As Revolutionary A Device As The First VHS and Beta VCRs

As usual, once again I showed up late to the revolution.

In this case, it's the DVR (or so-called TiVO) revolution. Slowly but inexorably working its way through the world of television sets just like the VCR once did, the Digital Video Recorder is totally changing the way we look at television. And it is greatly giving us a lot of freedom.

Don't tell me you NEVER watch television. Everyone, except the most unique, does today. A few years ago it was considered very chic to eschew what was on the tube; most of the inane broadcast programming seemed to be aimed at a 70-I.Q generic audience. But today, along with the junk certain channels spill out, you can get high drama, recently released films, and many fine shows on channels like the Discovery channel, A&E, and the History channel, not to mention concerts, biographies, and excellent shows like NOVA on Public Television. So even geeks like me can find something on TV today better than "The Young And The Brainless."

The problem is, that if you have multichannel TV (cable or satellite), a lot of shows you might want to see are shown at times when you can't watch them. You're simply going to miss them if you are "at the mercy" of Realtime. For the average busy person today, probably 90-95% of what they might enjoy watching is shown at times when they are either sleeping, out for the evening, out-of-it, or simply are unaware of what's on the tube.

Enter the DVR revolution.

I am reviewing a particular kind of advanced DVR in this review called the "Umax HUMAX Digital Video Recorder with TiVO T2500 Digital TV Recorder", but don't let the long name fool you. It's just a DVR. But with a rather miraculous advantage. And a set of controls easier to work than on most VCRs.

What does a DVR do? Well, imagine a hard disk with a metal box around it that can record, say, 50-80 one-hour TV shows or, say, 20 2-hour movies at a time off the television channels your TV set picks up. And easily discards at your command, either in a manual or automatic fashion. That's what a modern DVR like this unit can do.

Like most of these new digital recording machines, there is NO TAPE to it like a VHS recorder. Forget buying tapes or keeping a gargantuan cabinet to put a tape collection in; all of the filming goes onto one hard disk just like in your computer.

The unit can be EASILY programmed to record literally dozens of shows when you scan over a 14-day program guide and just point-and-click the shows you want to "capture" on the menu. I guarantee you it's about 25 times easier than recording the old way with a VHS recorder or even a DVD recorder. When you start seeing all the options available to you, you are going to feel like you just jumped from using a DOS computer to one with WINDOWS XP. The jump in user-friendliness and creativity is simply jaw-dropping.

If you DO get one, how much "recording time" should you get with your unit- 40 hours? 80 hours? 500 hours? It all depends on your needs and your credit limit. This is like selecting a hard disk for your computer. Some folks like a C: drive as big as they can get- 900 gigabytes, baby!. On the other hand, some other people, like me, prefer to have a moderately sized hard disk (only 800 gigabytes--- no, just kidding) and archive to peripheral media. Keep in mind that when a manufacturer says that their DVR will record 80 hours, they are talking about at the lowest quality level. But in reality you will want to record at higher quality levels, so in practical terms an 80-hour recorder will actually capture about 40 hours or so before it reaches its limit. You just delete to make space. Or archive (you can do this traditionally but somewhat awkwardly with a TiVo hooked to a VCR or DVD Recorder) and then delete. Or with a more convenient and much faster method.

At the heart of this unit, of course, is the DVR combined with the TiVO service. The DVR hooks up to your TV cable on one end and a link into your telephone system on the other. The telephone connection apparently does three things: (1) it updates your program guide every few hours, (2) it sends you periodic software updates (along with a few subtle advertisements), and (3) it sends information back to the TiVO command center as to which shows your unit is recording. For most people, the telephone part involves local land-line service so it's the price of a free call.

Now that last telephone function, however, is the one that most people raise their eyebrows about. My first reaction was to say "But I don't want anyone to know my viewing habits." But the more I thought about it, the more I thought that was kind of silly. If someone wants to know that I like to watch "The West Wing," "Jag,", "Boston Legal", and old "Twilight Zone" reruns, so what? Now I might get concerned if the TiVO company saw me watching the movie "Emmanuelle" or "Debbie Does Podunk" 50 times in a row, but since I'd never TiVO theatrical masterpieces like that, (I find IRL things in that field more interesting) I don't care if Big Brother sees me catching vanilla shows along with millions of others. So that's not much of a privacy issue, at least to me, when you give it extended consideration. It could be for some folks though.

You can set this little wonder to collect show after show after show 24/7 and then you go into its "Now Showing" playlist and Voila! After a few days you've got a continuing supply of most of the shows you'd like to watch but you've been missing all your life. In the morning it's fun to see what was added to the playlist overnight; it's like finding Easter Eggs every day. And YOU get to control the program agenda.

Oh yeah, there is that little thing about zapping the commercials. This is the thing that makes the TV industry probably hate all DVRS and why they probably would like them outlawed. Before I bought my unit I thought that the DVR would conveniently edit out all the commercials and you'd get to see your shows seamlessly and commercial-free. Well, dream on. You can't do that. But what you CAN do is EASILY fast-forward through the commercials from one program segment to another in about 5 seconds or so, so its a manual thing but an easy thing.

So now you've got all this new stuff to watch on your DVR, at your leisure. But what if you REALLY want to gild the lily? What if you want to make, say, a PERMANANT DVR RECORDING of some show you have "TiVO-recorded"? Here is where this particular TiVO machine, the Umax HUMAX Digital Video Recorder with TiVO T2500 Digital TV Recorder, outpaces the pack. You see, it has a built-in DVD burner. And with a few easy clicks on your TV remote's buttons, you have just made a new DVD.

Example. Ever have a weird desire to have a permanent recording of some classic old TV show like that episode of the original "Twilight Zone" where the goblin is out on the wing of the airliner tearing the plane's engine apart as horrified passenger William Shatner watches? See it described on the detailed TiVO TV guide, click on it, it records a few hours later while you are asleep, and then simply burn it to the DVD recorder. Now you can replay it on a portable disk on just about any DVD player anywhere, any time you want. And with blank DVDs costing about a buck a piece these days (if you buy in quantity), you've just made a Cheap Thrill For The Ages. Movies on DVDs at a buck a piece? If you don't mind zapping through the commercials, you're in luck. And actually, if the truth be told, commercials can have a certain nostalgic value. Ever go back and look at a 20-year-old VHS tape of some TV show taped in the 80's? Some of those old commercials will have you rolling on the floor laughing. But I digress.

TiVO has some interesting internet pluses, too, if you want to explore them, plus a community of TiVO forum addicts who have lots of interesting things to say about these machines they love.

The downside? This particular unit is (initially) pricey. You can buy an entry-level TiVO for about $100 these days. But it's about $500 or $400 with the rebate (USA prices) for the reviewed 80-hour unit with the DVD burner. And you have to pay TiVO about $13 a month for their service, too (unless you pay them $300 which will cover the service for the lifetime OF YOUR MACHINE.) But when you factor in the astounding advantages of getting to "TiVO" your shows, plus the DVD burner advantage, it may be worth it, over the long haul, to you. It is to a lot of the rest of us.

I've only dealt with the main features of the unit which will appeal to most people. For the enthusuast, there are many nice bells and whistles which they will find appealing and often not expected, like the speed of the DVD burner, which can copy a two hour movie in about 45-60 minutes.

Some day DVRs with DVD-like recording capability will probably be as common as TVs themselves. But you can get in on the front end of a tech/entertainment revolution if you get one like one of these units in the near future. I think this will take your breath away like the first VCRs did for many of us. Having used mine for about a month now, I'll never go back to the old way again. TiVO with DVD burning rules!