[highvista]

I'm feeling pretty low. Yesterday, I came home to my month-old Costco ReplayTV 5060 which my wife and I have fallen in love with and found it had succumbed to the constant reboot problem. No amount of unplugging from power or the network would bring it back. A few days ago, I also had a program that gave me the "Unable to play" error, which seems to be a sign of trouble to come, from what others have also seen.


I signed up for lifetime service on 03/20, so I'm still within my 30-day refund window and just contacted SonicBlue to cancel the service. I'm going to return the unit to Costco tonight. It's a sign of how much I've grown attached to RTV that I'm having trouble parting with the thing even though it's dead and the company is in bankrupcy.


I've become attached enough to DVR tech that I'm probably going to buy a Tivo, but I feel like I'm taking a step down after the neat features of the RTV, not to mention the higher cost of the Tivo. But I'm willing to pay a bit more for a stable product. If I can get through the pain of having to use a VCR again, I might hold out to see what happens with the buyout. But, even then, the risk of getting another RTV that will likely suffer the same fate is daunting. Maybe if a software upgrade is forthcoming in the next few weeks that cures the problem, I might bite.


Anyway, thanks for listening to my rant. Here's hoping for a miracle for RTV in the next couple months!

 

[dave2297]

You have a few days left to return the unit, so why not wait and see what happens the next few days? I'm not one of the people who expects ALL the answers today, but we might get a little insight.....


Dave W.

 

[binary-g]

Lucky you. Mine had this problem on day 47. Too late for a refund, but I'm hopeful that the replacement will work well.


01000111

 

[highvista]

I'm toying with the idea of returning the bad unit to Costco and then buying another one from them, which I'd activate for monthly service. They even have a $50 rebate going on (wasn't in place when I bought the first one), so I'd come out ahead on the new one. Then, if the new one doesn't break before (if?) RTV comes out with a patch to fix the disk corruption problems, I'd be okay. Also, if the new one does break, I should be able to return it to Costco at any time (or so I've heard). I just need to balance this against the frustration factor of coming home and finding a bunch of recorded shows unreachable because the unit has died, as well as the nagging feeling that I can't rely on the thing. Hmmm...

 

[DaJoos]

highvista -

I understand not wanting to give up the ReplayTV - I reluctantly just did the same under a similar, still-in-refund time frame - but I'm not sure why you wouldn't want to wait a month or two to see what happens with ReplayTV rather than signing up with a company you know is going to transfer the business. It'll probably turn out fine for all involved, but why submit yourself to the worry again right after making the decision to return your first unit?


The $50 rebate doesn't seem worth it, especially when 1) these are fairly common and 2) as time goes by, you usually get more hard drive for less money. At a minimum, I'm going to wait until I hear newly shipped units have the new software - the current sw gave me too much trouble.

 

[highvista]

Very good points, DaJoos. It is probably very wise to just sit on the sidelines for a couple months rather than risk more frustration. I guess I'm just impatient and got too used to having the RTV around and am looking for a quick way to get back up and running. But I did live without a DTR for all these years, so I should be able to survive a month or two without one now.

 

[skleiser]

Quote:

Originally posted by highvista I should be able to survive a month or two without one now.

But with Costco's liberal return policy, you don't need to! If you don't want to gamble with another $250 for activation, just go month to month. The worst that could happen is that you'll pay $10 for less than a month of service, then return the unit.

 

[jones07]

Yeah live life. Don't deprive yourself of a ReplayTV. I would head to Costco's

with their return policy. All you can lose is time and $10.

 

[KCKTX]

Quote:

Originally posted by highvista It's a sign of how much I've grown attached to RTV that I'm having trouble parting with the thing even though it's dead and the company is in bankrupcy. I've become attached enough to DVR tech that I'm probably going to buy a Tivo, but I feel like I'm taking a step down after the neat features of the RTV, not to mention the higher cost of the Tivo. But I'm willing to pay a bit more for a stable product.

When I returned the new 5xxx and cancelled the service last month, it was as if I had to return a newly adopted dog to the shelter.


This is probably as good a time as any to justify trying out a TiVo for 30 days and "buying some time." If that doesn't work out for you, you'll only be out the time and hassle. I did just that, and seriously, it's not as bad as I was expecting from the reports I'd read.


I still have a few days left to return the TiVo, but was really hoping that the RTV situation would have been worked out before I have to make up my mind about keeping it. If RTV doesn't work out and TiVo bites the dust, I hope that we have other offerings to fill the void left behind, as the thought of using the VCR again or having to pay the cable company for their version of such service makes me want to cry.

 

[highvista]

Quote:

Originally posted by KCKTX When I returned the new 5xxx and cancelled the service last month, it was as if I had to return a newly adopted dog to the shelter.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who got that attached. I just got back from returning the 5060 to Costco. Ouch.