Replay TV Goes PC

by Doug Olenick -- TWICE, 6/28/2006

Cupertino, Calif. — Replay TV announced today it will release Replay TV PC edition this September.

The software allows consumers to turn any TV-card equipped PC into a DVR. The product is aimed at the installed base of PC owners interested in using their non Media Center PC as a TV, said Bill Loewenthal, Replay’s VP/GM.

“Only about 10 percent of Media Center equipped computers that have shipped have a tuner card,” he said, giving Replay a large audience of potential buyers.

Screen shot of the Replay interface.

The software will be available direct from Replay TV as an electronic download and bundled with select Hauppauge TV tuner cards. The downloadable version will carry a $99.95 street price, which includes a year’s subscription to Replay’s program guide, a $19.95 value. The same fee must be paid to activate the bundled SKU. A 30-day free trial is available with both versions.

The technology is capable of sharing stored programming across a home network; however, the end user needs to buy and download another application, PC Companion, for $49.95 for each of the computer’s on the network that will play the content.

Replay has totally revamped its user interface for it PC version with the ability to find and record programs by channel, actor and topic. The company added additional capabilities like the ability to eliminate errors when two shows scheduled to record overlap by a few minutes and it can hunt out when a show is shifted from its normally scheduled place and record it as planned.

Loewenthal said the software has the ability to work with HD content, when it becomes widely available on PCs, and it supports dual tuners.