ReplayTVBlog

There is an old saying: KISS – Keep It Simple, Stupid. While it may seem like this is not possible with technology, very often this can be the secret to success.

After reading this article at IssuesJournal, I started thinking about why I have a ReplayTV and not a PC based DVR. From the article:

Unlike years past, today’s consumers have more money and less time to spend learning how to use the things they buy. Thus, they will pay more for something that’s easier to setup and use. Case in point is the TiVo and ReplayTV phenomenon. Almost all owners of the TiVo and ReplayTV have a PC that could have been set up and utilized as a DVR. But that would have involved buying specialized hardware (such as a video capture card with a CATV input), configuring the hardware and software and then getting everything to work right. It can be done, but only a small niche of PC owners actually do it that way. It’s much simpler and faster to buy a TiVo, hook it up and go.

I definitely have many computers lying around that I could use as a DVR, so why do I use a ReplayTV? Part of the reason is time: who has the time to do all the setup and configuration required to make your standard home computer into a DVR? Certainly I don’t and I think most people are in the same boat.

But probably the most important reason is it just works. When I bought my ReplayTV, I brought it home, hooked it up to my TV, and completed a quick, guided setup that probably took about 15 minutes and I was watching my TV with my ReplayTV. That’s it – no installing TV tuner cards and drivers, DVR software, rebooting, configuring, etc. The ReplayTV experience was the epitome of Plug and Play.

There are certainly other reasons why I use the ReplayTV over a computer based DVR, but Keeping It Simple is probably the best.

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