A Remote for the Rest of Us

I have to tell you that I've been one of those multi-remote guys since I was about 10 and we had the TV, VHS and the Beta-max player all hooked up at once. It's saved a lot of pain with my various family members, roommates and even my lovely wife. The issue wasn't whether or not the super remote could control everything - it invariably could. The issue was that of usability.

"What buttons do you push?"

"Can you write something down on how to work the TV?"

"Can you change it over to the DVD for me?"

Even when the modern units started to incorporate macros where you could program multiple functions into a single button, the setup time took forever and it still wasn't easy to use without some training.

Until now. I had read a lot about the Logitech Harmony series of remotes and finally found one on sale and picked it up. I'm not kidding when I say this thing changed my life.

First of all, it's a USB device so it talks to your computer. Download and install the Harmony software and you are off and running. Tell the software the models of the equipment you have and it starts walking you through creating activities such as "Watch TV" or "Play XBox 360." I was using the new remote in 10 minutes and it was functioning correctly with all my gear. That may seem long but it is a HUGE improvement over having to find the codes to program each device, or even worse, have to teach the remote, button by button how to work your TV.

Pick up the remote and the color screen lights up (it has an accelerometer and knows when you are moving it). It is ready to go and you just choose your activities and it does all the work for you. Add a piece of equipment later and you just use the software to configure and update the remote. Even if it breaks you can re-download the settings to a new unit. Brilliant!

Ok, it does cost a bit of cash. I'm not going to lie. But the amount of time you'll save setting it up, and the joy you'll have over the easy and seamless control over your stuff, is well worth the price of admission.

Ode to the Replay TV

Over a year ago, I broke down and bought a Tivo HD. It suffered from the same problem as every other out of the box DVR, I've every had - not enough disk space. However, that was quickly remedied with an off the shelf 1TB hard drive and the WinMFS utility. Tivo has some nice features such as scheduling shows via the Internet and being able to stream NetFlix and download Amazon video. It also uses a cable card which means no cable box which saves a few buck.

But,as you'll note from the title, this entry isn't about the Tivo. It's about Replay TV. Replay was one of the early DVRs in the marketplace. It wasn't the most polished of devices and software in the beginning but it matured nicely. And, it really peaked with the 5000 series.

The Replay 5000 series also shipped with too small of a hard drive. But there were bigger drives and tools to do the swap so that was no big deal. And this was in 2002. It had a lot of features and functions that I still do not see in the marketplace today.

• Internet sharing - did you miss a show? You could share a show over the Internet to another Replay owner. Predictably copyright holders flipped over this one.
• Streaming between units and your computer - You were able to browse all the shows on any other Replay unit on your network and play them on any other. You also could run a program called DVArchive which allowed your computer to join the party and play along.
• Unlimited pause. Press pause when watching live TV on your Tivo and take a phone call. If your caller is really chatty, that Tivo is going to start playing again after a half hour. Why? I have no idea. However, Replay would pause as long as it had hard drive space and tell you that.
• Discounts for multiple units. Sure it was $12 or $13 for unit 1, but unit 2 dropped to $7/month.
  
• And last, but SO nice was Commercial Advance. On playback of recorded shows, Replay would automatically skip commercials. It wasn't perfect - it would especially get confused during Law and Order with those black transitions screens, but my that was TV the way it was meant to be! Also, you didn't have to hack the remote like on Tivo to get a 30 second skip. It was there out of the box.
  

Replay TV was probably ahead of its time. And it was passed around from company to company and died an ignoble fate. Nonetheless, I salute all the product folks and engineers who made my TV so much more enjoyable for those many years. If it wasn't for High Definition TVs, I'd still be using those lovely boxes.

Long live the Replay TV!