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ReplayTV Quits Hardware Biz, Licenses Technology

Posted by Hemos on from the forced-out-by-the-tivenator dept.

crazyj writes: "According to this article, Digital Video Recorder maker ReplayTV is calling it quits in the hardware business. Instead, they plan to cut staff and license their technology. Apparently, the competition from TiVo was too much."

3 of 141 comments (clear)

  1. Re:why buy a TiVO? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4
    What's the difference between a Tivo and some script that captures MPegs from the TV tuner card of my computer?

    The differences are

    • my Tivo fits into my entertainment center
    • I don't have to stop using it when my daughter wants to print out her term paper
    • with rebates it cost about $300 w/lifetime service, vs. $1000-$2000 for your computer
    • I don't have to write any scripts/programs
    • remote controlled
    • blah blah blah
    You just can't hit the features vs. price point on your own.
  2. Re:Marketing vs. Technology. by mosch · · Score: 5
    Interesting idea, but as an owner of both a ReplayTV and a TiVo, let me give my assessment.

    Tivo Good Stuff
    • Records programs that it thinks you might like based on previously expressed preference.
    • More intuitive interface (though both are really easy)
    • Products like the integrated DirecTV/Tivo, which can record DirecTV at full-resolution, without the extraneous decode/encode cycle that occurs with a seperate unit
    • Excellent quality on recordings
    • Friendly towards capacity hacks
    Tivo Bad Stuff
    • Only pause live TV for 30 minutes, unless you're actually recording that channel.
    ReplayTV Good Stuff
    • Pause live TV for up to 7 hours
    • 30-second skip
    ReplayTV Bad Stuff
    • Lousy encoding. Bright reds, such as those often found in the simpsons, sometimes get encoded as green (apparently a bit overflow?)... looks terrible when it happens.
    • Seems less reliable than Tivo. Both have crashed for me, but Tivo has crashed about 6 times in a year or so, whereas ReplayTV has crashed that many times in about 3 or 4 months.
    • Ads displayed when you hit pause, some of which contain colour patterns which can cause burn-in.
    All in all, they're both ludicrously cool products, but I know of no reason why ReplayTV is technically superior to TiVo in any significant manner.

    What did you think made ReplayTV technically superior to TiVo?

    --
    "Don't trolls get tired?"
  3. Service-oriented vs. technology-oriented by Dr.Evil · · Score: 5

    I think ReplayTV is seeing the difference between a service-based business model vs. a hardware-based business model. TiVo has never sold their own hardware - they license the design to Philips-Magnavox and Sony. TiVo then collects a monthly/yearly/lifetime fee for service, without which the box is pretty much a live TV-only device. ReplayTV has always included their service as part of the purchase price, which they've had to reduce to compete with TiVo on the shelf. TiVo's been eating their lunch.

    Panasonic's OEM version of the ReplayTV has been selling much better than ReplayTV's own model (ah, the benefits of brand recognition). So it makes a lot of sense to get rid of the overhead, find one or two more manufacturers to sign to licensing deals, and maybe change the service to a TiVo-style pay-for-play service (grandfathering existing customers, of course ;) ).

    --
    Right...