DirecTV Buys What's Left Of ReplayTV

from the thanks-for-the-time-shifted-memories dept

Thu, Dec 13th 2007 7:48am — Mike Masnick

DirecTV has had something of a love-hate affair with TiVo for years, so the company must be happy that it's been able to pick up the remains of ReplayTV. Remember that ReplayTV actually pre-dated TiVo in the DVR scene -- and the two were direct competitors for a while. ReplayTV was a favorite among many in the techset for not giving in to the entertainment industry (as TiVo did). That meant that ReplayTV actually allowed features like commercial skipping and sharing recordings with other ReplayTV users. Unfortunately for ReplayTV this also meant a series of bank account-draining lawsuits forcing the company into bankruptcy followed by a firesale to consumer electronics firm D&M Holdings. Not much was heard from ReplayTV for a while. The company decided to drop the hardware habit and focus just on software -- but apparently it wasn't doing much for D&M Holdings. It's unclear what DirecTV is planning to do with what's left of ReplayTV, but the immediate speculation is that it's really just buying a patent portfolio at this point. It's a rather sad end for what had been an innovative and consumer-friendly company.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: dvr
Companies: directv, replaytv

16 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

James, 13 Dec 2007 @ 8:07am

I love my replay
I bought a 5000 series just before they ran out of them, I love it. I wish they could've remained a strong competitor since they didn't sell their soul to entertainment industry like Tivo did.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
John Duncan Yoyo, 13 Dec 2007 @ 8:14am

Damn. The only thing keeping me with DirecTV is my three DirecTiVOs. I was hoping that they would give up on their foolish DirecTV branded faux TiVOs and go back to true path of TiVO.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
John Duncan Yoyo, 13 Dec 2007 @ 8:15am

Darn. The only thing keeping me with DirecTV is my three DirecTiVOs. I was hoping that they would give up on their foolish DirecTV branded faux TiVOs and go back to true path of TiVO.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Justin, 13 Dec 2007 @ 8:17am

Nice Boxes
I love my ReplayTV units. I had two with upgraded 320GB drives wirelessly bridged with a DVArchive server. Other than some stability issues they are the best DVR I have seen in terms of functionality and openness. I was one of many that really hoped to see a High Def version but alas it was not to be. I have had to replace them with the Verizon provided DVR in order to take advantage of HD recording. They're still sitting on my bedroom floor, I just don't have the heart to part with them.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Dec 2007 @ 8:23am

Weird, my TiVo has commercial skip on it. Maybe you should be posting fact instead of fiction?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Mike, 13 Dec 2007 @ 8:37am
  
  replayTV has a feature to automatically skip all commercials. Pretty handy, and it works well.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Lionel Mandrake, 13 Dec 2007 @ 4:25pm
  
  Re: Commercial Skip Fiction?
  >>Weird, my TiVo has commercial skip on it. Maybe you should be posting fact instead of fiction?
  
  Or perhaps the Anonymous Coward is actually clueless when it comes to how this technology works:
  
  The method of "Commericial Advance" employed by Replay in units up through Model 5000 was automatic. Repeat: Automatic. Tivo's skip method was and still is quite manual.
  
  As such, Replay's units up to, but not including the 5500 series, were perhaps the MOST SUBVERSIVE products on the planet. Watching ReplayTV was and still is quite literally like watching PBS all the time. Actually, even the sponsorship announcements at the beginning of shows like NOVA on PBS are GONE. Automatically. No buttons.
  
  Then why is ReplayTV gone? A little matter of not having a war chest big enough to fight the zillions of dollars in advertiser's lawsuits that were ultimately settled on their total weight, not merit. Where was the EFF? Subsequent models after model 5000, (like the 5500) had this "automatic" feature crippled, even though the code was still buried in the FPGA.
  
  Even Tivo's (secretly user-programmable?)30-second skip remained undocumented, though this was still a manual button to press. (select-play-select-30-select). Also because of lawsuit fears.
  
  Fiction? The only fiction here was the sanctity of the US justice system. "Might" clearly won out over "right" here.
  
  Clueless Coward!
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- gashauler, 23 May 2011 @ 3:11pm
  
  Response to: Anonymous Coward on Dec 13th, 2007 @ 8:23am
  Maybe "you" should be posting fact not fiction. Have had Rico for years and have never seen a skip commercial feature. Fast forward through commercial yes but skip. No such animal.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Michael, 13 Dec 2007 @ 8:25am

Me too
Ditto @ >. I have a couple of ReplayTV boxes that are still in service and which I will probably use until the service shuts down. The last one I got had the commercial skip function diabled but still works well with the older unit.

I figure that when they stop getting updates then I'll look at seeing if I can shoehorn MythTV into them.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Katie, 13 Dec 2007 @ 8:27am

TiVo Pain
We have DirecTV at home, and recently got a new receiver for their expanded HD programming... and the TiVo system has been completely bled into the rest of the DirecTV interface at this point. Gone are the cute sound effects, and the remote control is an absolute nightmare. Instead of the ergonomic peanut shape with everything in a logical place, there's a gigantic play button at the top with a tiny pause button off to its bottom-left. The placement of other buttons seems random, and they are identified with only text labels (no icons) that are likely to wear off before any of us memorize what they do.

I want Replay back =( Maybe their acquisition can help DirecTV to suck less, but I doubt it. Right now, I'd almost prefer cable, and I'd definitely prefer a Media Center PC.

-- katie
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Jeff, 13 Dec 2007 @ 8:34am

ReplayTV
I have 2 replayTV units and I love their service, primarily for the reasons you've mentioned, being able to share files with other replayTV users etc. It's sad to see it go to someone that will not care at all about user experience.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Aaron, 13 Dec 2007 @ 8:38am

ReplayTV
Too bad, ReplayTV was a great product and a phenomenal alternative for people who could not get digital cable in their area. Not to mention their 30sec skip button was the greatest thing since sliced bread.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Kilgore Trout, 13 Dec 2007 @ 10:03am
  
  Re: ReplayTV
  My POS DirecTV DVR has a 30-second skip. I can stack 5 or 6 of them up, and effectively skip an entire commercial block.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
BVision, 13 Dec 2007 @ 10:37am

My Replay
I love them. I have 8 of them networked throughout my home. Each has about 320gm of storage. I pull data out with DVArchive and watch on my laptop during my train ride to work.

I hope DirecTV keeps providing the program menu.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
kiki jones, 13 Dec 2007 @ 9:17pm

repeat after that guy: AUTOMATIC commercial skip
I noticed recently that the skip button on my remote is worn down to a tiny little nub... I finally took the deal from the satellite company so I could have the same function in a second room. I did long ago have some good geeky fun upgrading the replay's hard drive once. Bad Advertising! Sit! Stay!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
wg (profile), 17 Jun 2011 @ 4:36pm

ReplayTV Program Service Discontinued
Anyone wishing to join me in a class action lawsuit against Direct TV for arbitrarily discontinuing program service for ReplayTV owners who purchased lifetime service, please email me at wgrayokc@yahoo.com
[ link to this | view in chronology ]