be so much slower than my Replay 5000? I sometimes forget what I was about to do while waiting and wading through the “user interface” that is Tivo. In some countries the Tivo developers could have been shot for releasing code that slow.

  10. I agree, the menus on the Tivo (especially the Flash ones) are kind of sluggish. I guess I’ve adapted to the rhythm of it, and it doesn’t bother me much. The interface while watching shows (FF, skip back) is plenty snappy.

    Where the Tivo wins is with a far more automatic/transparent scheduling system.

    Plus I now have two HD tuners where I used to have one composite analog input fed by an SD cable box controlled by an IR blaster. And 1000 gigabytes compared to 60.

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