Broadband Digital Video Recorder from SONICblue

For home television recording, hard drives are the obvious answer if you don't need to pop out a disk and take it to the neighbor's house. In fact, the lack of removable media may be the only downfall to using an HDD as a VCR until recordable DVDs become affordable recordable DVDs. SonicBlue thinks you'll want a hard drive-based digital video recorder despite the things' inability to spit out a disk that you can share with friends. The company may be right. I can't remember the last time I used the old VCR for anything other than catching up on programs I missed. Heading toward the inevitable digital TV future, SONICblue is now launching a home-networked DVR that has broadband cable modem/DSL connectivity and lets you store up to 320 hours of television or other media along with letting you playback recorded programs without commercials. The company also says that you can share video with friends outside the home (if they have the same system), but doesn't explain how this will be accomplished. Even with my DSL line, my ISP limits the size of files I can transfer. The ReplayTV 4040 with up to 40 hours of storage will be priced at $699; ReplayTV 4080 with up to 80 hours of storage at $999; ReplayTV 4160 with up to 160 hours of storage at $1,499; and the ReplayTV 4320 with up to 320 hours of storage at $1,999. All four models are expected to begin shipping in November.