DVR stands for Digital Video Recorder. Tivo is the biggest brand-name of DVRs, but many satellite and cable companies provide generic DVRs that work just as well or better than Tivo.
The DVR is like a digital VCR. Rather than recording your shows to a VHS tape, you record your shows digitally in the DVR box, so there is no physical tape. You simply select what shows you want to record via the on-screen channel/programming guide, and you select previously recorded shows via the on-screen menu. DVRs provide a much simpler, cleaner, and more powerful means to watching television.
The best part of watching TV via DVR is that you can skip commercials. You can pause live TV, or you can easily skip back if you missed something important. The remote control is so easy to use that my five-year old skips commercials now. I love the idea of my kid not having to suffer all the commercials that I did growing up.
Watching DVR programs is often referred to as ‘time-shifting’. You may see a commercial for a program that has already passed by the time you see the promotion, or you see news that happened a long time ago.
In this category, we will write about the nuances of DVR use, and of course muse about the television programs we find.
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Gato got runned over by Marcus many moons ago. Be ye daft, 2486? 
Let's have a new poll, alright, Joe?
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I wonder at the practice of taking movies off of the dvr for storage on an alternate format, such as a video cd (vcd) or a DVD. Facinating possibility.
So why do you need a subscription to use DVRs? Or do you not really? Do DVR-content providers send the shows out early so the DVR has enough on there to fast forward? And you can’t fast forward live TV right, only pause it? And you can’t fast forward through the commercials if you don’t have enough time saved on the recorder to have content past the commercials, right?
From my limited understanding of the technology, DVRs work by \’caching\’ about an hours worth of tv(thus giving you the instant replay, pause, rewind, whatever) that make the so desireable. They don\’t really get the programming in advance, so, the only way you can fast forward is to have already \’banked time\’. My wife and I are in the habit of not watching tv when the shows on, but usually we go through our tv schedule, pick out the things we want the dvr to record, and almost never watch live tv, but the recorded stuff. You can watch two CSI episoded in the space 1 would normally take when you can skipp all the commercials.
The reason they require a subscription fee is that it\’s a seperate service to have the \’tv guide programming\’ delivered to your DVR
i ALWAYS watch via DVR. Even if I turn on the tv to a live program that looks good, i’ll hit record, go watch something esle recorded, then come back later and watch the program i originally saw when i turned on the tv.
the commercials have just gotten too obnoxious and too much. you can watch twice as much content tv when you can skip commercials and the 20-second recaps many shows do when they come back from commercial.
They still send the tv guide programming to the satellite systems, I think it’s just a way to wring out more money from consummers. If you ask to cancel the DVR service, they want their DVR receiver back that they originally gave to you for free.
systm.org has a webisode on how to make a ‘mythtv’ system that will do DVR for free, you just have to follow all the technology instructions.