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Article: How to choose a digital video recorder
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Posted by: rseligman

(Sorry if this is a dupe. Didn't see it come up in a search.)

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/siliconv...ogy/4723927.htm

How to choose a digital video recorder
By Sam Diaz
Mercury News

TiVo offers one approach to digital video recorders.

Chances are you've heard of digital video recorders, the VCR-like devices that record television programming to a hard drive instead of a removable tape.

They're known best by brand names TiVo and ReplayTV and have been marketed to showcase the cool things they can do: pause live TV, zip past commercials and record your favorite shows with the touch of one button.

They're fun and easy to use. But even though prices have come down in recent months, they're still not so easy to buy.

You need to know about pricing of the boxes and the monthly subscription fees attached to the services. DVR compatibility with your cable box, satellite receiver or rooftop antenna is an important factor. And there's always a concern in this post dot-com era about the long-term future of the companies providing these services.

Industry insiders are predicting that DVRs will be one of the most sought-after items this holiday season, right up there with digital cameras, DVD players and MP3 players.

Today, there are mainly four choices when it comes to digital video recording: TiVo, ReplayTV, DishPVR or the personal computer.

It's tough to say which is best because each has its own list of pros and cons. TiVo and ReplayTV, for example, offer the coolest features but charge monthly service fees. The DishPVR, a recorder service built into Dish Network satellite receivers, has no monthly subscription fee but only offers the recording basics. Many PC alternatives also have no monthly fees, but you'll have to either watch your TV programming on the PC or connect your PC to the living room TV.

Though the first DVR hit the market in 1999, there are only slightly more than 1 million subscribers nationwide today and those seem to be mostly split among TiVo, which announced its 500,000th subscriber last month, and Dish Network, which hit the same milestone in the spring.

So far, the biggest stumbling block has been cost. In the early days, digital video recorders were priced in the $400 range.

This holiday season, TiVo and ReplayTV are battling for consumers with an after-rebate price tag of $199 on standalone recorders that hold up to 40 hours of programming. These are the base models. Spend more and you'll get more hard drive space.

Each also comes with a subscription fee. TiVo charges $12.95 monthly for its service while ReplayTV charges $9.95. Each offers a lifetime subscription -- the box's lifetime, not yours -- for $250.

Unrolling the red tape

Sounds easy to understand, right? Here's where it gets tricky.

For $199, subscribers of DirecTV satellite service can pick up a receiver with a built-in TiVo DVR that allows simultaneous recording of two programs. That unit only has space for 35 hours of programming, but the monthly service fee drops to $4.95.

Satellite TV

If you're a fan of satellite TV programming, DirecTV's competitor, Dish Network, will throw in its own version of a 60-hour DVR as part of its $300 receiver and won't charge a monthly service fee. The company also allows customers to lease a box for $5 per month.

But remember that you get what you pay for.

The DishPVR offers only the recording basics. TiVo and ReplayTV are smart enough to remember your favorite programs and find them when they move from their regular time slots. If ``Friends'' moves from Thursday to Tuesday one week, for example, TiVo and ReplayTV will find it. The DishPVR will only know that it's not on Thursday and won't record it.

If you prefer cable TV over satellite, or can't get satellite service in your home, there's no need to worry about what DishPVR will or won't do. It's only available to Dish Network subscribers.

While DirecTV and Dish Network are using the DVR as a selling point to entice cable subscribers to switch, the cable companies aren't doing much to counter.

TiVo and ReplayTV's standalone units work with cable systems as add-on devices. Likewise, they'll also work for those who have stayed with free TV, the channels that come in through rooftop or rabbit-ear antennas.

Personal computers also work with any of the systems, but you have to be willing to watch recorded programs on your PC or connect your PC to the living room television set.

PC features

Critics barely include PCs as DVR alternatives.

``Anyone trying to push that is crazy,'' said Phillip Swann, president of TVPredictions

.com, a consulting firm in Santa Monica. ``People in this country are not going to have the PC be the dominant home appliance in the living room. It goes totally against the culture and lifestyle of this country.''

Microsoft focus

Microsoft, which was once a DVR contender with Ultimate TV but has since dropped out of that race, is focusing on the Windows XP Media Center Edition operating system, which has built-in DVR software.

Sony last year introduced GigaPocket, its own DVR software, in some of its high-end computers. And now, smaller software companies are getting into the game.

Houston-based SnapStream Media (www.snapstream.com) is selling Personal Video Station software for $50 plus $5 monthly for the on-screen channel guide.

It's unique because it allows users to log into the Internet to schedule recordings and also allows users to watch programs on any screen -- whether its another PC or TV in the home -- that's attached to the home network.

ReplayTV offers similar features. Through the Internet, ReplayTV subscribers can schedule recordings. But ReplayTV takes the sharing aspect one step further -- and that's landed parent company SonicBlue in the middle of a copyright infringement lawsuit.

By connecting their ReplayTV units to a high-speed Internet connection, users of ReplayTV send recorded programs -- maybe the latest episode of the ``Sopranos'' or ``Sex and the City'' -- to friends with the same ReplayTV set-up, even if those friends don't pay extra for the Showtime or HBO channels.

ReplayTV also offers commercial skip features that allow users to skip over them, as opposed to TiVo, which allows users to fast-forward past them.

Advertisers are annoyed about their commercials being bypassed and content providers aren't thrilled about having unhappy advertisers.

With about 100,000 subscribers, some critics wonder if the lawsuits will simply leave ReplayTV in the history books alongside Microsoft's Ultimate TV.

TiVo, free of copyright lawsuits and riding on the coattails of partner DirecTV, could become the leader in the DVR game.

Licensing deal

The San Jose company is on the verge of finally becoming profitable, thanks in part to a licensing deal with DirecTV. And the worries of a merger between DirecTV and Dish Network went away this week when Dish Network's parent company withdrew its proposal.

With 11 million customers, DirecTV has a slightly larger pool of potential TiVo users. Dish Network has 9 million subscribers.

Swann warns that TiVo still needs the backing of the cable companies, which seem to be concentrating more on revenue-generating video-on-demand services over DVRs, if it wants to be a success.

``It's all about the next six months to a year to crack open the doors of the cable companies,'' he said. ``2003 is the year that cable makes a turn into other services.''