A DVR will change your viewing habits

Digital video recorders (DVRs) like this TiVo model enable users to watch TV on their own schedules by recording scores of hours of programming onto a hard disk drive. (TiVo.com web site photo) [Click to enlarge]

That finally happened in February, and (after a couple of initial glitches) I couldn't be more pleased.

For some of you, digital video recorders are old news. But if you haven't tried this technology yet, let me tell you -- it will change the way you watch television, whether you're a picky viewer with a few favorite shows or someone who watches TV all the time.

It's one of those advancements that you can't fully understand until you try it out for yourself, but I'm going to try to explain it anyway.

Easy to use

A DVR is a way of recording TV shows on a hard disk drive, like the one in your computer, and watching them later, on your own schedule.

We've had the ability to "time-shift" TV ever since the VCR was introduced. Most people have used their VCRs to tape something special that they wanted to watch, or maybe even set them up to tape one or two favorite shows on a regular basis.

But there are limits to the VCR's usefulness. It's clunky to program -- heck, some people have never gotten around to setting the clock on their VCRs, much less setting them to record a TV show. A tape holds, at most, eight hours of programming. If you have several different programs on the same tape, you have to rewind or fast forward to get to the program you want to view.

A DVR is much easier to use and much more powerful. You view a program guide on screen and can easily scroll around the grid, using the arrow keys on your remote control, and click on a program you want to record. You don't have to pay any attention to times or channel numbers; just click on the name of the show on the schedule grid, or else look it up by name from a master list. You can tape a program once, but with a click, you can also tell your DVR to tape every episode of your favorite show, whenever it airs -- and since the DVR receives up-to-date schedule information, it can find your show anywhere on the schedule, even if it airs a "bonus episode" or moves to a new day or time. You can tell your DVR that you only want to record new, first-run episodes of a particular series, or you can tell it to record all epiosdes, whether new or reruns.

If you have a favorite show, movie or movie star that isn't currently on the schedule, you can tell some DVRs to watch for the name in case it turns up in future weeks -- a so-called "wish list." Other DVRs will only let you request things that are on the currently-viewable schedule.

Some DVR service providers will even let you schedule a recording over the Internet or from your mobile phone. Are you running unexpectedly late at the office? Just go to the web site, and in a few clicks, you've scheduled a show to start recording so that it will be ready when you get home.

There are also DVRs that will suggest programs you might like based on the ones you've already recorded.

Time to watch

The programs you tell a DVR to record are saved onto its hard drive. Depending on the make and model, and on whether you are recording in high definition, a DVR can hold up to 100 hours of programming or more.

What this means is, whenever you get ready to watch television -- on your schedule, not someone else's -- you'll have a list of your favorite shows and movies waiting for you, and you can easily look over the list and click on something you'd like to watch. While you're watching a recorded show, it's also easy to zip forward through commercial breaks -- most DVRs have a special button on the remote control which zips ahead 30 seconds for each press, faster and easier than the "fast forward" function. For this reason, the boom in DVRs has caused much hand-wringing among TV ad executives.

You can easily delete recorded shows or keep them for repeated viewing. Some family members of mine who live out-of-state are very selective about what they let their young children watch. They build up a number of episodes of approved shows on their TiVo and some are watched over and over again before finally being deleted.

Unlike a VCR, a DVR allows you to start watching a show before it's through recording. Let's say that you've set up a movie to record between 8 and 10 p.m., but you get home at 9:07. With a VCR, you'd have to wait until the movie was through, rewind the tape and watch it from the beginning. With a DVR, you can start watching the movie, from the beginning, as soon as you sit down, and the DVR will keep recording and time-shifting until you've seen the whole thing. If you got home earlier, say, 8:10, you could easily "catch up" to real time simply by fast-forwarding through commercial breaks.

I read a few months ago about a football fan who records any football game in which he's interested and waits until the third quarter to start watching it from the beginning on his DVR. He fast-forwards through everything except the actual plays, and by the two-minute warning he's caught up to real time and gets to watch the end of the game as it happens.

Another great thing about DVRs is that you use them even when you watch TV shows on their normal schedule. The DVR temporarily records every show while you watch it, which allows you to pause live TV or even rewind it to take a second look at something. Because you can pause anytime, you no longer have to wait for a commercial break to run to the kitchen or the bathroom.

One downside to a DVR is that there's usually a monthly charge (to cover the ongoing service of maintaining and downloading the program schedules).

How to get started

There are two types of DVR: retail or generic. The best-known retail brand, TiVo, can be bought at electronics stores or online. You can get it in standard or high-definition models. A competing brand, Moxi, only sells HD models; it charges no monthly fee, although the initial hardware purchase is more expensive.

A generic DVR is obtained from your cable or satellite provider. This may make setup simpler, since the DVR comes already built into a satellite receiver or digital cable box, and since your provider probably offers professional installation.

DirecTV used to offer a TiVo-branded model as its official DVR/receiver; that partnership lapsed, but the two companies recently renewed it and DirecTV will begin offering TiVo DVRs once again during the second half of this year. Some cable companies are also making alliances with TiVo, but I don't think Charter is among them ... yet.

When getting a generic DVR from your provider, you may not have to buy the hardware up front; the cost of leasing it is sometimes built into the monthly fee, in return for a long-term commitment to subscribe to that provider. If you prefer not to sign a long-term commitment, you may want to buy a TiVo or Moxi yourself. Do a little research online and see what fits your situation the best.

There are even some instructions online for adapting a computer to run DVR software and record TV shows.

Whichever route you choose, a DVR really will change the way you watch TV. You can relax and enjoy TV at your convenience rather than when the network executives happen to schedule it.