The Buzz on Multi-Room DVRs
72Only a few years ago, we all used VCRs and had to record our programs onto VHS tapes oftentimes wondering if the whole show would tape or we would be left disappointed. I felt that mastering the whole recording thing was tricky and never quite managed to tape a show in its entirety. With DVRs (Digital Video Recorders), those days are gone forever. We can set up our programming to record what we want, when we want and not have to mess with tapes or disks. And because it’s hard to get enough of a good thing, today we have the advent of the Multi-Room DVR and I have to ask myself…why?
Why would people want multi-room DVR’s? Well, I started asking around and found that, to some people, it makes sense. Because of this crazy recession, people are staying home more and they’re watching more TV. They are using their DVRs to record their television content so they can watch it when they want to – without commercials. It’s getting so that more and more people cannot watch TV without their DVR. It makes sense that they would want multi-room flexibility. Imagine – you’re watching TV in your living room and then head into the kitchen to fix dinner and bam…you’re watching the same program while you cook. Right now, you don’t have a ton of options if you want a multi-room DVR. And if you do go the multi-room DVR route, be patient. Let’s just say that there seems to be more problems than originally anticipated.
Let’s start with FIOS. Those who have FIOS love it –the quality is second to none because it’s fiber optics as opposed to cable. With the FIOS multi-room DVR, you can record something in one room and watch it in another. Multiple televisions can have the same recorded program on simultaneously. There seems to be an issue for those who have HD. Evidently customers can only stream into SD with this DVR. The FIOS multi-room DVR has about 160 gig of storage for about 20 hours of recorded programming. The biggest issue with this component seems to be the error message when a customer records on one TV and watches on another – which is the whole point of having the thing, so folks want it to work. But it doesn’t always. Customers are getting error messages stating that the network hub cannot be found. Verizon is supposedly sending out a fix through a software upgrade sometime this month. Another big problem with FIOS in general is that it isn’t available everywhere. This will change soon enough but if you want it today, you might be out of luck.
With the DISH, you do have multi-room capabilities (sort-of) but you are limited to two televisions. However, you get this at no additional cost. You will pay more for the FIOS multi-room DVR. With the DISH component, you can watch something on one TV – a recording or regular live TV – and watch something else on your second TV independently. The DISH can also gives you Sling technology which is cool if you want to set your DVR programming up from your PC, MAC or your iPhone. There might be no bigger relief than being able to set your DVR to record straight from your phone while you are stuck in traffic. The DISH DVR holds a lot more too – up to 320 gigs which amounts to approximately 200 hours of Standard Def TV.
AT&T has its revolutionary, dare-I-say ‘next generation’, U-Verse which is IP (Internet Protocol) based Advanced TV. With AT&T’s U-Verse, you can get Digital TV, High Speed Internet and Digital Voice bundles. This service also has a “Total Home” DVR that’s getting good reviews. Again, like FIOS, you might want it but might not be able to get it depending on where you are located. I couldn’t get it even if I wanted to and I’m in a quite central residential location. With U-Verse, you can record on one TV, watch on another, and record up to four shows simultaneously. It also has quite a bit of storage – a little over 130 hours of Standard Def. One nice thing about the AT&T DVR is that you can watch the same show in two rooms but fast forward or rewind the program on just one TV and it won’t affect the other. And like the Sling technology, you can program your DVR from computer or phone. To sweeten the deal, an HD capable Total Home DVR is included with most triple-play packages too.
These three providers are offering similar multi-room DVR functionality and depending on the customer, it just comes down to what you are looking for – sometimes price, sometimes size, sometimes quality and in some cases, folks will have to take what they can get. And if none of these options work because they do seem to have their flaws, go out and get yourself TIVO because it just might be that none of these multi-room DVRs are ready for prime time anyway.
