Why You Should Get a DVR and Get Rid of the VCR

If you are still using a VCR to record and watch your favorite shows, then you do not realize that you are missing out big time. With a VCR you need to find the tape, go through the menu and hope you choose the correct time and channel to record your television shows. At the worst times is when you will find out that there are no blank tapes left. The only choice besides not taping a favorite television show is to tape over something that you may have wanted to keep.

Another problem with cassette tapes is you may pick one up to go record only to see that the little tab in the front is missing so you can't tape on the cassette unless you find a piece of tape to cover the hole. While something is taping and you are at home, you can change the channel if you press the TV/VCR button but for some people they simply cannot change to another channel.

When you record a television show using the VCR you can only record one channel at a time. If anything comes up across the screen while your show is recording such as the American Broadcasting System, you are out of luck because the VCR will tape everything. If you have satellite and a breeze makes your picture mess up, the VCR will record the messed up image. What if you have an old time antennae, the VCR will tape all the snow, lines and weird noises that tend to happen with television sets.

Even if everything records the way that you like them to, once you record over a cassette tape enough times it is time to throw it out and buy some more. Storing video cassettes are also difficult because of their huge size and after a few years the tape itself begins to disintegrate.

The pros of getting a DVR or TiVo system is that depending on which box and program you get, you will have a lot of great features. DVR's record and hold data like a computer hard drive. You don't need to replace any tapes or wait to rewind a cassette or deal with anything extra. You simply look through the television guide on screen and select the show that you would like to tape. In most instances you can even look up to 7 days into the week to select what shows you want to tape.

You can select to always tape the show when it comes on, select only new episodes to tape or every episode including repeats. There are also options to easily record the show on any channel that has the show. When you have two shows taping at once, you can still go to your taped shows and watch any television program that you want, while the DVR is still taping. Some DVR's also come with picture in picture to allow you to know when to switch over to another channel. Different DVR companies also allow you to select a reminder so that when a show is about to come on it will let you know about it so that you do not miss it. This is a great option to use if you just want to watch a show but do not want to tape it.

With a DVR you can also forward, rewind and pause live TV. The ability to control live television is my one gripe with these companies. They advertise one thing but once you get the DVR you realize that it is not exactly true when they say you can control live TV.

To correctly control a live program you need to tune to that channel and walk away for 15 to 60 minutes. When you come back you can then rewind or jump backwards by 15 minute increments. Now that back to the beginning of the program you can watch it and when you get to commercials you can forward them. Once you learn how to use your DVR you will be able to tell when it is almost about to reach live TV and that is something you cannot forward, regardless of the company claims.