PurePVR

BroadcastingCable.com is carrying a story which reports that ABC has backed off when it comes to restructuring its advertising model. ABC had hoped that it would be able to make deals with advertisers wherein the advertisers would be charged not only based on viewers who watch the show live, but also for viewers who use a PVR / DVR device to watch the show within 7 days. Eventually ABC had to fold due to the pressure from the advertising industry. But who is right here?

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One of the commonly advertised features of PVRs / DVRs is the fact that you can use time shifting technology. Time shifting enables you to pause and rewind live TV as well as record a show to watch it when you want (therefore shifting the original air time). In a similar fashion, place shifting allows you to decide where you will watch the show.

Ok, what use is this?

A common example of place shifting is the ability to watch the recorded program somewhere other than the through the PVR / DVR unit. This usually means a laptop or computer that is hooked up to the same network. This is useful if you can’t use the TV (e.g. someone else is watching something) or if you want to go sit outside in the backyard.

Not all commercial PVR / DVR solutions offer this, but there are a few that do. For example, SageTV just announced that they will be adding place shifting features to their future releases. Windows XP Media Center Edition has extenders which can be used to allow viewing and controlling through your Xbox (click here to read a recent post on The Green Button site about using an Xbox 360 as an extender). MythTV (which is a free solution) allows you to create front ends that stream the video from the main unit so that you can watch it on other PCs or an Xbox.

On top of PVR / DVR solutions that offer this functionality, there is also one mainstream device that is dedicated to this technology: Slingbox. Slingbox sits between your TV and and your input signal (wether it be regular cable or a digital cable or satellite box) while also being connected to the internet. Once connected to the internet you can actually use the Slingbox to view your programming from anywhere in the world that has a decent internet connection. This is truly ideal for people who travel alot. Slingbox is currently designed to be used with NTSC based signals, which includes the US and Canada.

Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, SageTV, MCE, Xbox, MythTV, Slingbox, Place+Shifting

Welcome to part 2 of my first series, Introduction to PVRs.

In my previous post in this series I outlined a few of the major advantages to using PVRs. After reading it, you may have thought ‘Wow, I like this sound of this PVR thing. Where can I get one?’. Well the answer to that is, it depends. What does it depend on? It depends mainly on where you live and what is available.

First off, most US households can use TiVo. TiVo is one of the grand daddy’s in the PVR game. With TiVo you can purchase their equipment if you choose (they offer rentals as well), but you are also required to pay for their services. These services include things like software updates, programming content and features like Season Pass and Online Scheduling.

Another place to look for PVRs (or DVRs as the case may be) is your local cable or satellite company. A lot of these companies do offer their own digital video recorders that offer the same core functionality but may also have their own benefits. As an example, a quick list of cable companies currently offering some sort of DVR includes Comcast, Charter, Cox and Adelphia. In Canada there are companies like Bell (ExpressVu), Shaw, Cogeco and Rogers.

A third option is that you can build your own PVR. Now why would you want to do this? There are a few reasons.

Firstly, you may be a real do it yourself kind of person (like me). When you hear about something new you are immediately interested and you want to try to do it yourself.

Another reason is that you would like to build something that fits your needs more closely than a generic solution. For example, if I travel a lot for business I may not be home for a month at a time. In that time I may want to record more shows than a TiVo can hold. If I build my own, I can put as much storage as I need in there and not have to worry about it.

Lastly, another reason why you may want to build your own is to save money. Although you may still have to buy hardware and software to complete the project it may end up being cheaper in the long run.

In future posts I will start running through some of the current solutions available for those who want to build their own PVR. There are quite a few free solutions as well as some paid ones which have their own benefits.

Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, TiVo

Welcome to part one of my first series, Introduction to PVRs. I haven’t set out much of a framework for the series yet, so I don’t know how many parts I will have. I’ll just keep rolling them out when I can though. Now, on to the article.

OK, so you may have heard the term PVR or DVR being used a lot recently. PVR stands for Personal Video Recorder and DVR stands for Digital Video Recorder. As the name suggests, they are devices that can record video signals in a digital format (as opposed to an analogue signal like VHS).

So what’s the big deal about PVRs? Well for one, compared to traditional VCRs they offer a far easier interface to schedule recordings. Most PVR’s have a graphical grid layout listing the time slots and the various channels which is updated automagically.

Another huge advantage is the fact that the recorded content is left on an internal hard drive. That means no more searching for the right tape or making sure that you aren’t recording over something that you want to keep. Of course there is a limit to exactly how much you can store on the hard drive, but it is not uncommon to be able to have 20+ hours of content on your PVR.

A third advantage of using a PVR is that you can actually pause live TV. So suppose that you are watching an NCAA final four game when the door bell rings: it’s the pizza delivery guy standing there. As you are paying him you hear a sudden roar from the crowd on TV and you quickly discover that you missed a key play.

Now you actually have a couple of options in the case above. First off, you could actually rewind the current program to the point that you want (for example right before you got up to get the door). As you are rewinding and watching the ‘old’ live TV, your PVR is still recording everything that is currently happening. The second option would be to just pause the live TV as you get up. That way you don’t need to rewind anything and you won’t miss a beat. With either of these options, you are doing something that you could not do with a VCR.

Although I only listed 3 advantages to using a PVR, there are quite a few more. I won’t list them now, but I will most likely mention them in future posts.

Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR