ReplayTV launches ReplayTV Personal HD

Posted on Thursday, September 20, 2007 by MegaZone

Well, it looks like the leak and my speculation from the other day were both accurate. ReplayTV officially announced the ReplayTV Personal HD bundle with a press release yesterday. As speculated, it is a USB 2.0 NTSC/ATSC tuner bundled with a basic HD antenna, a remote control (in PCCard form factor for easy storage in a laptop), and the ReplayTV PC-based software. It has a $99.95 MSRP, which includes one year of guide data – after that it is $19.95/year. It is supposed to ship in November. It does appear to be the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-950 repackaged, as suspected.

Overall, I’m not impressed. There is nothing new or unique here, you can get the same hardware from Hauppauge, or re-branded from Elgato as well. This is Windows-only and only handles NTSC/ATSC from antenna, or analog cable. They’ve just bundled the existing ReplayTV PC-software with the existing Hauppage dongle and a generic remote. Not that exciting.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll probably say it again, the ‘ReplayPC’ software is a lame duck and there are several better options. This is not the ReplayTV of old.

About MegaZone

MegaZone is the Editor of Gizmo Lovers and the chief contributor. He's been online since 1989 and active in several generations of 'social media' - mailing lists, USENet groups, web forums, and since 2003, blogging.    MegaZone has a presence on several social platforms: Google+ / Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / LiveJournal / Web.    You can also follow Gizmo Lovers on other sites: Blog / Google+ / Facebook / Twitter.
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  • dough

    The problem with these USB HD devices is that the off air antenna included in the package is totally useless. I guess the tuner itself is ok, but the antenna is worthless unless you live on a broadcasting tower.

    There is no good solution to this. If you try a serious antenna (like terk or channelmaster) you will see a striking difference in reception. However, with these antennas the mobility (the only advantage of a USB tuner) is lost – they are simply too large to carry them with a laptop.