Feature	ReplayTV	TiVo	VCR
Record a single specific show (see Television listings for ways to pick shows)	Yes. In software prior to 5.x, shows may be marked as guaranteed. Guaranteed recordings will never be automatically deleted (you must delete them manually). See scheduling conflicts.	Yes. Individual recordings will be saved for two days, but their expiration may be extended at scheduling time. A "manual recording" may also be used to record a single show (see Manual recordings).	Yes, but you must specify time/channel/duration; may require separate programming of cable box, etc.
Repeatedly record a show appearing on a specific channel at a specific timeslot	Yes, a "show-based Replay Channel"; will still record the show if the timeslot changes (assuming no conflicts); can specify which days of the week to record on (see Repeat types); can specify the number of shows to keep in the Channel at any time. In software prior to 5.x, shows may be marked as guaranteed. See Scheduling conflicts.	Yes, a "manual recording" may be repeated daily or weekly. If the timeslot changes it will record the wrong show.	Yes, operation varies but most support daily and weekly recordings and will allow you to record any time period even if it spans multiple shows; may require separate programming of cable box, etc.
Repeatedly record a show appearing on a specific channel at any timeslot	No, but show-based Replay Channels are a little flexible with the timeslots (see previous feature)	Yes, a "Season Pass."	No.
Repeatedly record a show appearing on any channel at any timeslot	No, but theme-based Replay Channels may achieve the same effect, however it could record different shows than you intended (e.g., "Star Trek" will record any show with Star Trek in the title, even if you only want the original series).	No, but you could create multiple Season Passes, one for each channel that carries the show. Also a wishlist may achieve the same effect, but this technique has the same caveats as with theme-based Replay Channels (see left).	No
Repeatedly record any show that matches user search criteria	Yes. A "theme-based Replay Channel" will continually record any show that matches your search keywords. Criteria may be by title, actor, director, or description. A "zone-based Replay channel" will repeatedly record any show it finds that matches the zone (genre or category) you specify. These Replay Channels specify the maximum amount of time they may take up, in half-hour increments. In software prior to 5.x, shows may be marked as guaranteed (see Scheduling conflicts).	Yes, a "WishList" will record any show that matches any specified actor, director, title, category (genre), or description keywords. May be filtered by a genre. Wishlists may specify the maximum number of recordings they may take up, but these recordings may be of any duration each. Wishlists act as a Season Pass and may be prioritized in the Season Pass manager.	No.
Repeatedly record any show that matches viewer ratings	No.	With "TiVo's Suggestions" enabled, TiVo will record shows from its suggestion list and fill available space with them. These recordings will never overwrite other events. Suggestions are based on your show thumbs-up/thumbs-down preferences; each show you watch you may mark as one-to-three thumbs up, no rating, or one-to-three thumbs down.	No.
Manual recordings	Can create time/channel/duration events including repeating events which can record on any combination of days (see Repeat types). Can specify down to minute increments, and record any time period	Can create time/channel/duration events including repeating daily/weekly events; start and end times restricted to five-minute increments.	Yes, this and Instant recording are the only options on a VCR.
Raw recordings	Yes, by specifying the input source in manual or instant recordings.	No, not with service. You can fake it, but it's not pretty. Without service, yes, in manual or instant recordings, but that's not how most people will use the unit.	Yes, it's all raw to a VCR.
Instant recordings	Can record live TV by pressing Record; in raw recordings, you may also specify duration. Can explicitly stop a recording, see Stopping recordings.	Can record live TV by pressing Record, but cannot specify duration -- records until the end of the show. Can explicitly stop a recording, see Stopping recordings.	Yes, wholeheartedly, all hail the VCR. Some VCRs let you specify duration.
Stopping recordings	Regular recordings stop automatically when the show ends. Manual recordings stop at the end of the recording period. All recordings may be stopped by hitting the Stop button.	Regular recordings stop automaticaly when the show ends. Manual recordings stop at the end of the recording period. All recordings may be stopped by selecting Stop recording under the recording's Now Playing entry or changing the channel and responding appropriately the alert that comes up.	Varies. Most let you hit the Stop button, all stop automatically if a duration or end time was specified.
Repetition by date	All repeating events can specify daily, once-a-week, or exactly which days to record on (e.g., "Every Tues and Thurs"). All events default to a daily recording; changing to a once-a-week recording requires unchecking six other days.	All repeating events can specify daily or once-a-week.	Most can do it in one form or another.
Event management	Replay Guide lists all Replay Channels in alphabetical order, grouping Channels that have recordings in them at the top of the list. You can change the recording options of any Replay Channel, or delete a Replay Channel (which removes all recordings under it).	"To-Do List" shows all future recordings in chronological order, including individal Season Pass episodes. You can cancel any future recording or Season Pass episode (without affecting the Season Pass), cancel a Season Pass, or edit any of the Season Pass recording options. Season Passes with no activity are grouped at the bottom of the To-Do list. You can see why certain shows were not or will not be recorded via "View Recording History," and attempt to reschedule them.	Usually can delete/edit all the events
Event start/end-time tweaking	When it can, starts recordings a few seconds early. All recordings can be padded up to four hours earlier and up to four hours later.	All recordings can be padded up to ten minutes earlier and up to three hours later.	Since you generally set the recording times manually, you can pad the recordings as much as you want.
Scheduling conflicts	Alerts you if scheduling a show causes a timeslot conflict. Units with 5.x software give you the choice to record only the non-conflicting episodes, cancel the conflicting episodes, schedule the recording on another networked ReplayTV (if available), or cancel the event. Units with older software give you the choice to record the resolved schedule shown or cancel the event. If a show changes timeslots, guaranteed events supercede non-guaranteed (pre-5.x software only), show-based events supercede theme-based, and other conflicts settled by the order they appear in the Replay Guide (pre-5.x) or by the internal priority established through conflict resolutions (5.x).	Alerts you if scheduling a show causes a timeslot conflict and gives you the choice to record only the non-conflicting episodes, cancel the conflicting shows, or cancel the event. Also alerts you if there's a disk space conflict, and offers to let you shorten the expiration of the some shows or cancel the event. If an alert is not possible (e.g., when a show changes timeslots), events created earlier supercede newer events. User may prioritize Season Passes and WishLists using "Season Pass Manager."	Usually warns/stops you
Duplicate episode handling	Will not record two copies of the same episode of a show in a Replay Channel, if the show has unique episode descriptions and hasn't yet been deleted from the hard disk. Units with software 5.x can optionally skip shows conservatively flagged as "reruns."	Will not record two copies of the same episode of a shown in a Season Pass, if show has unique episode descriptions and the airtimes are within 28 days of one another; can turn off this feature by setting a Season Pass to "all (with duplicates)." Can optionally skip shows with an original air date older than a week ("repeats").	No
Impromptu scheduling	No.	Some shows may be selected for recording by pressing Select when a special icon appears, usually during a commercial about the show. It's called a "iPreview", but it's not available on most channels.	No.