This is our second look at ReplayTV. Our first look ended with us wishing the product had lived up to its potential.

This summer, Panasonic released its new version of ReplayTV aptly called The ShowStopper (PV-HS1000 [$599.95 MSRP, $499 Street] and PV-HS2000 [$699.99 MSRP, $600 Street]). And it shows what lessons a technology company can learn from its users when they are smart enough to listen. ReplayTV is one smart company. As a result, their new product is a winner and has an honored place in my cramped home entertainment center.

ReplayTV is one of those products that you look at initially and you wonder if it's really worth the extra money. I mean, I have a VCR. My cable box has a rudimentary electronic program guide. So do I really want to sink $600 to duplicate what I already have? But, I have to tell you, after using this box for a few months, I'm hooked. It has changed the way I watch TV and has changed what I watch.

So much of TV is wading through all the lousy shows to get to something you really want to watch. ReplayTV makes sure there is always something good on TV.

ReplayTV is an idea whose time has come. The idea is in these days of endless cable and satellite channels and busy schedules, we need a way to find and watch the television programs we want to watch more efficiently. With ReplayTV you could throw away the TV Guide and skip through all the commercials on prerecorded shows. And when the phone rings or when nature calls while you are watching live television, you can just pause the show you are watching, do what you need to do and then resume the program where you left off. Or if your significant other walks in halfway through a show, you can rewind it to the beginning.

That is the promise of ReplayTV and similar products like the Echostar DISHPlayer and TiVo.

Hooking Up is Kind of Hard to Do

Panasonic's ReplayTV ShowStopper contains a cable-ready TV tuner, an MPEG coder and decoder, and a very large hard drive array onto which it records video. ReplayTV uses MPEG-2, an industry standard method of taking motion video and sound and compressing it in such a way that it is much smaller, but maintains much of its quality. The ReplayTV can record at various compression rates. The better the video, the less time it will record onto the hard drive. At the lowest quality (formerly called "Standard" now called "extended") the 2000 model ShowStopper ReplayTV can store a whopping 30 hours of video. The 1000 stores a respectable 20 hours.

Hooking up the ReplayTV to our test TVs was still a bit of a trick. Like the previous model, The ShowStopper only has a coaxial cable input. Our TV only has a coaxial connection, so ReplayTV would not connect to one of our older TVs. We had to use an RF converter from RadioShack to convert the RCA output of the Replay to a coaxial connection for the TV.

Owners of newer TVs should fare better since other than the oversight of a coax out, the Replay has a full complement of connections, including, two sets of RCA jacks in and out, an S-Video in and out (for best picture quality), a serial connector for some satellite boxes, a phone connector for retrieving electronic program listings, and a power cable.

We won't drag you through the fairly lengthy and complicated sign-on and setup procedure, but it involved typing information in with a remote control. ReplayTV uses an onscreen keyboard. This is not convenient, but since the only typing one does with ReplayTV is when entering phone information and when searching for shows, the limitation is forgivable.

I did have a major problem telling the ShowStopper which cable box I have. The onscreen instructions said I could punch in the number. I consulted the manual and found the correct number. But I was unable to punch it in using the number pad. I made sure I was in the right mode on the remote. (Annoyingly, you can't tell whether the remote is set to activate the Replay, the TV, or any other piece of technology. An indicator light would be a nice touch.) But I was never able to punch in the right code. Instead, I had to use the channel up and down button to scan up to the right number. That sounds easy, but the unit lagged every few codes and would momentarily freeze. Since you only have to go through this once, I would characterize this as a minor annoyance.

Over Protective

The previous model of ReplayTV had two IEE-1394 FireWire plugs. In theory, these would have allowed the ReplayTV to hook to a variety of next generation home equipment, including digital video cameras and digital televisions. The FireWire cables could also be used to connect to additional hard drives to store even more digital video. But ReplayTV omitted the connectors partly because there were no upgrades provided, and probably partly due to concern by content providers. FireWire could be used to make pristine digital copies.

Replay seems a bit obsessed with copyright laws. We wonder if they've had skirmishes with the networks or other content providers. We'd ask them about it, but they are in their quiet period preceding their Initial Public Offering of stock. We hooked up our VCR to play through the Replay to the TV. All was well until we tried to play the movie Stuart Little, the ReplayTV stopped dead in its tracks and refused to show the video. We paid for the darned video, but it wouldn't show it. Instead it displayed a blue screen telling us that the program was copyrighted. It then invited us to watch a different channel. Upon searching through the well-done manual, we determined that ReplayTV honors copy protection schemes such as Macrovision or CGMS (Copy Generation Management System-Analog). These schemes could also be used to copy protect broadcast TV shows, rendering your ReplayTV useless. ReplayTV suggests splitting the RF signal.

That's all well and good, but since ReplayTV had the nerve to stick itself between our VCR and our TV, you'd think it would be good enough to pass the video signal through. But the way ReplayTV works, every video signal that travels through it is recorded on the hard drive--even live TV--to enable the TV pause feature. If they had a coaxial out, we could have hooked up the TV, ReplayTV and VCR so when the ReplayTV was powered off, we could watch the VCR without any interference. This was not well-thought out.

Technology companies need to learn that their legal issues shouldn't hinder the functionality of their equipment. In this case, ReplayTV's copyright issues with the program providers were solved by making the technology difficult for the consumer to use.

Fuzz, Stuff and Nonsense

One of the limitations of MPEG encoding is that it doesn't work all that well with less than perfect video signals when the compression rate is high. So when we had static on our cable line, we were noticing pixelation when a show would fade to black or when there would be a transition between scenes. It was particularly hard to pin down the problem because a lot of TV commercials use pixelated effects to give their video texture and mood. We were also able to reduce some of the pixelated look of the picture on the other replay by reducing the TV's sharpness setting. Of course this isn't desirable on a television that will also be used to display WebTV as it may cause the type to become difficult to read. But in the end we were reasonably pleased with the video quality. Die-hard videophiles will notice more problems than your average avid TV watcher.

We can notice a difference between a live show through a ReplayTV and a live show directly through the TV. The ReplayTV "filtered" version is slightly less sharp and the sound isn't quite as bright. But for most people these will be minor tradeoffs. And users of WebTV Plus are already familiar with such tradeoffs.

Once we settled our video issues, most television shows recorded in standard quality look better than shows recorded on VHS tape. But for shows that have a lot of motion or sophisticated lighting effects such as Star Trek or any sports program, the video compression is obvious, but can be compensated for by using the medium or high settings.

The ReplayTV is also a bit too sensitive about dropouts in a video signal. We watched a movie that wasn't copy protected and the blue screen saying "No Signal" would pop up ever so often. It was an older tape. We've also noticed when a cable network goes to local commercials there is sometimes a moment when the blue screen will pop up. A normal TV just shows a black screen.

Another issue in hooking the Replay to our limited TV was connecting in combination with a WebTV. We found if we hooked the Replay going into the WebTV that it was cumbersome to make the ReplayTV display. Hooking the WebTV into the ReplayTV caused a slight delay in the display every time we pushed a button on the WebTV because the video signal is being cached onto the hard drive for the live pause feature. Initially, we had decided that WebTV and ReplayTV are devices that don't work well together. But then we remembered we could configure the WebTV to treat the Replay like a cable box with RCA jacks. Our cable box is by Scientific Atlanta and uses coax connections. But the WebTV software allowed us to tell it to use the RCA jacks on the ReplayTV. It's not a configuration WebTV lists, but it does work fairly well.

The unit itself is markedly more stable than its predecessor. The previous version would occasionally overheat or would crash in the middle of a TV show. The ShowStopper is nearly rock solid.

It makes a gentle whirring noise as the hard drive records your show. Occasionally the hard drive will clatter a bit when I presume it is playing and recording near the same location on the hard drive. The unit seems to run cooler than the previous version. It obediently sends the hard drive to sleep when it is turned off, reducing power consumption and the amount of heat given off. The previous version had some severe heat issues that have thankfully been addressed.

Not Just Another Pretty Interface

The ReplayTV's user interface looks great, but can be stubborn. It requires specific actions in particular circumstances and not in others. It was clearly created by a computer programmer. It is very modal in that it expects specific actions in a specific sequence or it stubbornly refuses to obey your commands. Sometimes we had to read screens twice before figuring out what to do next.

Sometimes the screen refers to buttons on the keyboard and sometimes to buttons on the screen. The buttons must be pushed in the order described to do simple things like watch live TV. But with time, we learned to anticipate its reactions when we did various activities.

Wait! It's Godzilla!

One thing that still surprises us is a blue screen that says quite simply, "Please wait" when we turn the box on. We asked ReplayTV why this was necessary. The engineer explained that it takes a few seconds for the hard drives to come up to speed after being shut off. Then the live video feed is cached on the disc for a few seconds. This enables the Replay to handle the video smoothly when a user pauses or pushes the instant replay button. In theory, this is reasonable, but we wish it didn't take 20 seconds. Also, occasionally we have run into situations when using the TV pause feature in conjunction with the skip and instant replay feature where the audio and video will get out of synchronization. It looks a bit like a Godzilla movie. (You know, the bad Japanese ones, not the bad Matthew Broderick one.) Usually pushing stop or pause and then play clears matters up.

Remotely Useful

On the previous version of ReplayTV, the remote drove us nuts with everything we hate about bad remotes: tiny buttons, poor organization, tiny print, and hard to hold in the hand. But the ShowStopper has a new remote that is much improved. In fact most of the frustration we felt with the older ReplayTV melted away with this new remote. It fits well in the hand and has curves in the right places. My fingers quickly learned the locations of my favorite buttons.

I do wish they would come out with a nice backlit remote where the buttons illuminate. This would solve a few problems. One, you could use it in a dark living room. And two, you could tell which component you were controlling in your home entertainment center. I also wish it had a learning remote so I didn't have to use the booklet to look up the codes. I know myself well enough that I know I won't be able to find the manual in another month or two. Fortunately, the codes can be downloaded from ReplayTV's website. Unfortunately, they are in PDF format and can't be read on WebTV. In fact, their entire Website is inaccessible on WebTV, which is why we won't link to it here.

Pause Applause

Using the ReplayTV is actually fun. We tried the TV pause feature, pausing a program and coming back over an hour later. (Actually it can pause it for up to seven hours, depending on what is already on the hard drive. TiVo and DishPlayer only allow 30 minutes.) This is really cool. Now you can pause the TV to take a call, grab a snack, or take a break. Replay's onscreen display tells you exactly what is going on, how much time it can pause the program, and when, while fast forwarding, you arrive at the end of the delayed broadcast and return to live TV. There are multiple speeds of fast forward and rewind including faster than normal and slow motion. I love TV pause. I can watch an hour show in 45 minutes or less.

There's also a button that can skip you forward 30 seconds and another that can take you back several seconds for an instant replay or to correct when you overshoot the beginning of your show. Another button brings up information about the show you are watching, including if it is live or on disk, how long it is, etc.

What's On Tonight. Or Next Week.

Almost equally cool is the electronic program guide, a scrollable grid of listings that is called from a tiny button on the remote. The guide zips to the current time and channel and shows what's on, what's coming up, and details about the show. Clicking on the show makes the guide vanish and you can watch the show complete with live TV pausing. You can also push the record button to record the show.

We picked several shows we liked and created what Replay calls Replay Channels. These are programs that we told Replay we want to record on a regular basis. These are stored in the Replay Guide, a listing of your Replay Channels. We love Law and Order, so like the commercial we set up a Law and Order Replay Channel. That's when the trouble began. We turned everything off and went to work. When we got back, nothing was recorded. We checked the connections and figured that the Replay must have failed to turn on the cable box. Grrrrr.

Sometimes, we didn't get what we expected when we played back our shows. Occasionally Replay failed to tune to the right channel. You see, we used a digital cable box in our test - our cable company scrambles the signal so the box is necessary. A wire goes from the ReplayTV to the cable box and transmits the remote control signals it needs to function. Apparently, someone had knocked the wire loose and disabled it. This isn't really a fault in ReplayTV, but it is a limitation in the current state of technology when one box can't directly tell if another box is functioning properly.

Other times we would forget to leave the cable box turned on and the show would not record. We wish the Replay would sense that there is no video signal and would power the cable box on. Perhaps they will consider this in an upcoming upgrade. Like most settop boxes, the ReplayTV can be upgraded by the service.

Every ReplayTV dials a local Internet provider and connects to ReplayTV's servers through the Internet to get the TV listings and if available, messages and upgrades. The messages tell users about new dial-up numbers and features of the system. There is presently no way to send messages. This would be a nice added feature, but would require a keyboard and a change in the software. But since ReplayTV is based on the Linux operating system, this is entirely possible in the future. It's also possible we will see satellite or cable boxes with ReplayTV and Internet access, although ReplayTV is staying quiet due to it's pending IPO.

Zoning Out and In the Channel

Replay Zones are based on preset categories such as sports, NBC Comedies, Cartoon Network shows, etc. Call me cynical, but it appears this was dreamed up by the money people as a way to sell ads. No thanks. Also, areas throughout the Replay Interface appear ad-ready. That is they are roughly the size of a banner ad and contain no useful information. I can't fault the company for wanting to make money, but it's not a service I would use. Taping all "NBC Dramas" makes about as much sense as taping all shows whose titles begin with an "R."

More useful are Replay Channels. (Didn't they used to call them Personal Replay Zones?) Replay Channels can be based on themes or based on shows. Knowing when to use which is tricky. A show-based channel is only good at that particular time on that particular channel, whereas a theme-based show can find all episodes regardless to time or channel. But they can also get shows that are thematically similar. So you could create a "Law" theme-based show that would get court shows, cop shows, etc. Or a "Food" theme that would get all cooking shows.

You can even record a theme-based channel on your favorite actor. This is very handy. For example, if I'm a Martha Stewart fan, I can tell ReplayTV to record any show with "Martha Stewart" in the title, as well as any show that has Martha Stewart in the cast list or the description. So when she makes her appearance on the Early Show, or Rosie O'Donnel, you have her recorded.

You can also record any show from the electronic program guide. The EPG contains at least seven days of programming information including show titles, episode titles, plot, cast, duration, and rating information. One really cool feature is that the EPG can consolidate program information from multiple broadcast delivery systems. So a user who has cable and satellite service can have all those listings in one place. There is a feature that lets the user turn off unsubscribed channels. The EPG can also control cable boxes and satellite dish controllers with either an IR blaster or a serial cable, which are included.

Pushing the record button adds a red dot next to the program name. This means this episode of this show will be recorded. Pushing the record button again will create a Replay Channel for that show at that particular time.

ReplayTV Guide

Replay stores your theme- and show-based Replay Channel as well as anything else you've recorded in the Replay Guide which can be accessed by pushing a button on the remote.

One evening, there were two shows we wanted to watch. We figured we'd record one and watch the other. No luck. Since we use a cable box, we could only watch the channel being recorded. Again, this is a limitation of the existing technology. Hopefully future ReplayTVs will contain dual cable box tuners to allow this. WebTV/RCA/DIRECTV's Ultimate TV will have multiple satellite tuners. Unfortunately, the cable industry is more fragmented and uses a variety of types of boxes. Fortunately, there are some standards brewing, such as DOCSIS. But that's a topic for another day.

Another problem occurred when we wanted to set an individual show to record at the same time as one of our Replay Channels was set to record. This was a special and we wanted to override the Replay Channel. The ReplayTV properly told us that there was a conflict. It then told us to go fix it and let it know when we had, then we could record our show. Excuse us? We bought this thing to be easy. In our minds the box should have said, "It looks like you have a conflict. Which program would you prefer to have recorded this time? We would chose the program and we'd be happy. Instead we are stuck into the binary thinking of the programmers who didn't take into account that people at home don't want to memorize flow charts in order for them to be able to watch TV.

The Replay had suggested removing the show. But that seemed like overkill. Instead we altered the setting that guaranteed that the channel would be recorded and would save two episodes. Then we went back to set the other show to record. Ridiculous.

When we were allowed to set our show to record, we were given a range of options: tuning to that channel, recording that show, and finding all episodes of that show.

Archival Copy

One kind of cool feature is being able to dub off your favorite show to your VCR. When you select a show from the Replay Guide, you have the option to "Record to VCR." This puts up a countdown clock with the name of the program and a synopsis so it can be recorded on the tape with the show. This is useful for longer-term storage. If you were to do all of your videotapes this way, it would be much easier to figure out what's on each tape by fast forwarding until you saw the replay count down screen. I like this feature a lot, although I don't record many shows to tape. Most of my VCR use was rentals and time shifting. Now all my time shifting is done on the ReplayTV. And far more efficiently, too!

Summary

We love this product. It has become a part of our lives. It records all the best shows on TV (the ones we picked ourselves) and allows us to watch them efficiently.

While the ShowStopper isn't without flaws, it is far easier to use than its predecessor. The remote fits well in the hand and the incremental changes in the user interface have greatly improved our opinion of this product.

If you asked us if we would spend our money to buy a ReplayTV ($500-$600 Street), the answer would be "Sure!" It is much more expensive than a VCR. The price includes lifetime upgrades and electronic program guide listings. TiVo and WebTV charge extra for this service. (TiVo will sell lifetime service for $200.) In fact, WebTV charges a monthly fee to use TV pause.

Replay is also not a bad deal when you consider it records 20 or 30 hours worth of video without the hassle of videotapes, it includes a decent electronic programming guide, and it allows you to instantly skip ahead in a program, instantly erase a show, and easily set another to record. While using a ReplayTV isn't a seamless experience, it does come close to being second nature after a bit of practice.

Its interface still requires guessing and squinting at the screen and remote to navigate the onscreen menus. Fortunately, the remote is well-designed, giving easy access to all commonly used features.

Over all, I would say this is a great product at a reasonable price. I would like to see it come down a hundred dollars more and would like some small changes made to make it easier to use.

The ShowStopper is available at Amazon.com.

Panasonic PVHS1000 Showstopper Click the Picture	Panasonic PVHS2000 Showstopper Click the Picture