Shalt Thou Buy? See If a DVR (Digital Video Recorder) Is Right for You

by David Tenenbaum

Remember when you chose a TV program by turning a dial? You got a few channels, and you had to watch whatever happened to be on.

What a difference a few decades makes! Today, you can pull in shows from broadcast, cable (regular or digital), or satellite. You can rent or buy tapes and DVDs, or select pay-per-view movies. And you can record shows to watch later using a DVR, a digital video recorder. The DVR acts like a VCR--on legal steroids. You can save a program and watch it on your own time. You can zip past the ads. And you can store programs until the big hard drive gets full. You even can pause live TV to get time to raid the fridge.

The DVR is a hybrid of hard disk and VCR, and it's poised for success. Only one of 40 households in the U.S. has a DVR now (August 2005), but market researchers expect more than 5.5 million sales in 2005. By 2009, almost half of U.S. households are projected to have a DVR.

Setting the standard

In DVRs, the industry standard is TiVo, a pioneer renowned for user-friendly design and a long list of clever features. The company survived a recent buy-out scare with a boost in April, when cable giant Comcast announced that it would market TiVos to about nine million digital cable subscribers, for $9.95 a month.

TiVo can store up to 140 hours of TV programming on its hard disk, and it comes with a built-in DVD burner for more permanent storage. If you buy the recorder retail (without taking advantage of a tie-in from a cable company or satellite TV outfit), you'll pay about $99. You must buy TiVo Service--the brains behind the box--for $12.95 a month (or $299 for the life of the box). Instead of laboriously programming recordings, you tell the service to have the machine record the same show every week. The service also can find and record every show with a specific actor or director. You even can direct TiVo through a Web site, if you're not home when the mood strikes. You can transfer shows to another TiVo in your house, or use it to play digital music or photos through the TV set. TiVo works with regular and digital cable, with satellite, and even broadcast TV.

Some competitors have decided to fight TiVo, and others to join them. Toshiba, for example, makes a DVR using the TiVo interface. Others makers have their own take on the DVR, with their own list of features. For example, you can pause live TV on a DVD-DVR made by JVC. Panasonic makes a DVR with a mammoth 400-gigabyte drive.

When considering any sort of DVR, take these factors into account:

How's your tech IQ?

In home entertainment, as in computers, you pay for simplicity. If you are uncomfortable with setup options, cabling systems, and unfamiliar terminology, a unit that combines satellite receiver or cable box with DVR may be easier to install, and will cut remote-control clutter on your coffee table. Large buttons on a remote are especially important if your vision is weak in dim light, or you have trouble punching small buttons.

Fill 'er up?

DVRs are hard drives, and hard drives can fill up. If you want to permanently archive a large number of shows, you'll need a unit with a built-in DVD burner, or at least one that's compatible with an external burner.

Why pay retail?

Does your current (or prospective) cable or satellite provider offer a cut-rate or free DVR? Beyond the Comcast deal already mentioned, DirecTV, the satellite TV service, charges $4.99 a month for a TiVo-equipped DVR (the DVR purchase and the programming are, of course, a separate charge). Although the DirecTV unit has the "intelligent" features of a regular TiVo, including the ability to psych out your desires and record stuff it thinks you will like, fine print is everything with a DVR, so it's critical to understand exactly what you are getting. If you get the DVR from a TV company, the downside may be a limited number of features. The upside is less complexity at installation, and perhaps lower or nonexistent monthly fees. Check cable and satellite Web sites for current promotions--as with cell phones, the longer your commitment to their service, the cheaper the upfront cost will be.

What's your definition?

If you have, or plan to get, high-definition TV (HDTV), your options are limited. First, you won't be able to archive shows on today's DVD burners, which can't handle that much data. Second, DVRs that handle HDTV signals are much more expensive, usually costing upward of $500. Third, any change in HDTV format could render your high-cost DVR into electro-trash. Unless the cable company will give you a high-definition DVR, we'd advise against getting a recorder for HDTV until prices settle down.

Can it walk and chew gum?

Some units--but not TiVo--allow you to watch one program while recording another, or even allow you to record two shows at once.

Worried about privacy?

Remember the Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction" during the 2004 Super Bowl? Afterward, TiVo announced that users had replayed that precious moment more than any play in the football game (remember, a game was being broadcast at the same time). Alarmed TiVo-istas began to wonder what else the company might be tracking through the electronics that the company uses to find shows for users. After all, in TiVo, as in pay-per-view TV, what you watch or buy through the TV screen says a lot about you. TiVo says it will not collect personally identifiable information without the customer's consent, but its long privacy policy does say TiVo will use information about your personal viewing habits to send you selected ads and promotions.

What's in left field?

Microsoft® (through its Windows Media Center computers) and Apple Computer are both competing to be at the center of your home-entertainment system. Advantages: Either can burn DVDs and deliver stills and video to your TV screen. If you already know how to use one of the operating systems, you will have less to learn. But unless your computer is in your living room, the cabling will be awkward. At the moment, Apple does not record from the TV screen. Microsoft only records UHF (ultra high frequency) broadcasts.

In a field that's changing as fast as DVRs, any smart buying advice must be generic. Wait as long as possible for features to evolve and prices to drop. Talk to friends who already have the system that interests you. Read up on the options. And gird for complexity unless you can afford to pay for simplicity.

Hints from an expert

TV-industry veteran Steve Blumenthal, Gallagher TV Home Electronics, Ithaca, N.Y., offers these suggestions for a healthier relationship with a DVR, or any other TV-associated gadgetry:

The hard drives inside digital video recorders (DVRs), like CD and DVD disks, are heat-sensitive. Try to place DVDs, DVRs, and CD players on a separate shelf, or at the bottom of an equipment stack. Cable boxes are a big source of heat: Keep them on separate shelves or on top.
Surge protectors can protect against the biggest single cause of electronic wipeout: voltage surges in the house current. A good surge protector also will guard the incoming phone line--used in TiVo--and the TV cable against voltage surges.
If things get weird and you become totally confused, shut the system down and start over. If even that fails, unplug the electronics for 15 minutes to restore default settings.