PVRs free you from TV schedule slavery

I’m a huge fan of these marvellous machines and believe they have the power to change the way you watch TV forever.

Many owners of Personal Video Recorders (or PVRs as they’re affectionately known) find they rarely watch ‘live TV’ ever again.

What’s so great about PVRs?

Choose the programmes you want to watch from an on-screen electronic programme guide (EPG), the PVR records them to a large internal hard disk as they’re broadcast and they’re there waiting for you to view when you choose. You can even skip through annoying ad breaks at the press of a remote control button.

So how do they compare to the humble video recorder of Christmas’s past? Well the best PVRs can perform clever tricks like recording two programs at once or letting you pause a live program while you make a cup of tea or answer the phone. They’ll even record radio programmes too.

And the latest models offer extra, whizzy features designed to make your recording even easier. Trailer programming lets you schedule a recording when you see a trailer for it broadcast at the touch of a button – rather than having to hunt for it in the on-screen listings.

Plus, those with the Broadcast Recommendations feature will even suggest programmes that they think you’ll like, based on the type of programme you choose to record. How cool is that?

Web-connected PVRs go one step further

Humax models have now got all web-connected and offer access to catch-up TV services, such as iPlayer, YouTube and other on-demand content. So not only can you watch future programming when you like, you can see the stuff you’ve missed. Our TV viewing cups runneth over…

Clearly I’m a huge advocate for this wonderful piece of technology, but am I misguided? Does anyone really make use of all the versatile tricks I’ve outlined here or are there even more things they’re capable of that I’ve not heard about?