TVSquad

A few years back, ReplayTV looked like a company that could give TiVo a run for its money. Both companies had high quality set-top boxes that let users watch TV on their own terms.

But the times have changed, and while TiVo has managed to survive the onset of generic cable-company PVRs, ReplayTV got out of the hardware business and has decided to focus on making computer software for those of us brave enough to turn our computers into personal video recorders. But ReplayTV doesn't hold the name recognition it once did. The company was also late to the game with its PC software, and charged far more money at first than competitors like SageTV or BeyondTV. In other words, we kind of shrugged when ReplayTV entered the consumer software business.

But now TiVo, the company that is still synonymous with the concept of personal video recording is talking about getting into PC-based software. And we can't help but think that this could be a game-changer.