pc-based-pvr

Pioneering PVR company ReplayTV has been sold to satellite television provider DirectTV. I predict this means DirecTV will be changing its name to DirectReplayTV. OK, not really. In fact, while ReplayTV was once in a position to give TiVo a run for its money, in recent years the company's become something of an also-ran.

ReplayTV pulled out of the hardware market a while back, and launched a PC-based version of their software last year. I have yet to hear from anyone who's actually paid to use this software. While it covers all the basics, giving users the ability to schedule recordings, browse listings, and watch and pause live television there are just so many other popular PC-based PVR packages on the market that it's hard for latecomers to differentiate themselves.

That said, ReplayTV's software interface is certainly cleaner and easier to use than the software you see on many generic set top boxes. Could we see it pop up on future DirecTV PVRs?