According to this page, First Glimpse Article - Anthony Wood’s Lucky Number, ReplayTV "...beat TiVo to the market by a few weeks to become the first DVR (digital video recorder)".
ReplayTV also has approx (58) patents filed though only maybe (15) were before 2000.
That is NOT exactly what I would call a definitive source. This IS the internet and any crackpot can say anything they wish on their own sites. That article was interesting, but contained enough FACTUAL ERRORS that I would have problems believing anything on it.
Now if you can find patent numbers, please cite them, as they are what I would consider to be a credible source.
Note of just a couple of errors of fact in cited article: PC-Talk was AN old communications program and there were LOADS of dial up programs when that guy created the 1st telecom program. We were using dial-up communications programs in the early 70s for commercial applications as well as for hobbyist. Also, the Amiga was never a great success now was it used in Hollywood for Graphics on a serious basis. PDP (aka DEC) and others had the mini-computers that did that work, as microcomputers were too limited and slow for any serious work.