NAS DVR

An accretion amount of Pay-TV operators are alms their subscribers the adeptness to actualize their own agenda recording belvedere able of autumn video, audio, photos, etc. These customizable accouterments and software platforms accredit subscribers to attach their own NAS (Network Attached Storage) harder drives or solid state/flash anamnesis to set-tops which do not accept their own centralized storage. This minimizes an operator’s investment, while alms subscribers the adaptability to actualize a agenda recording band-aid that meets their specific requirements.

One such artefact is DVR-Lite(™), a angular chip accouterments and software belvedere from Advanced Agenda Broadcast, accessible on its Set-Back Box, which allows alien accumulator to added by subscribers.

edit Linux

There are abounding chargeless DVR applications accessible for Linux, anniversary appear as chargeless and accessible antecedent software beneath the GNU General Public License:

MythTV

VDR

LinuxMCE

A bartering and proprietary appliance alleged SageTV is accessible for a lot of accepted Linux distributions.

edit Mac OS

Elgato makes a alternation of agenda video recording accessories alleged EyeTV. The software supplied with anniversary accessory is aswell alleged EyeTV, and is accessible alone for use on accordant third-party tuners from manufacturers such as Pinnacle, TerraTec, and Hauppauge.

SageTV provided DVR software for the Mac but no best sells it.13 Previously awash accessories abutment the Hauppauge HVR-950, myTV.PVR and HDHomeRun accouterments with its DVR software. SageTV software aswell included the adeptness to watch YouTube and added online video with a limited control.

MythTV (see above) aswell runs beneath Mac OS X, but a lot of recording accessories are currently alone accurate beneath Linux. Precompiled binaries are accessible for the MythTV front-end, acceptance a Mac to watch video from (and control) a MythTV server active beneath Linux.

Apple provides applications in the FireWire software developer kit which acquiesce any Mac with a FireWire anchorage to almanac the MPEG2 carriage beck from a FireWire able cable box (for example: Motorola 62xx, including HD streams). Applications can aswell change channels on the cable box via the firewire interface. Alone advertisement channels can be recorded as the blow of the channels are encrypted. FireRecord (formerly iRecord) is a chargeless scheduled-recording affairs acquired from this SDK.

edit Windows

There are several chargeless agenda video recording applications accessible for Microsoft Windows including GB-PVR, MediaPortal, and Orb (web-based limited interface).

There are aswell several bartering applications accessible including CyberLink, SageTV, Beyond TV, Showshifter, InterVideo WinDVR, the R5000-HD and Meedio (now a asleep artefact - Yahoo! bought a lot of of the company's technology and discontinued the Meedio line, and rebranded the software Yahoo! Go - TV, which is now a chargeless artefact but alone works in the U.S.14). A lot of TV tuner cards appear arranged with software which allows the PC to almanac television to harder disk.15 For example, Leadtek's WinFast DTV1000 agenda TV agenda comes arranged with the WinFast PVR2 software, which can aswell almanac analog video from the card's blended video ascribe socket.16

Windows Media Center is a DVR software by Microsoft arranged with the Media Center archetype of Windows XP, the Home Premium / Ultimate editions of Windows Vista, as able-bodied as a lot of editions of Windows 7.

edit Antecedent video

Television and video are agreement that are sometimes acclimated interchangeably, but alter in their abstruse meaning. Video is the beheld allocation of television, admitting television is the aggregate of video and audio articulate assimilate a carrier abundance (i.e., a television channel) for delivery. A lot of DVRs can almanac both.

edit Analog sources overview

The aboriginal agenda video recorders were advised to almanac Analog television in NTSC, PAL or SECAM formats.

To almanac an analog arresting a few accomplish are required. TV tuner agenda tunes into a accurate abundance and again functions as a anatomy grabber, breaking the curve into alone pixels and quantizing them into a architecture that a computer can comprehend. Again the alternation of frames forth with the audio (also sampled and quantized) are aeroembolism into a acquiescent format, like MPEG-2, usually in software.

edit Analog advertisement archetype protection

Many banal customer DVRs apparatus a copy-protection arrangement alleged CGMS-A or Archetype Generation Administration System—Analog. This encodes a brace of $.25 in the VBI of the analog video arresting that specify one of the afterward settings:

Artful is advisedly allowed

Artful is prohibited

Alone one archetype of this actual may be made

This is a archetype of actual for which alone one archetype was accustomed to be made, so no added copies are allowed.

CGMS-A advice may be present in analog advertisement TV signals, and is preserved if the arresting is recorded and played aback by analog VCRs, which of advance don't accept the meanings of the bits. But the restrictions still appear into aftereffect if you try to archetype the band assimilate a PVR.

DVRs such as Tivo aswell ascertain and act upon17 alternation aegis systems such as Macrovision and DCS Archetype Aegis which were originally advised to block artful on analog VCRs.

edit Agenda sources overview

Recording agenda signals is about a aboveboard abduction of the bifold MPEG abstracts getting received. No big-ticket accouterments is appropriate to quantize and abbreviate the arresting (as the television anchorperson has already done this in the studio).

DVD-based PVRs accessible on the bazaar as of 2006 are not able of capturing the abounding ambit of the beheld arresting accessible with top analogue television (HDTV). This is abundantly because HDTV standards were accomplished at a afterwards time than the standards for DVDs. However, DVD-based PVRs can still be acclimated (albeit at bargain beheld quality) with HDTV back currently accessible HDTV sets aswell accept accepted A/V connections.

edit ATSC broadcast

ATSC television broadcasting is primarily acclimated in North America. The ATSC abstracts beck can be anon recorded by a agenda video recorder, admitting abounding DVRs almanac alone a subset of this advice (that can afterwards be transferred to DVD. An ATSC DVR will aswell act as a Set-top box, acceptance earlier televisions or monitors to accept agenda television.

edit Archetype protection

The U.S. FCC attempted to absolute the abilities of DVRs with its "broadcast flag" regulation. Agenda video recorders that had not won above-mentioned approval from the FCC for implementing "effective" agenda rights administration would accept been banned from artery business from July 2005, but the adjustment was addled down on May 6, 2005.

edit DVB

See also: DVB-T receiver

DVB Agenda television contains audio/visual signals that are advertisement over the air in a agenda rather than analog format. The DVB abstracts beck can be anon recorded by the DVR. Autonomous accessories (this is, that can be acclimated afterwards a computer/tablet) that can abundance in an alien harder deejay are alleged a telememory.18

edit Agenda cable and agenda television

Recording agenda or agenda cable signals on a agenda video recorder can be added circuitous than recording analog signals or advertisement agenda signals. There are several altered manual schemes, and the video streams may be encrypted to bind admission to subscribers only.

A agenda or cable set-top box both decrypts the arresting if encrypted, and decodes the MPEG beck into an analog arresting for examination on the television. In adjustment to almanac cable or agenda agenda signals the arresting accept to be captured afterwards it has been decrypted but afore it is decoded; this is how DVRs congenital into set-top boxes work.

Cable and agenda providers about action their own agenda video recorders forth with a account plan. These DVRs accept admission to the encrypted video stream, and about accomplish the provider's restrictions on artful of actual even afterwards recording.

edit DVD

Many DVD-based DVRs accept the adequacy to archetype agreeable from a antecedent DVD (ripping).

In the U.S. this is banned beneath the Agenda Millennium Copyright Act if the disc is encrypted. A lot of such DVRs will appropriately not acquiesce recording of video streams from encrypted cine discs.

edit Agenda camcorders

A agenda camcorder combines a camera and a agenda video recorder.

Some DVD-based DVRs absorb connectors that can be acclimated to abduction agenda video from a camcorder. Some alteration of the consistent DVD is usually possible, such as abacus affiliate points.

Some agenda video recorders can now almanac to solid accompaniment beam anamnesis cards (called beam camcorders). They about use Secure Agenda cards, can cover wireless admission (Bluetooth and Wi-Fi), and can play SWF files. There are some agenda video recorders that amalgamate video and cartoon in absolute time to the beam card, alleged DTE or "direct to edit". These are acclimated to speed-up the alteration workflow in video and television production, back beeline videotapes do not again charge to be transferred to the adapt workstation (see Non-linear alteration system).

edit Book formats, resolutions and book systems

DVRs can usually almanac and play H.264, MPEG-4 Part 2, MPEG-2 .mpg, MPEG-2 .TS, VOB and ISO images video, with MP3 and AC3 audio tracks. They can aswell affectation images (JPEG and PNG) and play music files (MP3 and Ogg).

Some accessories can be adapted to play and almanac in new formats.

Recordings from standard-definition television usually accept 480p/i/576p/i while HDTV is usually in 720p/1080i.

DVRs usually almanac in proprietary filesystems for archetype protection, although some can use FAT filesystems.