A few weeks ago the parent company of the ReplayTV DVR service announced that it was shutting down access to the device"s online programming guide. The announcement basically signaled an end to official support for one of the first DVR set-top boxes. However a funny thing happened before July 31 arrived. The device"s current owner Digital Networks North America had a change of heart.
The official ReplayTV web site has posted word that the company has "had many positive, enthusiastic comments about the ReplayTV DVR products and services." Because of this fan uprising the company has now "decided to continue the electronic programming guide service pursuant to the terms of your service activation agreement." The message does point out that the ReplayTV DVRs are not capable of recording digital TV channels and that "we encourage our users to consider digital video recorders that have this digital recording capability as well as additional technological advances which are not a part of the ReplayTV units (all of which were end of lifed by 2006)." It adds that it is also "exploring options" for users who want to continued to pay and subscribe to ReplayTV"s program guide."
As we have reported before, ReplayTV started introducing its first DVR products in 1999. However due to various reasons the DVR didn"t become as popular as its main rival TiVo. In 2005 the company announced it would no longer sell ReplayTV hardware units. In 2007 DirecTV bought ReplayTV"s assets while still continuing the ReplayTV electronic guide.