Frankie Roberto

Watching TV on a PVR

I bought a PVR (personal video recorder) a month or so ago, and thought I'd write briefly on how it has changed my TV viewing habits.

Firstly, the PVR is basically a Freeview set-top box with a 160GB hard disk in it so that it can record tv. After some research, I went for the Topfield PVR, because it has a USB slot, openly documented interfaces for modifying the user interface, and an active community.

Overally, the PVR is very easy to use out of the box. About a month in, and with the help of my brother, I did do a manual upgrade of the firmware (via USB) though, and installed 'Jag's EPG', an alternative Electronic Programme Guide interface, which works a bit better than the built-in one.

Now, the first thing anyone who owns a PVR will tell you is that you quickly learn to use it to skip ads and to time-shift tv. Which is quite a big deal in itself. Being able to skip ads means that I watch some programmes that I wouldn't otherwise bother to. The time that this saves is noticeable too - programmes that always took ages to watch live suddenly become something you can fit into just over half an hour.

The user-customized EPG that I've installed also adds TiVo-like functionality in that you can set the box up to automatically record your favorite programmes by searching for the title. Saves time - but it does mean having to delete quite a lot of repeats.

I've also found myself building up a store of saved programmes - organising them into folders for future access. I only do this for some programmes of course (the news and Neighbours get binned soon after being watched) - but I do like the idea of being able to come back to programmes and watch them again. It's especially good for programmes that I first watch alone, but think might be worth showing to my girlfriend or other friends at a later time. So far, about half of my hard disk is filled with programmes saved like this.

When you're scheduling your own tv viewing, it does soon become apparent though how much crap there is in the tv schedules, and how little is actually worth watching. And I don't think I ever watch the music channels (TMF and The Hits) anymore.

The things I have been watching recently are:

Am I missing anything?