If you enjoy watching TV then I’m here to introduce you to your new best friend: the Personal Video Recorder or PVR. A PVR (also called DVR: Digital Video Recorder) is basically a hard drive similar to what you would have in your computer, but this one is set up in your living room. You use a PVR as you would a VCR (remember those?): record shows, fast forward, rewind etc… While VCRs use sequential recording (they record on a tape and you have to ensure your tape is queued to the right spot or you will erase something important), PVRs use digital files and store them on its hard drive so you never have to worry about copying over something you haven’t seen yet. 

Ease of recording isn’t the only benefit of a PVR though. Whenever you are watching something on TV, the PVR is constantly recording to the hard drive. Why is this cool? How about pausing or rewinding live TV? You’re in the middle of a suspenseful moment in Lost and someone has the nerve to call you on the phone! In the PVR-less days of yesteryear, your options were to ignore the phone call or miss part of your favourite TV show. Now you can easily pause the TV show just like you would pause a DVD movie and answer the phone. When you’re done the call, simply press play and you’re right back in it. Also, for as long as you’ve been watching the current program, you can rewind it. This is obviously great for sports fans so they can create their own instant replay, or even for those that want to re-watch that car chase during a cool movie or TV show.

1. Get a PVR from your Cable or Satellite provider: Some places in Canada allow you to rent a PVR while others make you buy them outright. Whichever the case, the benefits are the same as any PVR, but you also get a Guide. A guide shows up on your TV and displays all the shows that are on TV – just like a TV guide. To record using a Guide you just navigate to the show you want with the remote control and press record. Without a guide you have to set the start and end times of your recordings, just like you have to with a VCR.
2. Buy a PVR:  You can get your own PVR/DVR that hooks up to your TV. They look just like a DVD player, and most even come with a DVD player or DVD recorder built in. DVD recording is a great partner for a PVR because now you can permanently save those programs instead of taking up hard drive space. Also, this is the only way you can loan a recorded TV show to a friend who missed last night’s episode. The biggest downside to buying a PVR that’s not from your cable or satellite provider is that you might not get a Guide, so check if it does before you buy.
3. Tivo: Tivo is just like any PVR except for two things:

1.       it gets to know you and

2.       there’s a monthly fee. 

After you use it for awhile, it starts to make recommendations about other shows that might interest you based on what you’ve been watching so far. Because of this, and the fact that the Tivo is inexpensive compared to other options, there is a monthly fee.

4. Media Centre: Windows XP and Vista both have Media Centre capabilities. If your computer has Media Centre then you have a couple options. 

1.       Plug your cable signal right into your computer (if your computer has the coax input). Now you can watch TV on your computer and use your computer’s hard drive as the PVR. The Media Centre has a Guide that makes it easy to find and record your favourite shows.

2.       Use a Media Centre Extender. Not many people want to watch TV on their computer screens. If you get a Media Centre Extender (like the Xbox 360), then you can still use your computer’s hard drive as a PVR, but now watch recorded TV shows in the comfort of your own living room. You can do this wirelessly or with wires, but be aware that streaming video requires a faster network, so if you can do it with wires then that would be recommended.

No More Tape!

Pause Live TV

Tivo is one way to get a PVR

 Media Centre TV Guide