Rio ReplayTV 4508 (80 GB) 80-Hours DVR
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- Type: Video Recorder (DVR)
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Astonishing
Pros
Easy to use, great for download to computer
Cons
Default high quality mode
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
PVR is wonderful technology - time shifted viewing makes the TV more accessible. The ReplayTV 4508 brings the TV and PC together.
The VCR finally died (after 12 years) and so it became time to replace it. It seemd to me that tape was such an outmoded device and that the best way to go would be to a PVR and a cheap video recorder in the unlikely event that there was anything that we would want to keep permanently.
We have a fairly hi-tech house (category-5 cable throughout and a 100Mb wired network, together with 802.11b wi-fi capability). All the computers are networked, the printers are shareable, so why not the video?
I had seen TiVo devices at friends' houses and liked the idea, but getting the device onto the network was key - that ruled out TiVo.
My other half teaches broadcast related subjects at a nearby university, and she frequently needs snippets of broadcast TV to make a point during lectures. In my dreams I wanted to be able to pull some content off the air (satellite in our case), download the program to the digital editing studio (Adobe Premiere) and create snippets as .avi or .mpg or other files onto CDs which she could take to school. So now here is a 50 (ish) professor in the creative arts using the latest geek technology to get material to the students. That made her pretty cool in the eyes of the students.
Anyhow, since we frequently have new technology in our house, Madam is usually quite skeptical. So I waited for her to leave the house and then installed the Replay device. It took about 20 minutes. Then when she came home, I demonstrated.
"So, how do I record this, " she snarled. Oh, just press the little button called record," I suggested. She did and it said it was recording. "Ok, I want it next week too.." "press it again," I said, calmly. We left for lunch. On our return, I heard, "Ok I want to watch the program we set to record before we left." "Sure, press the button that says replay channel, select the show....." Before I had finished she was already watching, and since there were now no commercial breaks, I was asked to prepare coffee so she didn't miss anything. I recommended pausing the device - I would be glad to make the coffee, but I didn't want to miss anything either!
The next morning, I copied the morning news across to one of the PCs and edited out the programming leaving a couple of commercials for her to use in class that day. We may be the only household that doesn't use the commercial skip features!
The machine has been flawless. In fact I think I heard Madam say, "Honey I think we should get another of these for the living room..." If she really said that, I believe it would be the first time a piece of technology had been welcomed warmly!
I haven't bought the second one yet, but if Santa is reading this........
We have a fairly hi-tech house (category-5 cable throughout and a 100Mb wired network, together with 802.11b wi-fi capability). All the computers are networked, the printers are shareable, so why not the video?
I had seen TiVo devices at friends' houses and liked the idea, but getting the device onto the network was key - that ruled out TiVo.
My other half teaches broadcast related subjects at a nearby university, and she frequently needs snippets of broadcast TV to make a point during lectures. In my dreams I wanted to be able to pull some content off the air (satellite in our case), download the program to the digital editing studio (Adobe Premiere) and create snippets as .avi or .mpg or other files onto CDs which she could take to school. So now here is a 50 (ish) professor in the creative arts using the latest geek technology to get material to the students. That made her pretty cool in the eyes of the students.
Anyhow, since we frequently have new technology in our house, Madam is usually quite skeptical. So I waited for her to leave the house and then installed the Replay device. It took about 20 minutes. Then when she came home, I demonstrated.
"So, how do I record this, " she snarled. Oh, just press the little button called record," I suggested. She did and it said it was recording. "Ok, I want it next week too.." "press it again," I said, calmly. We left for lunch. On our return, I heard, "Ok I want to watch the program we set to record before we left." "Sure, press the button that says replay channel, select the show....." Before I had finished she was already watching, and since there were now no commercial breaks, I was asked to prepare coffee so she didn't miss anything. I recommended pausing the device - I would be glad to make the coffee, but I didn't want to miss anything either!
The next morning, I copied the morning news across to one of the PCs and edited out the programming leaving a couple of commercials for her to use in class that day. We may be the only household that doesn't use the commercial skip features!
The machine has been flawless. In fact I think I heard Madam say, "Honey I think we should get another of these for the living room..." If she really said that, I believe it would be the first time a piece of technology had been welcomed warmly!
I haven't bought the second one yet, but if Santa is reading this........
