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ReplayTV 4000 Series Shares TV Over Net

Posted by Hemos on from the that's-a-lot-of-time dept.

REden writes " ReplayTV announces their ReplayTV 4000 Series networkable PVR. Features include video sharing between LAN attached Replays, sending a show to another Replay over the internet, and automatic commercial skip. Prices start at $700 for a 40 hour unit and max out at $2000 for a 320 hour unit. ReplayTV guide service included. Units are scheduled to ship November 14th." 320 hours. I can't imagine holding on to that much TV - but space is cheap, so, eh, why not?

4 of 142 comments (clear)

  1. I'll tell you why not! by HiroProtagonist · · Score: 5, Informative

    Space might be cheap but $2000.00 just for a larger hard drive isn't. I'm sorry, but I will never love TV that much.

    Especially when NVidia is coming out with a product that will run on my PC and support as large a HDD as I can afford!

    NVIDIA Personal Cinema Redefines PC Home Entertainment

    --
    --Remove chicken to e-mail
  2. Re:Headed for a lawsuit? by dair · · Score: 3, Informative
    No mention was made of sending shows over the internet...rather, it was to other units on a LAN.
    From their FAQ:

    Q. How do I share television programs with my friends?
    A. If your friend has a ReplayTV 4000, they can "talk" to each other over the broadband Internet connections.

    It sounds as if you need a ReplayTV unit at each end, but capturing what they send to each other would be trivial. The datastream is probably encrypted, but you have to wonder how long that would last.

    -dair
  3. Re:Headed for a lawsuit? by Legal+Penguin · · Score: 3, Informative

    This is extremely carefully worded. It does NOT say that you will be able to send copies of copyrighted materials to friends over the internet. It says the machines will be able to "'talk' to each other". I haven't read the FAQ, but this leaves plenty of wiggle room.

    "Talking" in this context might mean sharing programs, but it might also mean sharing programming data only or some other lame restriction. The fact is that, the way the law looks now, a Court could well find that there would have to be a "substantial non-infringing use" for the sharing feature to make it legal. In the context of the ReplayTV units (which I love -- I own one myself) that use would be hard to find. ReplayTV units record essentially only copyrighted material, so the sharing function (outside of a home LAN) would seem to have little non-infringing purpose.

    Within a home LAN, an argument could be made that the purpose is "space shifting" -- making legally copied content available in other places in the home for the person who made the legal copy. This is an extension of the "time shifting" rationale used to justify the existence of VCRs in the Supreme Court's seminal Betamax case. "Space shifting" was also found to be a fair use (by a lower court) in the RIAA v. Diamond Multimedia (Rio) case, and is one reason that MP3 players are not actionable.

    But the space shifting argument has not been extended in recent cases (either in New York or California, where most of this gets tried, see the various DeCSS cases) so I think the "sharing" feature, if it really does allow people to share copyrighted content with friends in distant locations, would be fertile ground for a lawsuit.

    Note that, much as I love 'em, ReplayTV has backed off its promises in the past. It originally told buyers that their personal viewing information would NEVER be collected or sold. It is now clear that such information IS being collected for the my.replaytv.com service. That's fine -- good, even, my.replaytv.com is very cool -- it just happens to be a clear, unannouced change in policy.

    Now if they put 802.11b in the thing, I'd pre-order right now.

    --
    "The true administration of justice is the firmest pillar of good government." - George Washington
  4. Networks can opt out of file sharing! by raygundan · · Score: 3, Informative
    According to this cnet article, the networks will be able to opt out of having their programs shared, even over the local network. This seems to put a serious cramp in ReplayTV's plans-- the only networks who won't immediately opt out are NASA TV and PBS. (Note that SonicBlue has purchased ReplayTV and that the names are used interchangeably in the article) To quote:

    Sonicblue jumped into the market for digital video recorders Wednesday, unveiling four high-end boxes it will sell under the ReplayTV brand.

    Sonicblue acquired the digital video recording pioneer on Aug. 2 after announcing the deal in February. Digital video recorders (DVRs) allow consumers to record TV shows onto a hard drive instead of onto videotape.

    As reported earlier by CNET News.com, the four boxes vary in price and capacity from $699 for 40 hours of recording to $1,999 for 320 hours. Unlike its competitors, Sonicblue will not charge a monthly service fee.

    The new boxes include broadband access and allow consumers to send TV shows via home networking to other ReplayTV boxes. However, Sonicblue Vice President Steve Shannon said the company will allow TV networks to decide if this capability should be disabled for their particular shows.


    So, in short, this feature will probably be disabled by angry networks before it leaves the gate. And it also answers the lawsuit question-- ReplayTV won't be sued, because this feature will come pre-disabled for your convenience.