What is a PVR (Personal Video Recorder) for? Click here
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PVRUK aims to bring you the latest news from the UK and around the world on PVR and HDD digital video recorders, but the main focus is for those people who wish to purchase a standalone Freeview recorder
Together with information on the latest DVR products our policy is to provide consumers with as much information as they need to make an informed purchase.
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Ireland starts analogue switchoff
2008-04-30 07:58:27
John McIlroy
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PVR UK Link: IT@Cork Cork has become the first city in Ireland to go all digital with Chorus NTL switching off it's analogue cable system.
To help things along they've provided a Digital TV kit which includes a DVR which will record up to 80 hours programming at the touch
....FULL PVR STORY
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Fake old Tivo adverts
2008-04-30 07:50:09
John McIlroy
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PVR UK Link: PVR Blog From across the pond...
Pvr Blog points the way to a couple of amusing Tivo adverts created for an art competition. The adverts are 50's or 60's style, and worth a look if you want a quick chuckle.
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I can't let you do that Dave
2008-03-27 16:59:09
John McIlroy
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PVR UK Link: PVR BLog Scary Big brother technology?
"At the Digital Living Room conference today, Gerard Kunkel, Comcast’s senior VP of user experience, told me the cable company is experimenting with different camera technologies built into devices so it can know who’s in your living room. The idea
....FULL PVR STORY
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Digital TV now in 22.2 million UK homes
2008-03-27 16:50:33
John McIlroy
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PVR UK Link: Ofcom The number of UK households with digital television on their main set has risen to 22.2 million homes according to research published by Ofcom today.
The Digital Television Progress Report for the fourth quarter of 2007 (October-December) also s
....FULL PVR STORY
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Click here for more PVR / DVR News....
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LATEST REVIEW
Reviewed Model: DTR80
Reviewed By:Howstupid
2008-05-04 17:56:29
How stupid can you be...
This is a FREEVIEW recorder... it does not record from EXTERNAL sources (Virgin Media... ETC!)
It internally records Freeview to it's from it's TUNER to it's HARD DRIVE
Perhaps if you read what it was before buying Mick, then you wouldn't have had to waste your time with cables 'round the back of yer tele!
Duh lol
...etc.
Reviews by PVRUK.co.uk
Inverto IDL7000
________IDL7000 Update
Ferguson FPVR1T
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MISSING PRODUCT? - If your product, or a product you wish to review is missing, please send an email by clicking HERE ,stating the brand, model and if possible a link to the retailer/manufacturer.
DIGITAL TV RECORDER REVIEWS - SELECT TYPE BELOW
FREEVIEW
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FREEVIEW PLAYBACK
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SATELLITE
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CABLE
Select Image to check PVR prices
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__________________
Strictly speaking PVR should not be used to describe all the products on this web site, they are more correctly described as Digital Video Recorders orDigital TV Recorders. The term PVR is, however, gradually being used to describe any hard drive based DVR.
As far as current Freeview / digital terrestrial recorders are concerned there a few main features to look out for:-
Single or Twin Tuners - A Twin tuner model will allow you to watch one channel while recording another, plus there may be other benefits depending on the model.
Hard disk size - This determines the amount of recordings you can store before you need to start deleting / backing up. Most new models are now tending towards 1600Gb, although 80Gb is still the most common.You can assume that each 1Gb will let you record for approximately half an hour of programmes, so 40Gb will be ~20 hours.
WHAT ARE THEY GOOD FOR?
Adapted From: Decipher Strategy Consultancy 
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Buffering
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To move favourite shows to a more favourable time
slot. Common examples were are evening soaps that people can shift
by a short time to accommodate family functions like dinner or bathing the kids.
(‘I normally bath the kids just when Eastenders and Holby are on. Now I record
them every day and watch them forty minutes later’).This function is common to almost any hard drive based DVR.One common use of the buffer is for people to start watching their TV programme just 10 or 15 minutes after it starts, but this time lets them fast forward through the adverts.
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Bookmarking
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The ability to bookmark or ‘series link’ a particular programme is central to
freeing consumers’ from the constraints of the schedule. (‘I never worry about
missing ER now, in fact I not sure I can even remember when its on’). This is a feature closer to PVR functionality and depends on advanced EPG information. Currently Sky+ is really the only unit with this functionality available for now - Digital Terrestrial viewers can look forward to it probably when the 7-day EPG comes out.
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Grazing
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Scanning a complete day or evening’s viewing via the on-screen programme
guide and recording a selection for later viewing. Friday evening schedules
are popular with users, who use the rest of the weekend to catch
up on the recorded shows. (“While my wife is getting dressed to go out, I grab
the best of the nights viewing to watch on Saturday mornings”). This can equate to creating your own TV channel which shows only the programmes you want to see, available when you want - handy for those who only get a chance to sit down in the late evening to watch their programmes.
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Stacking
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People indicate that for the big event or ‘appointment to view’
programming (respondents commonly cited The Forsythe Saga and ‘24’), they
would use the DVR to collect a number of episodes for a binge viewing session.
(“I had the whole of Band of Brothers on the Sky+ box and watched four
episodes in one weekend”). Suitable combi units could then be used to transfer the complete series to DVD.
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Archiving
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Dropping content from the DVR onto a VHS tape on a connected traditional
video recorder, this is most often used to give copies to other people . (“I was
going to save my copies of Band of Brothers but then I just bought the box set
instead”).
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Compressing
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Primarily a sports related concept, people use the DVR to record an
event (football and rugby games seemed the most commonly cited examples)
and use the flexibility in the fast forwarding to create a ‘highlights’ version -
watching a 90 minute game in 20 minutes. (‘I don’t rush home to watch the start
of a game anymore’).
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Extending
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The corollary of ‘compressing’, the more sophisticated users state that they
would watch a live game through the PVR, re-winding and re-playing the key
events repeatedly, and catching up with real time at the half way break.
Some psople talk about taking two hours to watch a 90 minute game. (‘We
took almost three hours to watch the England v Barbarians game and it felt live
all the way through’).
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Pausing
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Strangely, the most complex feature to understand and adopt, the pausing of live
TV was the least used of all the new functions. This sapping in and out of the
recorded content requires a more committed understanding on the part of the
consumer of the timing and scheduling of programmes. (‘we now sometimes use
the add breaks to catch up to live, but it is fiddly’).
Ad Sampling – PVR users became sufficiently adept at
using the multi-speed fast forward functions to almost never watch the ads
before or during programmes with one caveat: viewers halt the fast
forward process to watch ads they enjoyed. (‘we almost never watch an ad in
our house any more unless it is one the kids like’).
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PVR vs DVR
The term, Personal Video Recorder, is claimed by Tivo and it's users as the only and original.It is used to describe the fact that the PVR has additional software which allows it to suggest viewing material based on the user's programme choices and personal profile.
Most of the hard-drive based recorders do not,currently, have this level of complex programme analysis, but range in different levels of ability down to "Dumb" recorders which only carry out the basic programme recording/time slip functions.
Sky+ is currently the main HDD based unit in the UK and has the most PVR type features. Unfortunately this is only available for Sky satellite users. Freeview terrestrial digital TV viewers have had the option of more basic recorders for several years, but recently Freeview Playback has been launched as a design template for Freeview recorders aspiring to Sky+ features. Cable users have their Sky+ equivalent in Virgin Media's V+ box.
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Disclaimer
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