Demystifying DVR
DVRs, or digital video recorders, are now offered by most cable or satellite companies, as well as through independent services such as Tivo. DVRs are essentially VCRs for the digital age, and depending on the model, can have many functions including the role of a digital cable box and program guide.
DVRs differ from VCRs not in their ability to record, when you get right down to it, a DVR is nothing more then a VCR that records onto a hard drive, but in the interface that is employed. Instead of specifying a date and time for a recording to occur through difficult menus or key combinations, DVR recording times can be specified through the program guides. In essence, a show can be selected in the interactive viewing guide, and with a single button press it can be selected to be recorded once, or in a user friendly menu, a series recording can be created so that whenever that particular show airs, and on whatever channel, the DVR finds it and records it. This is a hugely useful feature in and of itself, no longer do show times matter, just the name of the series.
DVRs not only allow shows to be easily recorded, they also greatly impact the viewing experience as well. Normally in order to avoid the commercials, it is necessary to change the channel, mute the TV, or leave the room. With a DVR it is easy to fast-forward through the commercials, and with nearly every DVR model there are undocumented features such as 30 Second Skip that can jump ahead, making avoiding advertisements even easier. Some DVRs can even automatically detect and skip commercials without user intervention, although the threat of lawsuits has kept this feature locked out of the majority of recorders.
The real pleasure of using a DVR is in watching live TV. Instead of missing parts when the phone rings, the TV can be paused, depending on the model, for quite a while. Additionally, live TV can be rewound and watched again, placed into slow motion, or jumped back to see something again or to catch a missed line of dialog. This feature is very nice, especially for sports, to see that play again to check out the call.
There are many different types and brands of DVRs. Comcast now offers a DVR rental service for about ten dollars a month, which includes the unit itself, and access to the digital guide. Almost all satellite providers offer a similar package as well. Most DVRs sold by third parties require subscriptions to a guide service in order to use the guide feature. Tivo is often reputed to offer the best DVRs because of the highly intuitive interface and guide service. Tivo is expected to launch CableCARD ready DVRs in the coming months that will be able to operate on digital cable networks, current offerings can only operate on basic analog cable channels. Myth TV is a free software package that offers DVR functionality, although it is very difficult to set up without a great deal of technical knowledge. Windows Media Center computers also can double as a DVR, although without the availability of CableCARD their functionality is limited.
When buying or renting a DVR there are two main items to look for. The size of the hard drive determines how many shows can be recorded and stored at any one time. Bigger is better, unless it can be foreseen that very few shows will be recorded or stored for more than a couple of days. The number of tuners is also very important. Most first generation DVRs only included one tuner, and thus were only able to watch and record one show at a time. New DVRs usually have two or more tuners, and can record two shows at once, or leave one tuner available to watch something else. It is rumored that four and six tuner DVRs are to be released, but the usefulness of recording six programs at once is questionable.
With the advent of DVRs and On Demand content, the traditional television paradigms are slowly shifting toward all content being delivered when the user wants it, with the ability to pause, rewind, and fast forward. DVRs are just another step toward IPTV and the On Demand distribution model.
DVRs are a wonderful piece of technology that really does a lot to solve the timeless dilemma of having 500 channels, yet nothing to watch. With a DVR it is possible to always have something to watch, because the DVR watches TV all day and all night, recording the specified shows, some DVRs even suggest shows. DVR prices and functionality get better every day and now is as good a time as any to subscribe to this technology.
September 2, 2005 11:25 PM posted by J. Michael Cunningham
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