99% of people are not Geeks obsessed with technology. So they don’t know what a Digital TV PVR (personal video recorder) is and why it can revolutionise their TV watching experience.
This article compares 3 kinds of Digital TV PVR’s for free to air TV: Beyonwiz (non Freeview) vs Tivo (Freeview) vs Sony PlayTV (PlayStation 3 addon). It does not cover cable TV PVR’s like Foxtel IQ.
The history of Digital TV in Australia, it’s benefits, currently available channels, Freeview etc are all explained in a separate article on this site.
A PVR is a box (like a VCR) that records digital TV to an internal hard drive (like a computer) and can store dozens or even hundreds of hours of recorded TV shows without the need for any DVD’s or VCR tapes.
For starters PVR = DVR = Digital TV Set Top Box With Hard Drive. Don’t be confused by the different names – they refer to the same kind of technology. If a salesperson tries to sell you a DVD recorder for digital TV ignore them as DVD is a dead technology for home recordings.
Most of the best PVR’s are sold by companies which you may not have heard of before in Australia like Beyonwiz, Topfield, TiVo etc, unlike the TV market which is dominated by big brands like Sony, Samsung and Panasonic.
NOTE: I’ve owned several PVR’s in the past with lots of features but they all required me to spend lots of time manually entering program schedules and timers for shows I wanted to watch. In the end I gave up on them in late 2009 and bought a TiVo because it learns the kinds of shows I want to watch and records them automatically.
Benefits of Owing A PVR
Watch Shows Later – Once you own a PVR you can stock up on shows you like and watch when you want to, not when the program is scheduled. This offers a huge choice not controlled by the whim of the TV guide schedule. The bigger your PVR hard drive, the more shows you can record to watch later.
Skip Ads – Another great benefit of PVR’s is the ability to skip ads when playing back shows recorded earlier. Skip functionality varies depending on the brand of PVR. Some allow you to skip ads in 30 second intervals as well as the option to fast forward and others only allow fast forward eg: at 30x speed.
Timeshift Buffer – Another cool feature of PVR’s is their ability to timeshift via a buffer. For example if you’re about to watch the Simpsons on Channel 10 and get a phone call, you can pause the live TV broadcast, answer the phonecall for 10 minutes, return to the TV, press play on the PVR and it will continue playing where you left off.
Record 2 Channels While Watching Previous Recording – All except very cheap PVR’s allow you to record 2 channels at the same time eg: a sports match on Channel 10 (for Dad) and a drama series on the ABC (For Mum) at the same time that you’re watching a previous recording from the PVR hard drive eg: a movie from Channel 7 (for the whole family).
Electronic Program Guide (EPG)
An interactive schedule of current and upcoming programs that a viewer can display on-screen simply by pressing a button on their remote control.
Even the simplest such guides will list program start time, duration, censorship classification and program genre, and at the touch of another button, a short description of the program being viewed or the one coming up next. Viewers can browse available channel schedules without actually changing channels, and also set program reminders to manage the automated recording of programs or series onto a hard disk.
- ABC Digital TV EPG page
Standard PVR’s display an EPG which is transmitted over the air and down your TV antenna. More expensive PVR’s like the Beyonwiz (can use ICE Guide independent EPG) and TiVo (can use Freeview extended EPG) have an option to download a more detailed EPG over the Internet.
Freeview PVR’s like TiVo and Sony PlayTV for PS3
In Australia TiVo chose to join the Freeview group of PVR’s. At the beginning of 2010 all PVR’s in Australia can access the same TV channels and EPG however future initiatives like a more interactive Freeview EPG will not be viewable in non-Freeview PVR’s.
All Freeview PVR’s make it harder to skip ads and transfer recorded TV shows onto another device.
I could write a few more paragraphs about why I like Tivo features like Suggestions, Season Pass and Wish List but this music video explains it all much better: Whats a TiVo (video)?.
PlayTV is a addon box for the Sony Playstation 3 (PS3) gaming machine. Play TV for PS3 has already been reviewed separately on this site.
However if you don’t have time to read that review then I’ll summarise it by saying: PlayTV is Freeview-certified, easy to use, cheap (around $150 if you already have a PS3) or you can buy it in a bundle with a new PS3. However PlayTV is not as powerful as other PVR’s because it can only record 1 channel at a time.
Beyonwiz
If you want more advanced features and less restrictions than Freeview PVR’s like TiVo I suggest checking out non-Freeview PVR’s from manufacturers like Beyonwiz and Topfield.
These PVR’s like the Beyonwiz DP-P2 lack the inbuilt automation of TiVo but make up for it by including a smorgasboard of extra features such as :
- Play a wide range of media files eg: (Music: MP3, WMA, AAC, Ogg, AC3, Video: DIVX, mkv, wmv, avi, mpg etc and JPG Photos) from a USB flash drive, USB hard drive or camera card.
- If you connect a portable USB hard drive to the PVR you can archive your recordings to it with no copyright restrictions.
- An Ethernet (network port) so you can play media files eg: (Music, Video and Photos) from shared folders on your computer or other Beyonwiz devices also on the network.
- Recording external video sources like a camcorder to the PVR hard drive
- A wide range of choices to help you skips ads eg: Fast Forward (x2, x4, x8, x16, x32), Rewind (x2, x4, x8, x16, x32) and a button to skip forward a specific number of seconds
Which Is The Best PVR?
There’s no clear answer for this question.
PVR’s like TiVo are really automated which is great and PlayTV for PS3 is cheap and user friendly. However these Freeview PVR’s have fewer advanced features and more restrictions compared to PVR’s like Beyonwiz which can do extra things like play DIVX files from a USB drive and skip ads when playing recorded tv shows with ease.
If you want a PVR with set and forget convenience, which learns what you like to watch (my favourite feature) buy a TiVo but if you want lots of features, bigger hard drives and unrestricted connectivity to transfer recordings without copyright restrictions choose a non-Freeview PVR like the ones sold by Beyonwiz.
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Wish i had the money to make this comparison. RT Digital TV PVR Comparison: http://bit.ly/akVXzW /via @neerav
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
We love our TIVO!
I like the Tivo (thanks for the recommendation) – but would like a little more flexibility with connection to my PC. I chose to purchase the wireless connector which is great if a little slow, but probably should have saved the cash spent on Tivo Desktop. Gallileo seems to do the same job better.
Interesting post Neerav, I haven’t heard of the Beyonwiz so good to know about it. Will check it out.
I’d like to note for your readers that consoles like PS3, Wii and XBox can do some other interesting things once connected to your home network such as play a wide range of media files from any shared folders on computers on the network. I have a PS3 and regularly use this to access content all over my home network (streaming wirelessly from my home computer t the TV). The front USB inputs on the PS3 also allow media to be played directly from external hard drives, USB sticks etc.
This is worth a separate blog post as consumers in general seem to me to be uninformed on the digital media capabilities of their internet-connected homes, particularly given more households are buying gaming consoles, and have wireless internet access in their homes.
I’d recommend following my friend Ben Xu on Twitter at @gadgetfarmer who is helping educate people in Sydney about these capabilities.
Cheers,
Tony Hollingsworth
Have to agree with Tony. My PS3 is set up wirelessly connected to my PC media server, with about a TB of audio and video streaming beautifully. Can’t honestly see the need to burn a divx to disc or USB again. I’ll be picking up the PlayTV this week as, although it may not have all the other additional features of some other PVRs, coupled with what I’ve already got the PS3 doing, it does everything else I need.
I installed my new PlayTV last w/end and very happy so far. It was a family Xmas gift and followed the purchase of a 46″ Sony Bravia 200MHz and the free PS3 120Gb that came with it. Forget the games (I’m 60yo), showing my pix & vids via the PS3 are bloody amazing. I didn’t realise I was such a great photographer (LOL).
The original Xmas gift was a different brand of PVR and not happy Jan was the outcome. The digital tuner picture was terrible and the user menu a bit hard to follow. I delicately changed it for a PlayTV figuring that having all SONY equipment would be the way to go.
I fitted a aerial splitter only because the Sony Bravia tuner is SO good and we’re not recording all the time to have the PS3 powered up. (It does get very hot). Mind you, the PlayTV tuners picture is very close (say 95%) and hard to pick the difference on some channels.
The 120Gb might be a stumbling block if I want to record Bathurst again live, but day to day, should be OK. There’s only about 100Gb free after all the software (???) and it looks like a 2hr TV show uses about 6Gb. Happy so far.
Oh I should have typed “Galleon” rather than Gallileo. You can find it here:
http://galleon.sourceforge.net/
Ive had the beyonwiz for a few months and it easily beats the competion. Ive got it connected to all the pcs in our house via lan. Theirs easy streaming from any pc with avi/mkv/mpg/wmv/vob/mp4 playback. You have the ability to upload tv recordings to your pc which you could then edit or convert them. Full 1080 hd recording and playback on the dual tuners. Upgradable firmware. The internal hdd is 320 or 500gb standard but can be replaced with a larger model. Pause,rewind live tv. Easy epg that shows up to a week in advance. Press 1 button on the epg to record shows make them record daily or weekly. I also have a 360 and ps3 but for a all in 1 media unit the beyonwiz wins.
and the winner is… my MythTV ( mythbuntu.org ) it has all the best features the others have including complete advert skipping, duplicate matching, record at any time/in this timeslot/one showing a day, search for actors or titles etc… With a nVidia vdpau card i can watch my ripped blurays/ movies of any format easily. Its also future proof.. the tivo’s 160GB hardrive is a joke.. need more tuners..then add them.. need more storage.. shop around then add that too. Can you add more storage to these other devices at a sane price?
I still use my old SD toppy. With dual tuners UKAS keyword search recording and with JustEPG and EIT2MEI it is still better than all of these. 100% hand free. When it dies I will get a beyonwiz, but because of the micro management it will be like a downgrade even with the HD.
We bought a beyonwiz pvr & have found we have to update the firmware all the time & when you fix one problem it creates another it has been a nightmare to use as we have lost a lot of our recordings etc.We have been in constant touch with the warranty dept but they kept us updating firmware (oh this will fix the problem) till now it is just out of warranty (even though they have known the problems we had)& then its oh bad luck out of warranty!If it had not cost so much i would chuck it in the bin. So be warned yes it has lots of features but is VERY unreliable!
I,ve been advised to buy a Beyonwiz DPP2 by a HI FI dealer, who stocks this as the only pvr worth stocking. But I see you have a good and bad review on this model. Do I buy one? I had decided on a Panasonic blu ray rec hdd untill I spoke to this particular dealer. How do you update firmware? Do you need it connected to a computer?
Thanks
Daryll