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D&M Holdings Inc. on Tuesday said its new ReplayTV digital television recorder (DVR) will not include controversial features such as automatically skipping commercials and sharing shows via the Internet.
Due in August, the new ReplayTV 5500 series will remove the "Commercial Advance" and "Send Show" options present in models that are currently for sale. DVRs are said to save hundreds of hours of TV programs to a hard drive and allow users to pause live TV and instantly replay selected scenes.
In 2001, when ReplayTV introduced its 4000 series of DVRs, the aforementioned features upset major media players such as Viacom Inc. and the TV networks, which sued SONICblue, ReplayTV's previous owner, claiming that the service violated copyrights and robbed them of advertising revenue.
All other currently available models will retain the commercial skipping and Internet-sharing features. Competitive products made by TiVo Inc. and EchoStar Communications Corp.'s Dish Network do not have these features.
ReplayTV said the new devices will include updated software that allows users to skip reruns, eliminate programming conflicts, and "Pause and Resume," where a viewer can halt a saved program playing on a ReplayTV box in one room and finish watching that same program on a device in another room.
It will also feature buttons that allow users manually fast forward through recorded programs.
Pricing has not yet been determined for the new machine.
ReplayTV was purchased earlier this year by Japan's D&M Holdings, parent company to premium audio and video brands Denon and Marantz. (Reuters)
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