Listen Now. Share Now on:. Two small TV companies join forces. YouTube gets into the live streaming game. Even TV networks agree there are too many commercials. Also Included in. Tags in this Story. 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. The raw program data remains on the drive until it is overwritten by a new recording.
This is because the devices dial into a server once every few days and download new program grids some DVRs need access to a telephone line , but can be configured to dial in the middle of the night, or at other times when the line is likely to be clear; other DVRs can access program grids through a broadband connection in your home network.
TiVo charges a set monthly fee, though it once offered the option of paying a larger amount once for a "lifetime subscription" lifetime of the unit, that is. Cable companies that offer DVR packages are usually more expensive than standard cable packages.
Some manufacturers offer DVRs that aren't linked to a particular service and don't require ongoing fees at all. If you don't mind watching your shows on the small screen, an alternate solution exists for PC owners: products like the ATI All-In-Wonder and Sony Giga Pocket cards allow you to capture television signals digitally to your computer's hard drive, in essence using your PC as an elaborate DVR.
There is no monthly fee to pay, but you also miss out on some of the advanced features such as constantly updated program grids, Season Passes and the like. Giga Pocket allows you to save recorded programs to VHS or DVD-R, and most video-capture boards have "video out" jacks, making it possible to wire your television to the computer. Users must purchase a separate tuner card for their machine. For lots more information on DVRs, recording devices and related topics, check out the links on the next page.
These digital set-top devices allowed users to record television programs without the use of videotape. More versatile than the VCR, recording set-up and playback was also significantly easier. Options also exist to use the available online software to record your favorites. While there are smart TVs with built-in recording functions on the market, that you can use to record TV, they are prone to issues.
This is where the main difference comes in. A PVR stores files on a hard drive, and you can keep these for as long as you want.
A DVR temporarily stores files on a smaller hard drive, and if you want to keep the files you need to burn them onto an external source such as a DVD. What can a Smart TV do for me? There are a lot of factors that can affect the file size, such as video resolution, frame rate, length, and others.
With Samsung Smart TVs, you are able to set up scheduled viewing to remind you a program is about to start or record your program to watch at a later date. You can set it up for just one episode or even a whole season. Smart televisions offer a lot of cool features, including internet access, streaming apps, and built-in cameras and microphones.
Hackers who gain access can control your TV and change certain settings. Using built-in cameras and microphones, a smart and capable hacker can spy on your conversations.
However, the individual TV brands that use Android TV may do so, and they have their own privacy policies and user agreements that let you limit data collection. A researcher claims to have written an Android app that takes photos and videos using a smartphone camera, even while the screen is turned off — a pretty handy tool for a spy or a creepy stalker.
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