For instance, you can simply tell it to always record "Law and Order," or you can tell it to only record first-run episodes. DVRs advertise anywhere from hour to over hour recording capabilities. It's worth noting that these units can record programs at varying levels of quality -- and the advertised capacity usually refers to the number of hours it can hold at the lowest quality setting.
A hour TiVo unit can hold 40 hours at the basic quality level, but only about 11 hours at the best setting. The hard drive in a hour TiVo is approximately 40 gigabytes in size; on the basic setting, one hour translates to 1 gigabyte, while at the highest setting one hour uses 4 gigabytes.
So what's the difference? If you've ever seen full-motion video on the Web, you know how images can get blocky and distorted. This happens on DVR recordings made at low quality levels, particularly if there is a lot of movement in the image. As a result, different quality settings are good for different types of programs: while an old black-and-white movie or a talk show will look just fine at the basic level, a fast-moving sports program or action movie will be almost unwatchable.
So bear this in mind if you're thinking of buying a DVR primarily to support your sports habit -- better to go for the higher capacity unit. In Sony's Giga Pocket system, the files for each recorded program are stored on the computer's normal hard disk. If you have a drive with 60 free gigabytes of space, then Giga Pocket can use those 60 gigabytes to store TV programs. The amount of space that a program consumes on the hard disk depends on both the length of the program and the recording quality.
Giga Pocket offers three quality modes:. In other words, you can store about hours of video on 60 gigabytes of space in LP mode. In SP mode, you can store about 36 hours.
In HQ mode, you can store about 18 hours. In terms of quality , LP mode has a noticeable grain to it, but it's watchable. SP mode looks good. HQ mode seems like overkill -- there's not a noticeable difference between SP and HQ when you are watching a program recorded from cable. Perhaps if you were recording an s-video signal coming in from a DVD player or camcorder and you wanted to preserve all the detail, HQ mode would be useful.
Just like on a computer hard drive, deleting a program from a DVR doesn't actually delete the program itself -- it simply erases the file system's reference to where it's stored and how long it is, making it effectively gone. This makes it possible to pause and rewind live broadcasts. If you miss the beginning of a show, you can start from the beginning and skip through commercials.
These devices are typically used as part of security systems to store surveillance footage. You only need a DVR if you have a live television service that supports it. That said, some streaming providers offer live television with cloud DVR. For many years, cable providers like Comcast would offer a 'DVR service' for a monthly fee.
After signing up, they would swap your old cable box out with one that had DVR functionality. This is less common in the modern day, but it still is offered. A cloud DVR is a DVR with cloud features, like uploading recorded content to the cloud for easy access on other devices. A cloud DVR is less a formal product name and more a feature description. Today, they can be that or simply be a feature on a cable box, or their functionality can be found in various apps and programs on phones and computers.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. But in reality, there are still times where a proper DVR for Netflix and other standalone services might be helpful. One workaround for this is PlayOn , a service that creates a local copy of videos from online sources. You can then transfer the video file to other devices, or stream it to other devices in your home over Wi-Fi, either using PlayOn's own software or media server applications such as Plex.
Like the practice of password sharing , PlayOn operates in somewhat of a gray area. The bigger catch with PlayOn might be the software itself. If you're not satisfied with the above solutions, the last option to consider is Channels DVR. It's the closest attempt yet at providing a single whole-home DVR for lots of different streaming services, but it has its own issues and limitations. Once the player powered on, we had to update its software and scan to see what local channels were available.
When the scan is completed the channels are added to the program guide, which can show up to a week of programs. One feature we liked was the ability to watch local channels outside the home, anytime. The Sling TV app is the better designed of the two, and it lets you add the over-the-air channels you get with AirTV right in with the rest of the channels you get with SlingTV.
Because switching between apps requires a factory reset and new setup, only one of the apps should be used. But there's a bigger problem with this DVR. We found the picture quality on the AirTV to be below that of the other tested models when compared with the over-the-signal connected directly to the TV.
With the original AirTV, the picture was softer, with some macroblocking, where areas of the picture break up and appear as small squares. We also noticed that the edges of objects, such as the corner of a building, were jagged instead of smooth.
It's possible the new AirTV 2 has better picture quality, but we haven't tested it yet. I've been a tech journalist for more years than I'm willing to admit. In my spare time I build and play guitars and bass, ride motorcycles, and like to sail—hobbies I've not yet figured out how to safely combine.
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