Mike Garcen at MissingRemote writes that he’s been getting lots of e-mails from ReplayTV about their new DVR software offering a “whopping 20% discount”. I’ve been getting them too, but I remember signing up to be on their list. And I haven’t asked to be removed–yet.

Yes, they are getting annoying, but since I follow the industry I figure it’s a small price to pay. And 20% is pretty cheesy.

I was a loyal ReplayTV customer for many years. From about 2000 to 2006, I owned the Panasonic ShowStopper DVR with about 30 hours of recording time. I later upgraded it with a bigger hard drive, which really helped me keep using the Replay for a few more users.

I would always scoff at Tivo users, with their pretty menus and cute sounds. My Replay was lots better, I would say. And in many ways, I still think the menu and user interface design are better than Tivo’s. (Check out my post where I offer suggestion to improve Tivo’s UI.) But I’ve been using Tivo for almost a year now and am used to Tivo’s interface. Some things still annoy me, but not like they used to.

I think it was a mistake for ReplayTV to get out of the hardware business, and switch to PC software only rather than a stand-alone DVR box. And I hope they can survive in the software DVR market, especially with established software like BeyondTV.