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The Personal Video Recorder replaces your VCR
Don't things move quickly nowadays? It seems only yesterday that the first
VCRs became available and changed the way that we used our TVs forever. Now it
seems that you will soon have to replace all your old analogue TV equipment
including your VCR with digital TV receivers and digital video recorders (DVR)
if you haven't done so already.
Analogue satellite TV, cable and terrestrial TV transmissions will soon be turned
off and when that happens you will need digital TV equipment if you plan to
continue to watch TV.
If you don't want to change your VCR at this time you will still be able to
record digital TV from the analogue AV output of your digital receiver but you
won't be able to take advantage of all the new features on offer. In fact you
will have fewer options available to you than before unless you upgrade to a
Personal Video Recorder (PVR) or a DVR.
Digital Video Recorder or DVR explained?
A DVR captures digital video or digital TV and records it onto a hard drive
like the one in your computer. In fact a DVR is a computer dedicated to the task
of recording and playing back digital video. All a computer needs to be able to
do this over and above all the usual stuff is a digital TV tuner.
Your DVR tuner has to be able to receive and decode signals from your chosen
provider so there are different types available depending on whether you use
digital satellite TV, cable or terrestrial TV.
Some systems that provide premium pay for channels will insist that you use
their own equipment to receive their programming and you may have to pay even
more to use their PVR or DVR equipment
What does a DVR do for you?
With a DVR you can capture and record digital TV programs onto a hard drive
that's inside the unit. You can typically record up to about 40 hours of video
onto the internal hard drive.
A DVR makes it possible to record a live transmission while you are watching a
recording and if you have a DVR with two digital tuners then you can watch one
channel while you are recording another or record 2 programs from different
channels while watching a recording made earlier.
Your DVR will also pause live TV if you want it to and restart it later. It
turns live transmissions into recordings on the fly.
Personal Video Recorder or PVR explained?
A PVR or Personal Video Recorder is a DVR with some advanced features. For
instance with a PVR you might find that it can learn what programs you watch and
automatically record them for you if you forget to set the recorder. You can
also use a PVR to create a recording playback list and have it record only the
best programs and then watch them as if it were your own personal TV channel.
Read the full article at Personal Video Recorders: PVR and DVR.
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