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5 Reasons to buy a PVR Now! |
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Wednesday, 02 August 2006 |
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Page 1 of 2  Personal Video Recorders (PVRs), are one digital device that Digital Home Canada believes belongs in every household with a television – which is essentially every home in North America.
Although the first PVR was introduced seven years ago, the percentage of North American homes with a PVR is still surprisingly low therefore we repeat this popular article summarizing what a PVR is and gives you five reasons why now is the time to buy.
Editors Note: Digital Home Canada is currently on summer hiatus from July 22nd until August 7th. During this time, we will be re-publishing some of more our more popular how-to and general interest articles that have run on the site in 2006. This article originally ran on Digital Home Canada in January 2006 but its as true today as it was then! We will return on August 8th with the latest Canadian Digital News and information. In the meantime, if you are looking for information then search the Digital Home website, HDTV Knowledgebase or DigitalWiki. Our Digital Forums, with it's 21,000+ members remain open for discussion.
Background Since you're reading this article you probably know some idea of what a personal video recorder or pvr is, but in case you're a little hazy, the following is a brief introduction.
PVR's can best be described as a very advanced digital VCR with three critical differences.
The first major difference is that a PVR stores recorded television programs on a hard disc drive that is contained inside the device rather than on videotape.
The second major difference is that every PVR has an onscreen television guide that allows users to search for programming and record a television program at the touch of a button. The on-screen guide is available on some VCR’s but typically the functionality is not as robust or as easy to use as it is with a personal video recorder.
Finally, a PVR possesses sophisticated software, which can be updated, that gives its owner a tremendous number of features not available to VCR owners such as the ability to: pause live TV, rewind the show you are watching for up to 60 minutes, replay just viewed scenes and much more.
The term PVR initially referred to devices such as ReplayTV or TIVO, which connected to an analog cable feed and record programs to a hard drive, however over the years the term has taken on a wider meaning.
Currently a PVR or DVR refers to any consumer electronics device that includes an on-screen program guide and records video signals to either a hard disk drive or DVD disc.
There are three types of PVR currently available in North America.
- Standalone – includes TIVO and ReplayTV units
- Computer Based - computers which use special video cards and recording software to mimic PVR functionality
- Hybrid Set top Boxes- cable set top boxes or satellite receivers which also contain a hard disc drive and recording capabilities. More recently this may also include DVD recorders which can record a program directly to a DVD.
Next: The Five Reasons to Buy a PVR
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