A Personal Video Recorder (also known as a PVR) is a device that lets you record, pause, rewind and fast-forward live television. PVRs have come a long way in the last few years and are now fairly commonplace in Australian living rooms.

How PVRs work

Basically, a PVR is a set-top box with an internal hard drive to store content. It has a built-in tuner to receive the television signal - though ideally it should have two tuners. This is so you can be watching one channel while recording another or even record two channels at the same time while you’re watching something pre-recorded on the hard drive.

And the good news is that unlike the old days of the humble VCR, you don’t have to mess around with buttons and times in order to record something. Thanks to something called the Electronic Program Guide (EPG), you can use the included remote to scroll through a program guide for all available channels. When you see something you want to record, you simply press a button on the remote and the rest is done automatically.

Some PVRs have a DVD drive built-in, so you can transfer content that you want to keep to DVD. With a bit of technical knowhow you can also transfer content to other external sources, such as a computer.

HD PVRs

If you’re going to invest in this technology, then you should be looking at buying a high-definition or HD PVR. This means you will be able to watch and record HD content in all its intended glory. Unfortunately however if you have a PVR with a built-in DVD drive and want to transfer any HD content to DVD, the full resolution will be lost.

PVR hard drives

When it comes to the size of your PVR hard drive, you should go as big as your budget allows. This is especially true if you are going to be recording a lot of high-definition content, since HD content tends to chew up storage space. Some PVRs will allow you to connect extra drives for more storage.

Extra features

The more expensive PVRs usually throw in some extra features to justify their higher price tags. Although these are nice to have, they aren’t necessary for the basic functionality of recording and pausing live television. Extra features usually include networking functionality so you can view content from your computer and the Internet on the TV connected to the PVR.

Foxtel iQ

Foxtel iQ is, in fact, a form of PVR, combining recording functionality and a satellite receiver for the Foxtel signal. It incorporates some extra features specific to Foxtel, however there is no (official) way of transferring content stored on the internal memory to an external source.

Best PVRs

Topfield PVRs, such as the model pictured here, are undoubtedly the market leaders.

Buy a cheap PVR on sale

By Caroline Warnes