For some people, the flexibility of a PC-based entertainment system, such as Microsoft XP Media Center can’t be beaten.

But what if you don’t want a PC in your living room? You want something that’s designed from first principles to be a reliable TV recording device?

Well, personal video recorders (PVRs) aren’t new – Tivo has been around for years – but the latest models are cheaper than ever and work directly with today’s digital satellite and terrestrial broadcasts.

And if you thought a PVR simply meant a Sky+ box and an accompanying monthly subscription, think again.

Some of the latest PVRs are potentially much more than a closed box of consumer electronics. You can easily add larger hard drives for more storage, transfer mp3s from your PC for playback in the living room, and even develop your own software to run on them to change the look and feel of the interface, or link them to the rest of your home network.

When you consider that you can do all that for less than £300, they start to look like an interesting alternative to a full-blown media centre PC.

We’re going to take a look at what sort of PVRs are available in the UK, how computer-friendly they are and how easily you can enhance and tweak them, from upgrading hard drives, to networking and even remotely setting TV recordings via your mobile phone.

For many people in the UK, a PVR means Sky+, a box designed to work with BSkyB’s satellite service Sky, and which allows you to record two channels at the same time, directly onto a hard drive.

For some, Tivo – no longer sold new in the UK – is the only ‘true’ PVR, with its intelligent searching and ability to recommend programmes it thinks you might like.
Over the past couple of years, however, the PVR market has changed substantially, with the increasing popularity of Freeview, the digital terrestrial TV service.

There are now more and more PVRs that work with Freeview, ranging from £100 models that can only record the thing you’re tuned to – in effect, simple digital video recorders – to sophisticated twin-tuner models that can let you record two things while viewing a third, with the ability to search for programmes by genre, play back music files and link up to a PC.

And there are satellite options too – less popular in the UK, where to most people satellite and Sky are synonymous – which will let you receive free-to-air satellite broadcasts.