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ReplayTV ditches the set-top box

ReplayTV ditches the set-top box

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Dan Ackerman Editorial Director / Computers and Gaming
Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of computers and gaming hardware. A New York native and former radio DJ, he's also a regular TV talking head and the author of "The Tetris Effect" (Hachette/PublicAffairs), a non-fiction gaming and business history book that has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Fortune, LA Review of Books, and many other publications. "Upends the standard Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg technology-creation myth... the story shines." -- The New York Times
Expertise I've been testing and reviewing computer and gaming hardware for over 20 years, covering every console launch since the Dreamcast and every MacBook...ever. Credentials
  • Author of the award-winning, NY Times-reviewed nonfiction book The Tetris Effect; Longtime consumer technology expert for CBS Mornings
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Dan Ackerman
In a shot across the bow of TiVo and other set-top box DVRs, ReplayTV has decided to ditch the stand-alone box and move to a PC-based format. In a press release from this morning, ReplayTV says it will bundle a new software application with TV tuner hardware from Hauppauge Computer Works. From the press release:

"ReplayTV will soon complete the sale of all remaining 5500 Series DVR products, completing the first phase of the transformation of the brand from a hardware manufacturer to a leading provider of advanced DVR software and services to consumers of entertainment PCs."

This basically means the company is getting out of the hardware business entirely, throwing its weight behind the media center PC concept. Will consumers want to replace their ReplayTV box with an even bigger PC? Will other companies, such as TiVo, follow suit? Stay tuned--perhaps some of our questions will be answered next month at CES.

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