My latest toy came courtesy of Time-Warner Cable last week. It's a new DVR (Digital Video Recorder) and it's so cool that I just had to write about it. Now, I (as many people do) have a love-hate relationship with TWC. I think the services that they offer are excellent, and very often leading edge. We had Road Runner a year before there was any viable alternative for home users. We have digital cable that brings gorgeous pictures to us without any video noise.
Now, they are offering the DVR at an excellent price. My yuppie relatives here for the yearly beach reunion last week were agog that we had DVR service here in the wilderness of Oak Island and they haven't gotten it yet in NYC.
OK - what is a DVR? Digital Video recording has been with us for a while, with most people knowing about the TIVO service. TIVO allows you to hook up a box to your cable set-top box and to record programs on the hard drive inside the TIVO. You can then play the programs back, stop, rewind, etc. You have to buy the TIVO box, and then pay a monthly service charge. You also have to hook up a phone line to the TIVO box.
But TIVO has its limitations. Because you must use your set-top cable box to tune to the program being recorded, you cannot then use it to view anything else while recording. Also, TIVO does not capture the full digital image and 5.1 channel digital sound (note: I do not have a TIVO, so someone please correct me if I am wrong).
TWC's new DVR service cures all that. The DVR unit replaces your current digital set-top box and works the same way. But the DVR has two important additions: it has a computer-like hard drive inside of it that is capable of recording up to 35 hours of programs; and it has a second tuner (the thing that tunes to a specific channel), giving you the ability to do two things at once.
OK, what can you do with it? Obviously, you can record programs for later viewing. But now it's real easy - no programming involved. You just go to the Guide, click the program, and indicate that it should be recorded. No setting channels or times. Very slick. You can then later select from the list of programs you recorded to play back at any time. If more space on the hard drive is needed, older programs are automatically deleted unless you mark them as more permanent.
When you play back the program, you have full capability to stop, pause, rewind, or fast-forward - just like a VCR. You can stop viewing the recorded program and restart later. And, the recording is in full digital picture quality and full digital sound if the original was broadcast that way.
With the two tuners, you can also get picture-in-picture - i.e. the ability to view two programs at once. You can do this on any TV, even if the TV itself does not have this feature.
Another feature is that the DVR is always automatically recording the channel you are currently viewing. Because of that, you can in effect rewind and play back the current show you are watching. An Instant Replay button shows the last 3 seconds, or you can manually rewind all the way back to when you started viewing the program if you wish.
All in all, the DVR is really cool and if you check the price I think you will not hesitate to place a call. There is no initial charge for the box - you just pay the monthly fee.
Now, the downside: The initial installation went off without a hitch. But, two days later, everything stopped cold (even my other set that I didn't get a DVR for) and a message was displayed to call the operator. It took about an hour for TWC to fix the problem, apparently some kind of paperwork mix-up. So, TWC gets great marks for technology, mediocre marks for service. Anyhow, go for it!
(Of course, I or my company BSC, LLC do not have any connection with TWC).
(Bob Seidel is a local computer consultant in the Southport / Oak Island area. You can visit his website at www.bobseidel.com or e-mail him at bsc@bobseidel.com).