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

I have been a huge fan of ReplayTV since I bought my 20-hour unit a
couple of years ago. Before I list off pros and cons, I want to
stress just how much this changes TV for you and your family.
Essentially, you no longer need to know what time the shows you like
are on. You don't have to be home, you don't have to program a VCR
and make sure the tape is at the right spot, nothing like that. Just
tell the Showstopper what shows you like (by show name, or by keyword
in the title, description, or actor list), and it records it for you.
In fact, even if you happen to be home when a show you like is on,
you'll more than likely not start watching right away. I usually find
some bills that need to be paid or start some laundry. Once the show
is 15 minutes in, then I start watching (which it's still recording
the live broadcast.) When I get to the first set of commercials, I
"QuickSkip" past them with the 30 second skip button (you
can press it multiple times, or hit a number and the skip button to
skip n minutes forward.) I usually catch up at about the time the
show is over. That, folks, is super-cool!

What's even cooler is
that it truely changes the way you watch television. I watch TV
whenever I want. If I hang out with friends Monday-Friday evenings in
a given week, but I can't sleep on Sunday at 4:00am -- guess what?
"NYPD Blue" is on. And so is "The Practice". And
so are the last 2 episodes of "The Sopranos"!

The three
complaints I see most often in other reviews are:

1) It doesn't have
2 tuners, so I can't watch 1 show while I record another.

2) The
sound sometimes gets out-of-sync with the video.

3) There's no local
dial-in number, so I pay big phone bills to keep the program guide
up-to-date.

Here is my take on those concerns:

1) It does not have
two tuners. This is true. However, your Audio/Video setup probably
has more than 1 tuner. There's 1 or 2 in every TV, one every VCR, and
one every cable box / DSS receiver. The limitations here are real,
but many can be worked around. The one thing that you cannot easily
do is record something while watching something else that is scrambled
(i.e. by your cable company or over a DSS dish.) If you want to do
that, you need an additional cable box or DSS receiver. But
otherwise, you can watch one show while recording another with no
problems. Just tune through another device. Replay tech support has
been very well trained in my limited experience with them.

2) There
are two possibilities here: There was a bug in an old release of the
software (called Replay 2.0) in which this could happen. You could
have resolved the problem by pressing the pause button on the remote.
But that bug was fixed a long time ago, so if it's still happening,
then you probably have your receiver playing the audio from your cable
box or vcr instead of the Showstopper. There is a 2-3 second delay
from the live broadcast during which the Showstopper is buffering and
recording. That's a user error. If you listen to the audio from the
Showstopper, it does not get out-of-sync.

3) Odds are that you will
have a local number, but it's certainly not guaranteed. In my
opinion, you'd be foolish to lay out this kind of cash without
verifying that a local number is available.

Other notes I'd add: --
There is a new feature called that allows you to
schedule recordings via the web. Those recording requests get
downloaded to your machine the next evening, so if you're on vacation
and forget to record something, hop onto the web.

I was given this item for X-Mas but I did not get around to setting it up until mid-February. During setup, to my disappointment, I discovered that there was no local access number for my area. I called Panasonic product support who told me that there may be a local access number available in 3-6 weeks. The recorder is still sitting around unused. So, if you are planning to purchase this item, you may want to check into this matter of a local access number especially if you are living in a rural area.

The basic concept of the unit is not bad BUT; they don't tell you that the daily dial-in service costs can be very expensive if they don't provide you a local phone number. To minimize my costs Panasonic customer service said to unplug the phone and only plug it in once a week - right. Also you can't program the remote to control the volume on your A/V reciever so you have to use two remotes. And its been 3 months since I applied for my rebate and of course know one live will talk to me about it. Try tivo maybe they have it together.

ReplayTV or Tivo. You may be thinking about it.

If you want to see closed-caption to enjoy watching movies, get a Tivo. I could not make my ReplayTV work to display closed-caption and that was the only reason I exchanged my ReplayTV (Panasonic) for a Tivo (Sony). For non-native English speakers like me, it would be a very important difference.

However, for other capabilities, I liked ReplayTV more. It has two RCA inputs, much better program search function, faster program database import, more functional (a little bit confusing, though... :) remote control, etc. Tivo's software may be more eye-catching than ReplayTV's and better for novice users (Tivo's IR setting is actually better than ReplayTV's) but not powerful as ReplayTV.

Again, if you need closed-caption, get a Tivo. Otherwise, get a ReplayTV.

The PV-HS 3000 is a nice device but it is not perfect.

The pluses are that the extended recording mode is at least as good as you get using a VCR. That was something that I found a pleasant surprise because I expected to have to use a higher resolution. The software downloads is a great feature because it enables the manufacturer to upgrade the unit's options without having to buy a new device. The unit's rewind and fast-forward are amazing. Version 3 of the software lets you record by date and time. A must feature if Replay ever abandons the service. They also added a feature where you can add recording time to the program to allow for a sports or political event that may run over its allotted time.

The major minus is the setup. My goal when I bought the unit was to hook it up to my cable box and a direct cable feed. Since most of the programs I record are available without decoding, I thought that I could record without tying up my cable box. They do document several possible combinations involving a HS-3000, cable box, A/V receiver, and satellite. They neglect to go into any detail about cable box and a direct cable feed. I think this is because this combination does not work at all at least not with my cable. Panasonic says that my problem is that the channel guide cannot distinguish between the direct feed and the cable box since the channel lineups are the same, which I guess is true because separately they work just fine. Together they are a mess even if you select the input that you hope the channel guide will select from.

If you want to use this setup, here are my suggestions physically set up both connections. When you are doing the onscreen setup, do the direct feed first. Then on those occasions when you want to record a scrambled program add the onscreen setup for the cable box (line1 or line2). After the program is recorded, you will need to go back into the onscreen setup and set the cable box back to `nothing'.

A `duh' minus thing that they do not document is that the cable box must be ON to record a program with it. You can do this two ways. One is just to leave it on or set the cable box's VCR timer. The unit will not turn on the cable box when it begins recording. This is kind of a hassle with the cable box. This is not a problem with the direct feed.

Don't waste money buying a telephone line splitter. One is included with the unit. However, if you plan on an S-video hookup between the unit and your TV plus another one between the cable box and the unit, you will need to buy an extra set of audio cables and S-video. This is the option that I chose and I am very happy with it.

If anyone has an answer to my dilemma with the cable box and direct feed setup, let me know at scottshiv@hotmail.com. Thank you.