Your comparisson to the ReplayTV is one I never thought of before. Yes, SonicBlue has TiVo to use as a price benchmark for the ReplayTV but HP can be used as the benchmark for the Central. I am talking about the HP DE100C that is now defunct. It had a VFD display and a burner. It is now sold as a Compaq piece for $399, but I don't think it has the display anymore.

The HP DE100C sold for $999. It used an off-the-shelf Celeron with a plain PC motherboard. On the Central, everything is custom... not just a hacked-up PC. The display is also more advanced. But you're right.... Do those features deserve a $1500 price tag? I personally don't think so.

I thought about buying a central really hard. In the end, I couldn't justify the cost. At your estimated "reasonable" cost of $799 or $899, I would have bought one. No question.