Digital Lifestyles Reference Guide

Aug 27, 2004

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Personal Video Recording (PVR) makes watching television an absolute joy. I’m somebody who simply stopped watching shows because I got busy with other parts of my life. I’d occasionally drop in on a program if I happened to be home when it aired, but I was never a slave to the networks. The hassle of recording shows on VHS made time shifting more trouble than it was worth from my perspective. Having a PVR changes all that. I record episodes of shows I think might be interesting, watch them during the downtime I used to spend channel surfing and zip through the commercials to get to the good stuff. You can see a 30 minute sitcom in about 22 minutes if you cut out all the extra stuff, which saves time and delivers a better experience than watching what’s "live" on the air. I personally rely on Windows XP Media Center Edition for all my recording needs because I find it to be one of the most polished options available. At the same time there are tons of great features that make competitors an attractive alternative.

Most of the software PVR solutions extend way beyond recording and managing your television viewing. These are apps with an all in compassing media center experience, unifying your television, movies, music and photos in a common interface controlled in what’s commonly referred to as the 10-foot experience (you on the couch with remote aimed at television). The PVR is essential, but almost transparent in the experience, because in general, the television recording just works.

In making a perfect PVR software solution, it’s the minutiae selling the experience: Your level of control over the program guide, including things like hiding channels you either don’t subscribe to or don’t ever watch (Goodbye QVC, anyone?); Software management of duplicate recordings, or rather the ability to avoid duplicate recordings by routing around re-runs and repeats; The number of button presses required to skip commercials; The type of interface you have with your recorded content in terms of sorting, browsing and filtering for archival purposes; The overall ease of managing your shows in a way that works for you is what really matters.

The one rub in all the software PVR solutions is that you need a compatible TV tuner card to make them work. Rather than bore you with a long list of dozens of cards in each specific case, the Websites for each vendor include a list of compatible cards. Hauppage and ATI are the two most commonly supported tuner companies and arguably the two best in the consumer class of TV tuners.

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