I love my digital video recorder. I don't even know when my favorite shows are on--they just appear on my DVR's drive, ready to watch.
But are there better DVRs than the DirecTV box with TiVo that I have? To find out, I took several DVRs for a spin, each representing a different approach to the challenge of no-brainer, high-quality TV recording: recorders provided by satellite and cable companies, a stand-alone TiVo, a combination DVD/hard-disk unit, and a Media Center PC.
All of these DVRs have easy, intuitive menus. They let you pause and rewind live TV. The hard drives each hold over 30 hours of programming. Every unit lets you record the program you're watching with the press of a remote-control button, and record a future show or even a series of shows with a few menu selections.
Still, I wanted more than that, and so should you.
A good DVR should be trouble-free, with easy setup and simple ways to search recorded content and TV listings. It should also be a good value.
After trying the alternatives, I'm sticking with the DirecTV TiVo. For me, the convenience of a DVR/set-top box combination outweighs the optional features you can get with other DVRs. Besides, I haven't found another DVR with TiVo's searching capabilities. If your cable or satellite provider doesn't partner with TiVo, you may want to go straight to TiVo for your DVR.
If you have digital cable or satellite TV, you have good reasons to get a DVR through your service provider. These boxes combine DVR functions with a TV-signal receiver. You won't have to find a place for another box, deal with another set of cables, or wonder where to plug in yet another AC power connector. The recordings will look slightly better, too, since the signal won't have to be converted from digital to analog and back to digital again, as is the case with stand-alone products that have only analog inputs for the TV signal. Most important, you won't have one device (the DVR) recording the shows and another one (the set-top box) changing the channels--that's a scenario asking for trouble.
On the other hand, DVR/set-top combo units usually lack the finer options. If you want a huge hard drive, or the ability to add the DVR to your home network or burn your programs onto a DVD, you may prefer an off-the-shelf DVR. You also get little choice: Vendors typically have just one or two models.
I looked at two DVRs that double as set-top boxes: one with TiVo, from DirecTV (satellite), and another that records high-definition content, from Comcast (cable).
DVR rating: Very Good
DirecTV's version of TiVo sells for as little as $50, depending on the hard drive size. DirecTV adds $5 to your monthly bill for the service. (DirecTV has a non-TiVo, high-def DVR for $749, too.)
I looked at a 40GB model that holds about 40 hours of video. As luck would have it, I had to replace my DirecTV TiVo just as I started this article, letting me reexperience setting the unit up. And that meant more experience with the atrocious tool for setting up channels. DirecTV expects you to create two lists: "Channels You Receive" (you'd think DirecTV would have this info) and "Favorites." Then it gives you a screen for selecting channels sorted by number and lacking any information beyond not-always-helpful acronyms. You can't view the channels to help you pick.
For other jobs, the menus are easy to navigate and figure out. And the tools for finding programs are first-rate. You can search by name either through a list of all upcoming shows in TiVo's database or in a narrower subgroup, such as action/adventure movies.
Best of all are WishLists, a type of saved search. I use them to find films by, and documentaries about, favorite directors such as Hitchcock and Kurosawa. I can easily bring up the search results to see if there's something worth recording. You can also set a WishList to automatically record everything it finds.
DVR rating: Good
If you get digital cable from Comcast, you may be able to rent this very good, basic DVR for $10 a month total. The 80GB drive holds about 60 hours of standard television or 15 hours of HDTV. This was the only DVR I tested that could record HD content.
The interface looked a lot nicer than TiVo's, with big buttons and a live-TV feed in the corner. Picking favorite channels was also a lot easier because the interface had complete station descriptions.
However, I couldn't find the shows I was looking for with anywhere near the same ease. Sure, I could still find action/adventure movies. But the interface for entering titles to search on was clumsier than TiVo's. And you get no keyword search or anything like DirecTV's WishLists.
What do you get if you don't combine your DVR with your set-top box? More features--and more hassles. I checked out three possibilities: a stand-alone TiVo box, a DVD/hard-disk recorder, and a Windows Media Center PC.
TiVo Series2 DVRDVR rating: Very Good
I looked at a bare-bones, low-priced model, the TiVo Series2 DVR. This one comes with a 40GB hard drive that holds about 40 hours at the lowest recording quality setting (unlike cable- or satellite-provider set-tops, off-the-shelf DVRs typically let you choose between quality and quantity). It lists for $199, but you don't get off that cheap. To actually use it, you must also fork over a subscription fee--either $13 per month or $299 for the lifetime of the product.
This was the only off-the-shelf DVR I examined with a way to successfully change the channels on a set-top box. Two ways, actually: a serial connector and an infrared blaster for set-tops that don't support the serial connector. I tried the IR blaster--basically a set of doodads that send remote control-like signals to the set-top box to change its channels. Much to my amazement, it worked (unlike similar methods I've seen before).
Once set up, this box proved almost identical to DirecTV's TiVo. Same easy recording, same wonderful search capabilities, same lousy design for selecting favorite channels.
But even this low-end model has one cool feature that the DirecTV TiVo lacks. It connects to a home network (you'll need either a USB-to-ethernet or a USB--to--Wi-Fi adapter for this), which lets you access photos or music stored on a computer, or use TiVoToGo to transfer shows on the TiVo to your PC or notebook and then burn them. And if you have two TiVos, they can share each other's recordings.
Pricier TiVos, many made by other companies that license the name and technology, are better equipped. Some Pioneer and Toshiba models bundle TV recording with a DVD burner. Another, the Humax Series2 DVR, has a huge drive that can hold up to 300 hours of programming.
DVR rating: Fair
Lite-On DVRs, like most you find at your favorite store, don't require subscriptions. You buy it, you can use it--just like any other appliance.
There's a downside: Since it lacks an electronic program guide--which gives you a grid of information on available shows, simplifies searching for shows, and lets you quickly select ones to record--the Lite-On becomes difficult to program. While some DVD recorders do have an EPG, the interface and search features typically don't match TiVo's.
I tried the LVW-5045 ($399 list), which has a 160MB drive that holds 33 to 148 hours of TV, depending on your quality-versus-quantity choices. It also has a DVD recorder, which lets you save programs permanently and get rid of your stand-alone DVD player.
But the Lite-On has its oddities. I pressed the Pause button while watching live TV, and nothing happened. The documentation revealed that I had to press the remote's Time Shift button before I could pause a live broadcast.
Programming the Lite-On to record is like operating a VCR. I had to enter the time and date without an on-screen schedule guide and turn the machine off so that it would record. (If I'd had a copy of
Once I recorded a show to the hard drive, however, burning it to DVD was as easy as fast-forwarding through beer commercials. The resulting DVD had a chapter stop every 5 minutes--a nice touch.
DVR rating: Fair to Poor
Inclusion of Windows XP Media Center Edition turns a PC into an all-purpose home entertainment system with, among other things, the functions of a DVR. Media Center computers usually come with a remote control, as well.
To judge how satisfactorily they work as DVRs, I looked at a Dell Dimension XPS Gen 5. This state-of-the-art PC has a dual-core 3.2-GHz Pentium Extreme Edition 840 CPU; a fast DVD
For all its power, I found the Gen 5 a clumsy device to put between a TV signal and a television. I had major problems both in receiving a cable signal (this unit handles only standard TV) and in sending it to the set. I eventually solved these issues, after many hours of hard work and significant help from Dell tech support.
TV and PC technologies just don't merge well. Some people may get them going without trouble, but you can't yet count on being that lucky.
Microsoft's user interface is clean and easy to use, and has plenty of nice features. The keyword search, however, looks only in program titles.
Digeo Moxi gives TiVo a run for its money as a DVR. The interface looks a lot like Comcast's, with a live broadcast in the menu screen's upper-right corner. But the search capabilities just might beat TiVo's. You can search by any word in the title, not just the first one--useful if you're looking for Thatotherguy and Roeper. And yes, there's a WishList-like keyword search.
If you like the news ticker on the bottom of CNN or Fox News, you may like Moxi's customizable version, which lets you stream news, weather, and sports along the screen's bottom. The unit also has a DVD player (but not a recorder--that's planned for future versions) and a "jukebox" feature that rips CDs to MP3 files on the hard drive.
A cheaper version of the Moxi, the Moximate, connects to the main device over a coaxial cable to feed a second TV.
The unit wasn't available for testing in my area, so I attended a demonstration conducted by the company. Right now you can get it from Adelphia in Los Angeles, from Charter in St. Louis, and in a few other cities.
So far Moxi works only with cable. Individual companies will set pricing, but expect it to cost about $10 a month.
Slingbox: Move Your Content Around
A DVR frees TV from time constraints. Sling Media's upcoming Slingbox aims to free it from location constraints, enabling you to watch your home TV signal from any computer with a broadband connection.
The Slingbox wasn't ready for testing in time for this article, so I saw a demonstration by Sling representatives. The unit should be available by the time you read this, with a list price of $249.
This box contains a tuner and an ethernet connection and sits between your TV signal (antenna, cable connection, or set-top box) and your television. Programs that go into your set-top box can also travel over the Internet, so you can watch the shows on a Net-connected PC.
Because of the tuner, the Slingbox can change channels--unless you have a set-top box. Then it uses an IR blaster to change the box's channels.
The receiving PC must have a broadband connection and Slingbox software. Only one PC can access your Slingbox at a time.
How does it look? Sling Media uses a unique technology dubbed Lebowski (yes, it's named after the movie
Orb Networks' Orb sends media over the Internet from your PC to any connected computer--for free. When you install the Orb program, it turns your Windows computer into a restricted Internet media server. You can use another PC or certain PDAs and smart phones to access your music, photos, videos, or television signal, if your host PC has a TV tuner. All the receiving device needs is broadband Internet access, a browser, and a media player.
Orb also works as a software DVR, and the programs you record are then available to anybody who logs in to your computer.
Orb isn't a perfect solution. Your PC must be booted up at home for you to be entertained from afar. And the video is far from TV quality. What's more, Orb can't play copy-protected media, such as songs you buy from ITunes or Napster, even if you can play them on the PC running Orb. On the other hand...it's free.
Lincoln Spector
