DVRs: Are They Worth the Investment?

DVRs, which are actually Digital Video Recorders, can be a great addition to your home theater. It can be sad to see an obsolete technology fight to survive. The manufacturers do their best to hold on for the sake of those few diehards who prefer the old way, but eventually there's no more choice and they have to stop making that product. Buggy whips, BetaMax, eight-track tapes, manual typewriters, every technology has its day, but eventually something better and easier to use comes along and pushes it aside. Sadly, this day is at hand for videocassette recorders, which have been struggling since DVDs came along, and even the DVD recorder may soon be shown the door. Why? Because they just can't compete with Digital Video Recorders (or DVRs). DVRs work equally well with all TV formats: antennas, satellite system TV, even cable.

What hath TiVo wrought?

With DVRs, your TV show is stored digitally stored on a hard drive, producing an excellent recording that's as electronically perfect as you could ever expect. The first effective DVR was the TiVo, which over the course of several years quietly worked its way into the hearts of harried TV watchers everywhere. With TiVo, not only could you only watch a week's worth of Star Trek episodes at once, you didn't need a Ph.D. to operate it. Eventually, cable companies and satellite TV companies got into the act, introducing their own DVRs. In most cases you now can get a DVR with your satellite TV for less than the cable company charges, though the cable guys might lease you one for a reasonable price (they'll want it back at the end of the contract period, though). If you'd prefer to buy your own, you can spend anywhere from $130 to over $1,000. We recommend a nice midrange version, like a good TiVo or a Sony, which will set you back $250-600. How much you spend on DVRs, however, depends on your love of electronics, the features you want, and how much the spouse will let you get away with.

Other benefits of DVRs

In addition to recording your favorite shows with digital perfection, DVRs offer lots of features that VCRs and DVD players don't. Sure, you can record one show while watching another, but you can do this with VCRs if you're careful. The really cool stuff is the stuff unheard-of before DVRs. Say you miss something on the show you're watching; you can rewind and review it, and we're not talking about on recordings. Most DVRs have a feature that lets you save the last few minutes of a live show....as it's airing. So if there's a new episode of CSI: Miami on and you want to see what Horatio was up to while you were making that Dagwood sandwich, you can rewind it and review til you catch up. Neat, huh? Many DVRs conspire with your cable or satellite TV guide to compile show times for various programs, and can suggest shows you might like.

What else can you do with DVRs? Well, since it's a hybrid of computer and DVD player, given the right equipment you can pull stunts like scheduling recording times from the Internet; displaying family pictures and play music on your TV; recording every episode of your favorite show automatically all season; recording every show a favorite actor appears in, on every channel; and transferring TV shows from one of the TVs in your house to another. How's that for versatile? Better be careful; soon your DVR might even watch the shows for you!

Summary: In the beginning, there was television. You could watch and laugh, but not record. That changed with the invention of VCRs and DVD recorders, which were great while they lasted. Now, with DVRs, the ability to record TV shows is taking a huge leap forward.