A digital video recorder (DVR) (or personal video recorder (PVR)) is a device that records video without videotape to a hard drive-based digital storage medium. The term includes stand-alone set-top boxes and software for personal computers which enables video capture and playback to and from disk. History Please expand and improve this section as described on this article’s talk page or at Requests for expansion, then remove this message. The first DVR was tested on July 8, 1965, when CBS explored the possibilities of instant freeze-frame and rewind for sporting event broadcasts. Ampex released the first commercial hard disk video recorder in 1967. The HS-100 recorded analog video onto a digital hard disk and could store a maximum of only 30 seconds. Hard disk-based DVRsThe two early consumer DVRs, ReplayTV and TiVo, were launched at the 1999 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Although ReplayTV won the “Best of Show” award in the video category, it was TiVo that went on to much greater commercial success. The devices have steadily developed complementary abilities, such as recording onto DVDs, commercial skip, sharing of recordings over the Internet, and programming and remote control facilities using PDAs, networked PCs, or Web browsers. 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 DVRs use the MPEG format for encoding analog video signals. The two consumer DVR brands in the United States are the TiVo and DNNA’s ReplayTV. In the UK TiVo has a small presence; Thomson, Topfield, Fusion, Pace and Humax also supply digital terrestrial (DTT) DVRs. BSkyB markets a popular combined EPG and DVR as Sky+.South African based Africa Satellite TV beamer Multichoice recently launched their PVR which is available on their Dstv platform. Many satellite and cable companies are incorporating DVR functions into their set-top box, such as with DirecTiVo, DishPlayer/DishDVR, Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8xxx, Motorola 6xxx from Comcast, Moxi Media Center by Digeo (available through Charter, Adelphia, Sunflower, Bend Broadband, and soon Comcast and other cable companies), or Sky+. In this case there is no encoding necessary in the DVR, as the satellite signal is already a digitally encoded MPEG stream. The DVR simply stores the digital stream directly to disk. Having the broadcaster involved with (subsidizing) the design of the DVR—and directly recording encrypted digital streams—can lead to features such as the ability to use interactive TV on recorded shows, pre-loading of programs. It can, however, also force the manufacturer to implement non-skippable advertisements and automatically-expiring recordings.Software is available for transferring programs recorded on DVR hardware to or from PC’s (e.g., TiVoToGo and DVArchive). PCs Software and hardware is available which can turn personal computers running Microsoft Windows, Linux and Macintosh into PVRs, and is a popular option for home-theater PC (HTPC) enthusiasts. Linux There are many open source and GPL-licensed DVR applications available for Linux:

• MythTV
• Freevo
• DVR
• VDR
• KnoppMyth - provides an out of the box MythTV based PVR solution

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The thought of a HDTV came from wide-screen movies. As soon as the wide-screen was introduced, It was seen, that individuals who were seated in the first few rows enjoyed the effect much more, having a level of participation in the action. This was not seen in case of the conventional movies. A greater feeling of ‘being there’ is felt with the wide-screen occupying a greater field of view, especially peripherally.

High-Definition Television (HDTV) was launched in the market in the year 1998. If stating the reference of HDTV to a common man, it is all about a superior resolution and digital surround sound quality in the new state-of-art television95 – HDTV. It refers to the broadcasting of signals with much higher resolution than before. Today around 80 other devices are sold in the market as HD but in actual they are not HD ready products. They may be good quality TVs, but they lack one necessary condition of being High Definition This is a High Definition Multimedia Interface adaptor which automatically lets the TV set handle the high resolution images all by itself.

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Is setting up a home theater system just a matter of putting in a television, dvd player and setting up a few speakers? Well, technically yes but if you really want to experience all the viewing benefits home theater offers then you need to consider some viewing aesthetics.

TV Viewing Distance

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Nowadays, most of the families are interested in having a home theater system that will provide joy and entertainment for the entire family. That is one of the reasons why most people involve their families also while shopping for a home theater system. Also, shopping for a home theater system is fun to the members of the family as they will get to go to a few electronic stores and can also listen to and play with many different systems and finally end up choosing a home theater system that will fit the requirements of the entire family. Nowadays, the demand for the home theater systems is such that the prices have been considerably decreasing at rabbit’s pace and hence more and ore people even from the middle economy groups, are now able to buy a cheap home theater system to entertain their family.

But, while shopping for a home theater system, most people are overwhelmed with the various electronic tags and the technical statistics of the individual components and hence find it most difficult to select a home theater system. If you are so particular about knowing the various components and its technical specifications, you can search online for an electronics home theater dictionary, which will have all the details related to the subject and you can learn a few technical aspects before shopping for a home theater system. But, if you are just on the look out for a home theater system that will provide pure entertainment for the entire family and are not worried of the technical aspects, then what you should remember is that a cheap home theater system consists of a DVD player, a good quality television system, an audio / video receiver and a good quality sound system.

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One of the big advantages of the sexy new plasma television sets is their ability to be mounted or placed just about anywhere, therefore opening up limitless possibilities for making your decor a smashing success or an unmitigated disaster.

To add to your stress level there are many technical aspects to consider that are indeed quite “technical”. However there are a few simple guidelines that will help you save your sanity (and for God’s sake don’t leave the decisions up to your 15 year old teenager)

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It is pretty safe to say that the way technology is progressing is at a faster rate than ever. It is also very hard to decipher the good from the bad in consumer electronics. Every day we are faced with the constant struggle of trying to make wise buying decisions without the later regret of buying something less than worthwhile. We’ve all been there before too. During the holidays we try to buy gifts for those we love only to find out later that what we bought was a bunch of hype, but none of the delivery the product originally had promised. This could be quite a let down when buying a gift. So what is the answer to this seemingly never-ending problem? The answer lies (as it often does) in the research.

When buying consumer electronics, its best to know what to expect before you buy. Here is a list of some ideas, concepts and general rules for buying consumer electronics.

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When you are selecting a high definition TV (HDTV) there are a number of factors you have to consider. Some things you might consider are : do you like the look of the TV, will it fit into your room and then a lot of technical stuff that might make you eyes glaze over or might really interest you. This article will explain some of the technical details, specifically the picture resolution and the way the picture is produced on the screen. Picture resolution and scanning are neatly summed up by numbers like 1080i and 1080p. We will discuss what these numbers mean, some other types of picture types available and the difference between 1080i and 1080p.

The 1080 bit refers to the picture resolution. Both 1080i and 1080p have the same picture resolution. This means there are 1920 pixels of the image down the screen and 1080 pixels across the screen. This equates to 1920 x 1080 pixels on the screen in total. For some reason the industry only uses the number of pixels across the screen as a indication of the picture resolution. 1080 picture resolution is the best you can get at the moment. Other types of resolution are 720p (1280 x 720), 480p (720 x 480) and 480i (640 x 480).

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A digital video recorder (DVR) (or personal video recorder (PVR)) is a device that records video without videotape to a hard drive-based digital storage medium. The term includes stand-alone set-top boxes and software for personal computers which enables video capture and playback to and from disk. History Please expand and improve this section as described on this article’s talk page or at Requests for expansion, then remove this message. The first DVR was tested on July 8, 1965, when CBS explored the possibilities of instant freeze-frame and rewind for sporting event broadcasts. Ampex released the first commercial hard disk video recorder in 1967. The HS-100 recorded analog video onto a digital hard disk and could store a maximum of only 30 seconds. Hard disk-based DVRsThe two early consumer DVRs, ReplayTV and TiVo, were launched at the 1999 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Although ReplayTV won the “Best of Show” award in the video category, it was TiVo that went on to much greater commercial success. The devices have steadily developed complementary abilities, such as recording onto DVDs, commercial skip, sharing of recordings over the Internet, and programming and remote control facilities using PDAs, networked PCs, or Web browsers. 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 DVRs use the MPEG format for encoding analog video signals. The two consumer DVR brands in the United States are the TiVo and DNNA’s ReplayTV. In the UK TiVo has a small presence; Thomson, Topfield, Fusion, Pace and Humax also supply digital terrestrial (DTT) DVRs. BSkyB markets a popular combined EPG and DVR as Sky+.South African based Africa Satellite TV beamer Multichoice recently launched their PVR which is available on their Dstv platform. Many satellite and cable companies are incorporating DVR functions into their set-top box, such as with DirecTiVo, DishPlayer/DishDVR, Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8xxx, Motorola 6xxx from Comcast, Moxi Media Center by Digeo (available through Charter, Adelphia, Sunflower, Bend Broadband, and soon Comcast and other cable companies), or Sky+. In this case there is no encoding necessary in the DVR, as the satellite signal is already a digitally encoded MPEG stream. The DVR simply stores the digital stream directly to disk. Having the broadcaster involved with (subsidizing) the design of the DVR—and directly recording encrypted digital streams—can lead to features such as the ability to use interactive TV on recorded shows, pre-loading of programs. It can, however, also force the manufacturer to implement non-skippable advertisements and automatically-expiring recordings.Software is available for transferring programs recorded on DVR hardware to or from PC’s (e.g., TiVoToGo and DVArchive). PCs Software and hardware is available which can turn personal computers running Microsoft Windows, Linux and Macintosh into PVRs, and is a popular option for home-theater PC (HTPC) enthusiasts. Linux There are many open source and GPL-licensed DVR applications available for Linux:

• MythTV
• Freevo
• DVR
• VDR
• KnoppMyth - provides an out of the box MythTV based PVR solution

continue reading »