Audio Video News

Almost a year after exiting the digital video recorder business, ReplayTV is returning with a line of new products.

The DVR pioneer abandoned the hardware business last year to concentrate on licensing agreements for its technology, such as a deal it signed with Motorola in May that will allow the incorporation of DVR technology in set-top boxes. The company also briefly toyed with developing its own programming, and operated a production studio in Los Angeles for a couple of months during the peak of the dot-com craze.

In early August, ReplayTV was acquired by Sonicblue of Santa Clara, maker of the Rio line of MP3 players. The new parent company has apparently decided that the time is right to make another effort with DVR hardware. At present, only Panasonic is marketing DVRs using ReplayTV technology.

Four new models of DVRs bearing the Replay badge will debut at CEDIA 2001, in Indianapolis September 5–9. The boxes carrying ReplayTV's name will be part of its 4000 series, which will range from an entry-level box with a 40-hour recording capacity and a $699 price tag to a top-of-the-line model with a 320-hour capacity and a $1999 price. Advance reports say that the upper end models will be able to send programming to other ReplayTV boxes, much as Internet users send emails and JPEG images. The capability of relaying programs may run into legal opposition from broadcasters and cable providers.

In related news, ReplayTV's rival TiVo has reported diminished losses for its second fiscal quarter. The company stated at the end of August that its revenue increased by a factor of four and that 40,000 new subscribers had signed on for its service. For the second quarter, which ended July 31, TiVo reported losses of $33.6 million (82 cents a share), a decrease from about $39 million ($1.09 a share) for the same period a year earlier. Revenue increased to $4.1 million from $869,000 a year earlier. TiVo reported a total subscriber base of 229,000 as of the end of July.

Industry analysts disagree about the numbers ReplayTV and TiVo need to reach to become sustainable businesses, but almost all agree that DVRs in some form will become commonplace in the near future.