Satellite TV and Digital Video Recorders: DVR Or PVR

Why you need a Personal Video Recorder (PVR) with your satellite TV
The analog sattelite TV, cable TV and terrestrial TV signals that we have watched and loved for the last few decades will soon be switched off and if you want to continue watching TV when that happens then you will need to upgrade your system to digital. Your old VCR will still give you limited service but if you want to take advantage of all the features offered by the new digital TV services then you will want to upgrade to a digital video recorder (DVR) or a Personal Video Recorder (PVR)
Right now you might be watching digital TV from satellite or cable and also have a tried and trusted analog terrestrial TV system to allow you to watch more than one channel at a time. Unfortunately you won't be able to do this when the analog transmissions are turned off.
What will a PVR or DVR do for you?
Here are just some of the amazing things that can be done with a PVR and your old VCR could have performed only one of them. Use them with your digital satellite TV systems and they can be awesome features.
Time Shift viewing
Shifting the time at which you watch your favourite programs by recording a digital TV program and replaying it later. This is one of the few things that an analog VCR does well.
Tagging a series of digital programs
Some PVR services like the Sky+ digital satellite TV in the UK offer a feature to mark a series of programs and record them when they are transmitted rather than have to enter the information into the recorder for each episode. No longer do you need to remember when they are broadcast any more, just let your faithful PVR do all the work for you. For this feature to be available there must be an electronic program guide available, which means that not all services will support it.
Make your own digital TV channel
You can set your PVR to record many programs from many different channels and then watch these recordings back to back as if it were your own personal digital TV channel. You can even start watching your new channel while your PVR is still recording.
Record a whole series of one program
Capturing a whole series of your favourite program and then watching the whole lot in a mammoth session is so simple for a PVR. You can also then burn the whole lot to a DVD if your PVR has a DVD recorder, and keep it on your shelf.
Archive your recordings to DVD
If your DVR or PVR has a built in DVD recorder then you can make permanent copies of the programs that you've captured on the hard drive. You can also save programs to your old VCR using the analogue AV sockets on your PVR. Don't throw away your old VCR just yet.
Viewing the highlights
DVRs are much better at fast forward and rewind than your old VCR ever was which makes it easy to compress long sporting events into a shorter time. This can be very useful if you're in a hurry or you don't want to sit through all the boring parts.
Action replay of live transmissions
This is very useful for sporting events and films with complex plots. You can pause and rewind your PVR and then watch an action replay before you return to pick up the live program. This will extend the viewing time of course.
Pausing live TV as if it were a recording
You are interrupted by someone at the door or the phone while you're in the middle of watching your favourite program. This is no longer a problem, simply pause your personal video recorder and what's left of the program will be saved for you to watch later. You just press 'Play' and it picks up from where you paused it.
Read the full satellite TV article Personal Video Recorders: PVR and DVR
Why use a conventional satellite TV when you have a computer? Watch Satellite TV on your PC at http://www.sattelite-television.thegrandfatherclock.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steve_Gee