OK, someone help me with this. I frequent the ReplayTV forum a bit, and it occurred to me the other day that one can now purchase a ReplayTV 40 GB HD model for around $330 (after rebate). It would also appear that the yet to be released ReplayTV models (the 5xxx series) will come in at an even lower price point.

My question is this: Why the HUGE price difference between a ReplayTV unit from SonicBlue when compared against the RioCentral? Let's start by taking the 40 GB HD ReplayTV unit (the 4504 I believe) of $330. OK, add another $50 for CD-R drive, another $250 for the LCD screen, and another $300 for the "stereo guts" and you still only come to $880, which is almost half of what SB is asking for the RioCentral. I realize there are some programming costs for the RioCentral, but there are similar if not more extensive costs for the ReplayTV units (even if we add the $250 lifetime subscription fee to the above hardware price we still only arrive at a price of $1,130 -- a price $370 lower). So what am I missing here. Granted (as somone mentioned on www.avsforum.com SB has some sort of "frame of reference" or competitive pressure upon which to price the ReplayTV units by (Tivo, UltimateTV, DishTV), but how many RioCentrals can they REALLY be selling at $1,500?

I've got to believe that this product would sell at a much increased rate if they would offer it at a more rational price point, such as $799 or $899 -- that is assuming they can still make money at that price point (sunk costs asside).

Thoughts?