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If you have room in your already cluttered entertainment center for an
additional electronic device, the next generation of video recorders is
hitting the market. These new digital devices can do anything your old VCR
can do, and they can do it better. Using computer compression technology and
easy-to-understand controls, the devices record and play back TV shows
easier than your VCR ever did. In my opinion, the biggest problem is that
they don't play prerecorded videotapes. So, if you rent movies from your
local video stores don't throw out the old VCR just yet.
Currently, there are two main competitors in this newly developing Personal
Television market (PTV), ReplayTV and TiVo. The boxes are about the same
size and shape as a standard VCR, but the slot for the video tape cassette
is missing. These devices were designed to convert programs to a digital
MPEG-2 format and store them on an internal hard drive much like the one in
your PC. Playback quality, which is user selectable, is as good as or better
than what your VCR delivers. It should be noted that although the quality
is user selectable, it comes with a price. The higher the quality, the
higher the required storage space. Because there is a limit to the storage
space, this can be a factor in determining quality. To keep the system from
filling up, both units will delete programs after a certain number of stored
days.
While the Replay and TiVo machines are similar in function, the companies
have very different strategies. Replay provides free access to a TV listing
grid that make it easy to select materials to watch and record. TiVo charges
for listings, which amounts to approximately $10 a month or $199 lifetime.
TiVo also has some advanced features like the ability to vote thumbs-up or
thumbs-down on programs. It tracks your votes and eventually begins suggesting programs you might enjoy.
Both devices are very easy to connect to your video source or sources. The
need for a phone line to download program listings and occasional software
upgrades is the only major difference between setting up standard VCR's and
the PTV.
These machines are not the PC / TV convergent "Set-Top" boxes that caused an
industry buzz for awhile but never have taken off. There is no direct
access to the built-in PCs, and neither device includes or accepts a keyboard, mouse, floppy disk or CD-ROM drive, parallel port, or serial port.
Both PTV's use 14GB Quantum hard disks for recorded content. These systems
are considerably more than just digital video recorders. Because the boxes
are digital, a TV show can actually be recorded and replayed as you watch
it. This means that if you're interrupted during your favorite program or
sports event, you can pause the action and resume watching when the time
allows.
Perhaps the greatest feature is the ability of both systems to set their
clocks each time they dial in for listings. Never again having to see the
blinking "12:00", the purpose of which must be to remind me that I can't
figure out how to set the time on my VCR, is probably worth the purchase
price alone.
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"Recording
Television Digitally"
