Personal
Video Recorder Software - a DVR on your PC
 SnapStream Beyond
TV 3 |
| Beyond
TV is how television was meant to be watched. It
does for your PC what no other software is capable
of doing. It harnesses the full potential of your
computer and transforms it into a true home entertainment
powerhouse. Schedule recordings by selecting the
shows you want to record through Beyond TV's electronic
programming guide. |
OS:
Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP
License: $69.99 |
5/8/2005
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So what is a PVR or so called DVR?
The personal video recorder (PVR), also called digital
video recorder (DVR) or digital personal
video recorder, is a consumer electronics device
that records television shows to a hard disk in digital
format. Since first introduced by TiVo at the Consumer
Electronics Show in 1999, PVRs have steadily developed
complementary abilities, such as recording onto DVDs.
This makes the "time
shifting" feature (traditionally done by a VCR) much more convenient, and also allows for "trick modes" such
as pausing live TV, instant replay of interesting scenes,
and skipping advertising.
Most PVR recorders use the MPEG format
for encoding analog video signals.
The most popular PVRs on the market are the TiVo and DNNA's ReplayTV,
although most home electronics manufacturers now offer models.
Many satellite and cable companies are incorporating PVR
functions into their set-top box, such as with DirecTiVo,
Motorola 6xxx from Comcast, or Sky+. In this case there is no encoding necessary
in the PVR, as the satellite signal is already a digitally
encoded MPEG stream. The PVR simply stores the digital stream
directly to disk. Having the broadcaster involved with (subsidizing)
the design of the PVR, and directly recording encrypted digital
streams can lead to fancy features - like the ability to
use interactive TV on recorded shows, pre-loading of programmes;
but can also lead to too much control by the broadcaster
- like denying the ability to skip adverts and automatically
expiring recordings after a time determined by the broadcaster.
