Stories about: ReplayTV

Your PC could soon become the brains behind a cable TV box that brings interactive digital TV--a new blend of Web access, entertainment, e-commerce, and gaming--into your home. That vision moved a step closer to reality this week when network hardware maker SCM Microsystems announced it has successfully tested the first PC receiver that works with the scrambled signals of different cable TV companies under a new OpenCable protocol.

Are you ready to toss your VCR and opt for the hard-disk-based TV recorder of the future? For the past year, two companies -- ReplayTV and TiVo -- have tried to convince you to do just that.

When Martha Stewart spent fifteen minutes showing slides of her prize chickens rather than talking about the convergence of television and the Internet, you could hear the grumbling among the crowd of spiffily dressed TV executives.

Replay TV wants to change modern viewing habits--but first it has to attract some customers. In an effort to convince you that you need another peripheral, the service has lowered its price and enhanced its features. The set-top unit's list price is now down to $599, and it could sell for up to $100 less in some places.

Elaborate booths have always been a part of the annual conference for the National Association of Television Programming Executives. This year was no different, featuring a virtual indoor compound from Buena Vista Television, and several on-site executive suites from other programming companies, all profering lavish spreads of delectables and nightly three-martini cocktail parties. Each unit was decked out with the company's logo, plush carpet, mood lighting and music. All in the hopes of enticing syndicators to pick up shows like The Lost World, The Invisible Man and Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus.

In today's grab bag of products, I look at two very different items. One, a backup device for notebooks, is so straightforward and useful that it should be an instant hit, especially for people who are always on the road. You plug it in and the backup process literally starts itself. The other - a digital video recorder - sounds good in theory but was fiendishly hard to get hooked up and working.