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Relief in Sight from Barrage
Of Irksome TV Commercials?
by Ken Fermoyle
Are you fed up with the seemingly endless barrage of commercials crammed into your
favorites TV shows and sports events? If so, join the club! But relief may be in
sight, according to Electronic Digest (Sept. 5, 2000 issue).
The magazine reports that sophisticated new integrated circuit controllers will improve
performance of Set-Top Boxes and Personal Video Recorders (STBs/PVRs). The new ICs
will make the devices less expensive and more versatile. This should eventually change
their status from novelties with appeal to a limited market of "early adopters"
to appliances that gradually will take the place of today's VCRs.
Electronic Design also notes that the new controllers "can be used to manage
arriving and departing data streams, into and out of set-top boxes, storage devices,
digital TVs. PVRs," from a variety of sources, including broadband cable, satellites,
terrestrial and IP (Internet Protocol) networks.
What does this have to do with computers? PVR technology is digital, like computers,
not analog like VCRs, and data is stored on a hard drive, like computers, not on
magnetic tape. A PVR will do everything that a VCR can, but with significant improvements.
For example, I have about given up on watching a lot of TV when it is aired, especially
movies. Instead, I record them on a VCR and play them back later, fast-forwarding
through commercial breaks. This scenario works even better with a PVR. You can record
a program in real time but pause it at any point, at a commercial break, for example.
The PVR keeps recording the program while you get fresh coffee, go to the bathroom
or whatever. When you return and hit the Pause button again, the recorder picks up
where it left off, playing the program back from the hard drive. Now you can fast
forward quickly through the commercials and enjoy what you really wanted to see.
You will also be able to do your own instant replays; just rewind, then replay segments
you want to view again. You can also preprogram a PVR to record favorite program
automatically, just as with a VCR.
(Ed. Note: If you currently use a PVR and service like TiVo, Ken Fermoyle would love
to hear about your experiences with these technologies for possible use in a future
article. E-mail him at kfermoyle@earthlink.net.)
Ken
Copyright 2000 by Ken Fermoyle, Fermoyle Publications.
UG Network _/_ UG Library _/_ Fermoyle_/_ About Ken Fermoyle
Ken Fermoyle has written some 2,500 articles for publications ranging from Playboy, PC World and Popular Science to MacWeek & Microtimes. He was cohost/producer of a radio show on computers and a partner in a DTP service bureau during the '80s. Ken's Korner articles are available free to User Group newsletters and Websites. For permission to reprint this article, contact kfermoyle@earthlink.net.
EDITORS NOTE: Only UGNN Affiliate User Groups are granted a one-time reproduction license of this article so long as the unaltered credit/ID paragraph (above) is published with the article, and a copy of the printed article is mailed to
Fermoyle Publication
22250 Capulin Court,
Woodland Hills, CA 91364-3005.
Contact: kfermoyle@earthlink.net for further information
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