DVR We've come a long way from the expensive clunky metal satellite TV receivers. Satellite TV first hit the market in the 90's. At the time they were rather large, and an average dish would take up a good chunk of space. Cable tv was much easier. Things have changed considerably though. Today you'll notice most satellite dish's are comfortably compact. With the major companies offering sports and news from around the world it's no wonder you see so many of these dishes on roof-tops of almost every home. Recently the world has been introduced a new luxury in TV viewing: Digital Video Recorders; or DVR for short. This is a device that records video in a digital format to the disk drive. Say your favorite program in 1999 was the ultra-popular Friends. Well, at the time if you couldn't be home to watch you could your VCR. This means setting the timer, popping a tape in, making sure it's plugged in, etc. Well, here we are ten years later and things have changed. No more switching and labeling tapes everyday. If you're a busy person who still wants to catch up on your favorite TV programming without the hassle of VCR's then all you need is a Digital Video Recorder.

TV companies have gone one step further and implemented the DVR's right into the cable/satellite system. The way this works is you turn on the television...find your desired program whether it be at this moment or in the future, and simply press the record button. Depending on which DVR you have, you can record up to 2 different programs at the same time. You can also watch a previously recorded show while the DVR is recording both shows. You can either manually record your desired block of programming or automatically. If you just want to record one show and you're sure it ends one time, you can just find the show, highlight it, and click record. If you're taping a sports show or something which is usually unpredictable in it's finishing time, you can manually record however long on that channel. So if the Bulls vs. Celtics NBA game is on from 7:00 PM-11 PM on channel 18, but you're sure it could go over, you can tell the DVR to tape from 8:00 PM -12:00 AM on channel 18 just to be on the safe side. One drawback is that there's a limit to the amount of content you have on your Digital Video Recorder's hard drive. However, it's going to be a very long time before you reach it. Even then, anything important can be transferred over to a video cassette, recordable disk, or computer hard drive. Just make sure to delete it off the DVR when you're finished. With the new High Definition craze in the world of television, almost all cable/satellite companies are now providing High Definition DVR's for your viewing pleasure. As if watching TV wasn't easy enough already, now it's also convenient and fun.