Pretty Hot: Panasonic Showstopper 30 hour $210 after $100 MIR

[netmamma]

I picked up a Panasonic Showstopper 30-hour (this is a Replay TV) unit for $310 today. It comes with a $100 MIR to 3/31/01. ReplayTV includes everything, so you don't need to purchase any additional services as you would with TiVo. The 20-hour was about $30-$40 cheaper. I came across this deal as follows: First, I called up ReplayTV and asked if they sold refurbished/reconditioned units. They said no, but referred me to Panasonic. Panasonic said they did sell such units and referred me to my local Panasonic Factory Service Center ("Servicenter&quot. When I called them up they said they had no refurb units, but a number of in-the-box-brand-new units that had been returned after some retail business went under. The price was as above and they reminded me that there was a rebate going on. So here's where I went: Panasonic Factory Servicenter, Aurora, Colorado, (303)745-8613. There are other servicenters scattered around the country.

• Buy with a credit card. There are no returns. 90 day warranty and "no exchanges" although they promised to swap for another unit if defects showed up in the 1st 7 days.

I hope this deal helps someone--let me know how it works out for you. p.s. I also bought a brand new in-the-box Quasar black-tube 27-inch TV for $186.

 

[Southerncentralrain]

Where can I go to find a service center in my area? Would the ship the replay TV if I bought it over the phone?

 

[netmamma]

The following page has a lot of the service centers listed: http://www.hometheaterforum.com/bbs/archive/23342.html

 

[VisionsUCI]

Linky

 

[Kwad Guy]

Oh man...This is very hot...I was gonna buy a Replay for my
Parents, and almost bought the $300 20 hour unit at Buy.com.
But that one has no rebate. I just ordered a 30 hour unit
Panasonic/Showstopper unit for $213 from the place in Colorado.

Sweet...

Kwad

 

[valkyrie]

Kwad, is that before or after the rebate?!

Thanks.

 

[Kwad Guy]

The $213 is an AFTER rebate price on the Showstopper.
The $300 price at Buy.com
is THE price (there's no rebate on the Replay branded unit).

IMHO this is a no brainer if you want/need/kinda-want a digital
VCR.

Kwad

 

[lizardboy]

just called the place in atlanta...i was quotd $413 for the 20 hour & $438 for the hour...both prices before the $100 MIR

 

[MichaelJ]

I just ordered 2 of the 30 hrs from Colorado for 313.00. The CSR said they were the last 2 in stock. There is one of the model 1000 left. 10.95 shipping for 2!

 

[dealux]

lizardboy,
You are right, I checked with Atlanta -Panasonic service center, they price is $438.90 for the 30hr.
I placed an order for the PVHS2000 at the Aurora service center an hour back. I am glad that I did not lose on this deal by postponing till the evening.
Price breakup:
PVHS2000 - Sale price $313.34 + $21.93 (sales tax) + $10.95 for S/H.
The Final price will be $246.26 after the $100 MIR.
Netmamma, thanks for the hot deal. Not mentioning Replay TV at the title, did help this item being in stock for a little more time.

Now to check on how to hack the unit to add more drive space.
dealux

 

[mikek]

They are out of 2000's but trying to get more. The 1000 (20 hour) is $287 plus tax and shipping and in stock as of 3:14PM CST.

 

[valkyrie]

FYI, I just called the Washington one, and they had a bunch.

HS1000 - $289 + tax
HS2000 - $346 + tax

These are reconditioned units, but the rebates still apply (according to the person I spoke with).

 

[mikek]

Colorado is taking orders again on the 2000 at $313 as they will have more on Tuesday. Got one.

Mike

 

[Kwad Guy]

I just talked to them, and the woman I talked to said
they were only expecting TEN more in, and that at this point
they were all spoken for...FWIW.

Kwad

 

[lizardboy]

anyone know if these can be hacked like the replay tv's ??

 

[valkyrie]

Yes, they can, but at this price, it's almost better to just buy another unit! I'm thinking about getting a second one. Hmmm...decisions, decisions.

 

[boolerboy]

Yes, the Panasonics can also be hacked. See
ReplayTV at the AVS Forum web site

 

[mastaki11a]

Panasonic Showstoppers have some sort of macrovision issue. I think you can't play DVD movies through your setup, also, and I'm not quite sure about this, but I heard if you get a weak signal it could also be considered as a macrovision issue, and your replay tv wont work. Check Here

 

[juiio]

ReplayTVs can be hacked, but its much much harder than hacking a Tivo.

Tivo's cost either 9.99 a month or 199 for a limetime subscription (non-transferrable from machine to machine. stays with the machine, not the person). ReplayTV has no monthly or lifetime subscription (However, it usually costs mor for the unit to make up for the costs).

ReplayTV stopped manufacturing machines (they machines are only manufactured by third-party vendors now). Buying on might be a risky proposition because if they don't start making better business decisions, ReplayTV will go out of business. Tivo is backed by AOL/Time-Warner, although they aren't profitable yet either. They are less of a long term risk than ReplayTV. Microsoft is coming out with a similar system, but it is only for DirecTV users.

 

[boolerboy]

I wouldn't worry too much about ReplayTV's future. They recently got bought by SONICblue. See
ReplayTV press release. So unless they kill the product, it should be around for a while. Who knows what will happen to customer service, though.

 

[serzone]

Showstoppers have macrovision, ReplayTV brand units do not. Just something to consider...

 

[valkyrie]

Also remember these are PANASONIC units, so they rebates, service, etc is thru Panasonic, NOT replaytv. Even if Replay goes under, Panasonic would have the option of continuing service thru themselves or another 3rd party vendor.

And yes, the Panasonic units have macrovision protection, but quite honestly, I've never had a problem with it. (9 months and counting now)

I'd highly recommend the ReplayTV over the Tivo with this deal. You can't get ANY Tivo with a lifetime subscription for under $300, much less a 20 or 30 hour one.

My 2 centz.

 

[Kwad Guy]

Hacking the Replay is actually a better proposition than hacking
the Tivo. You can TWO large drives to the Replay (giving you up
to 160 hours with 2 x 80gb drives), whereas the Tivo hack
doesn't allow you to replace the drive that came with the unit.

The actual hack for both systems is of equal simplicity. If you
don't understand the concepts of IDE "master" and "slave",
primary versus secondary IDE, rejumpering a hard drive or
what a boot floppy is, you'll think both are hard. If this
all sounds familiar, the hack is just a matter of following
simple instructions.

The biggest difference in the hack is physical: The Tivo
has a platform in the box that is clearly intended for the second
drive. You need to figure out how to stabilize your drive on that
platform (there are no mounting screw holes), but it's not hard
(and if you want you can buy a set of mounting posts at a
ridiculously inflated price of about $15).

The Replay has no obvious platform for a second hard drive. You need
to use a bit of ingenuity to figure out how to mount the second
drive so it is suspended above the motherboard. I used one of the
3.5->5.5 mounting rails that come with the retail Maxtor drive
kit, with a new hole drilled in it, to do the mounting.

Personally, I like the Replay interface better (I have both).
The three features of Replay (not available in Tivo)
that I think make it a better
OS: 1) You can specify that you want a show recorded only
once a week, rather than every instance of that show at any time;
2) You can specify that you only want to keep N instances of
a show, then future recordings erase the older ones; 3) The list
of recorded shows is sorted by show title, then by date. On Tivo
you just get a LONG list of shows sorted only by time.

Oh, and the Replay remote has a super-handy "forward 30 seconds" button for commercial skipping.

Hopefully, Tivo will address these shortcoming in the next version
of their OS. But for now Replay wins.

Kwad

 

[lizardboy]

.

 

[future]

Hmm, just got off the phone, ordered "last one" too. How is that possible?
Great deal otherwise. Thanks netmamma.
By the way I live in Aurora too