Panasonic PV-HS2000 ReplayTV ShowStopper 30-Hour Digital Video Recorder

The Showstopper is not JUST a digital VCR. It redefines what TV and puts you in CONTROL. It on longer matters when shows are on, you watch them when you want, you pause them, you skip the commercials.

We never recorded shows with tape -it was too cumbersome. Now, with a simple on-screen menu we've set it to record every episode of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and told it to keep the last 2 (or 3, or 4 -your choice) episodes. Plus, with the 30 second skip button (TiVo uses the much inferior Fast Forward button)you can now watch WWTBAM in 40 minutes instead of an hour. I love it because the kids don't get inundated with commercials anymore. The kids love it because it painlessly records every episode of "Boy Meets World" (including that which is on during dinner, piano lessons, etc). My wife (who generally hates TV) loves it because now she has control over when and what to watch. Our second ShowStopper (the modems do not conflict with one another) was just con!nected to the TV in front of the treadmill which now gets used regularly. TiVO is inferior for 2 main reasons; it has a monthly fee (something like $20) which the ShowStopper does not and TiVo does not have the 30 second skip function.

Caveats: Both Showstopper and TiVo require connection to a phone line so they can download the next weeks's worth of cable programming. For parents- before you bring it home, clarify with the kids the Showstopper is for watching better, not more TV. Finally, the hard drives do make a little humming type noise. We solved that by putting the unit in our glass enclosed TV stand. The treadmill setup includes wireless headphones so noise is not an issue there.

In summary, the Showpstopper is the single best 'gadget' we've bought in years. Get with the program and take over your TV.

A really great idea, unfortunately taken only part way. The machine can only work in the USA. This is really frustrating for potential customers elsewhere in the world. Worse yet, an international version for a world market would only take some simple software changes. A simple user programmable function, much like that in existing video recorders, would allow anyone to set up a schedule of favorite TV/cable channels that could be recorded automatically. The stored shows could then digitally managed so that only the last say 10 shows of a program would be kept and new recordings would constantly overwrite older shows. This simple ability alone would make the ReplayTV unit usable anywhere in the world. Of course to take advantage of the present max 60-hour capacity the unit would need to be able to handle at least 60 to 120 program events. A lot to set up to be sure but this would be a one-time effort and based on the user interests. Just imagine when 100 - 1000GB hard drives become available. It may be posible to keep every episode of a favorite TV series online and immediately accessible.

If the ReplayTV schedule was desired as well, a few simple changes could take of that too.

1. Allow the unit to be able to dial up the data via the Internet or allow for international long distance dialing with support for 24-30 digit dialing.

2. Allow for a simple channel re-mapping function so that CNN on channel 25 on the ReplayTV schedule could be re-assigned to channel 33 for the users local TV/cable source.

I am very keen to have a unit.. once they become global-ready products. Maybe one day someone will build the Super DVR that would be just like a VCR but without the hassle of tape and with the plus of easy digital control of watching time-shifted shows... and work anywhere in the world.

When I first bought this product, I felt a little silly spending so much money. But after enjoying it for six months, I think it was money very well spent. With my VCR, I was always messing up setting the timer, forgetting to rewind the tape, or suffering through poor-quality recordings because the tape had been used too many times. The Replay solves all these problems and more. Setting it to record is effortless, and it's very easy to get it to record the same show every week or every day. There's no rewinding, and the quality is great, even on the extended setting. My favorite feature has got to be the Quickskip, which fast forwards 30 seconds at a time so you can move through commercials at lightning speed (TiVo doesn't have this feature). My only complaint is that the infrared blaster that changes the channels on my digital cable box isn't always reliable, so the wrong channel gets recorded on occasion (although less frequently than I used to screw up the VCR!) All in all, this product is amazing - I ask myself every day how I ever lived without it!

I wanted a Tivo cause of the features it had, but I settled for a Replay when I got it for my birthday and I have never been happier! I recommend this product to my friends and they also love it! I gotta say I wanted a Tivo, but with no suncribtion fee this Replay RULEZ! I want to get the 60 hour one to put in my living room infront of my big screen TV!!!

This thing weighs a ton! I bought this on the intent to return it after awhile, I just wanted to see if it was any good. We'll it is. A couple things though....

Make sure you buy the extended warranty, since the harddrive runs all day and all night basically...i can see have some problems in a year or so.

The program guide sucks, I have direct tv, and the menu is all different, channels are all mixed up, not a big problem, but a whole new channel order to learn.

Get it now, stay away from Tivo, why pay [the monthly fee] if their is no need to????