Floppyhead – Digital Media and Streaming

ReplayTV used to be the darling of the digital video recorder world. But on December 19th, 2005, after several lawsuits, Digital Networks North America announced that it was exiting the hardware business as soon as current inventory is sold out. ReplayTV is now concentrating on PC software sales of its DVR technology in a partnership with Hauppauge Computer Works, a manufacturer of television cards for PCs (from Wikipedia).

The first version of ReplayTV’s is expected to be released this month. PCmag.com has a brief review on the new software:

The current build of Replay TV software doesn’t work with multiple tuners. That means you won’t be able to record one program while watching or recording another, as you can with most DVR systems. ReplayTV says multicard support will be available in the future, as well as support for high-definition video. By year’s end, the company expects to add the ability to stream recorded video to any networked Windows computer in the house.

Reading all of the press on the software makes me wonder why the company is even bothering. Do we seriously need another PVR app for the PC, especially one lacking features and that is one of the most expensive on the market at $99? Let me rundown what the software is missing:

• Multiple tuner support
• HDTV support
• Not able to stream video to other computers
• Lack of support of a free electronic program guide

Are you still interested? They lost me at hello. The real kicker is that you have to pay $20 a year for their program guide. That is completely pointless and greedy. This software is so expensive it makes Microsoft Vista look cheap. Vista includes every feature that ReplayTV does, supports HDTV, and does not include a yearly fee. If a lesser known company released this software, it would die a quick death. If you are selling software for $100, at least make it have more features than competing free software (i.e. MediaPortal).
Once the trial version is available, I will give you my impression. Just do not expect it to be any good.