[aclug-L] Re: [announce] PVR Special Interest Group First Meeting Saturday 11-15 at 2pm

[Clint A Brubakken <cabrubak@xxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 2003-11-12 at 23:42, Jonathan Hall wrote:
> What exactly is a PVR?
> 
> 

Thats why I included the link :


> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Clint Brubakken" <info@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: <announce@xxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2003 12:17 AM
> Subject: [aclug-L] [announce] PVR Special Interest Group First Meeting
> Saturday 11-15 at 2pm
> 
> 
> ACLUG is starting a PVR [1] SIG (special interest group).  This group
> [1] - for a definition of what a pvr is :
> http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci832892,00.html

here is the text of it:

personal video recorder

A personal video recorder (PVR) is an interactive TV recording device,
in essence a sophisticated set-top box with recording capability
(although it is not necessarily kept on top of the television set).
Vendors and media also refer to the units by these names: digital video
recorder (DVR); personal TV receiver (PTR); personal video station
(PVS); and hard disk recorder (HDR). 

Like the familiar VCR, a PVR records and plays back television programs,
but, unlike the VCR, it stores the programs in digital (rather than
analog) form. Like a VCR, a PVR has the ability to pause, rewind, stop,
or fast-forward a recorded program. Because the PVR can record a program
and replay it almost immediately with a slight time lag, what seem to be
live programs can be manipulated as though they were recorded programs
(which they actually are). A PVR's capabilities include time marking,
indexing, and non-linear editing. The PVR encodes an incoming video data
stream as MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 and stores it on a hard disk within a device
that looks much like a VCR. 

Most PVRs come as part of a subscriber service that may or may not
charge a monthly fee. The service enables such activities as searching
for shows according to type (movies or baseball games, for example),
choosing among video-on-demand (VOD) options, or doing shopping or
banking. Service providers, such as TiVo and ReplayTV, may also sell
PVRs. There are a number of PVRs on the market, including TiVo's DVR,
SONICblue's ReplayTV, Sony's SVR-2000, and Philips' PTR. There are also
products that offer similar functionality but are software-based (such
as SnapStream Personal Video Station) or network-based. The Digital
Video Broadcasting (DVB) Project is an industry consortium dedicated to
the development of standards for PVRs and other digital video
technologies.

There are a number of controversial issues surrounding the capabilities
that PVRs and similar technologies enable. For example, ReplayTV makes
it possible to skip through commercials by using a 30-second "auto-skip"
function. This capacity is popular with consumers, but not with
advertisers. Another feature, the ability to download programming from
the Internet and to send files to friends, is similarly unpopular with
service providers, since it can enable a user who hasn't paid for a
service (such as HBO) free access. 




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