In the 1980s, prototype
high-definition (HD)
digital video recorders were developed by
Fujitsu,
Hitachi,
Sanyo and
Canon Inc. In 1985, Hitachi demonstrated a prototype digital
video tape recorder (VTR) that used
digital recording video tape as
storage media to record digital
HD video content. In 1987, the first commercial digital video recorder was the
Sony DVR-1000, a digital
video cassette recorder (VCR) that recorded digital video content on
D-1 (Sony) digital
video cassettes.
Hard-disk-based DVR In early 1995,
Tektronix introduced the "Profile" series PDR100 Video Disk Recorder, which recorded and played back video stored on
hard disk as
motion JPEG. In 1996,
Sweden's TV4 used the PDR100 extensively in building a new facility in Stockholm, and
NBC used PDR100s at the Olympic games in Atlanta Georgia. The
Tektronix Profile disk recorder won an Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy Award for "Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Development" at the 1996
Primetime Emmy Awards. In 1997 the
U.S. Patent Office granted
Tektronix patent 5,642,497 for two claims key to Profile. In 1998,
Tektronix introduced two Profile models which were combined VDRs and file servers: the PDR200 and PDR300. The PDR300 stored its compressed video as MPEG-2 (ISO/IEC 13818-2) A working disk-based DVR prototype was developed in 1998 at Stanford University Computer Science department. The DVR design was a chapter of
Edward Y. Chang's PhD dissertation, supervised by Professors
Hector Garcia-Molina and
Jennifer Widom. Two design papers were published at the 1998 VLDB conference, and the 1999 ICDE conference. The prototype was developed in 1998 at
Pat Hanrahan's CS488 class: Experiments in Digital Television, and the prototype was demoed to industrial partners including Sony, Intel, and Apple. Series2 5xx-generation unitConsumer digital video recorders
ReplayTV and
TiVo were launched at the 1999
Consumer Electronics Show in
Las Vegas, Nevada. Microsoft also demonstrated a unit with DVR capability, but this did not become available until the end of 1999 for full DVR features in Dish Network's DISHplayer receivers. TiVo shipped their first units on March 31, 1999. ReplayTV won the "Best of Show" award in the video category with
Netscape co-founder
Marc Andreessen as an early investor and board member, Legal action by media companies forced ReplayTV to remove many features such as automatic commercial skip and the sharing of recordings over the Internet, but newer devices have steadily regained these functions while adding complementary abilities, such as recording onto
DVDs and programming and remote control facilities using PDAs, networked PCs, and Web browsers. In contrast to
VCRs, hard-disk based digital video recorders make "
time shifting" more convenient and also allow for functions such as pausing live TV, instant replay,
chasing playback (viewing a recording before it has been completed) and skipping over advertising during playback. Many DVRs use the
MPEG format for compressing the digital video. Video recording capabilities have become an essential part of the modern
set-top box, as TV viewers have wanted to take control of their viewing experiences. As consumers have been able to converge increasing amounts of video content on their set-tops, delivered by traditional '
broadcast'
cable,
satellite and
terrestrial as well as
IP networks, the ability to capture programming and view it whenever they want has become a must-have function for many consumers.
DVR tied to video service At the 1999 CES, Dish Network demonstrated the hardware that would later have DVR capability with the assistance of Microsoft software, which also included access to the
WebTV service. By the end of 1999 the Dishplayer had full DVR capabilities and within a year, over 200,000 units were sold. In the UK, digital video recorders are often referred to as "plus boxes" (such as BSKYB's
Sky+ and Virgin Media's
V+ which integrates an
HD capability, and the subscription free
Freesat+ and
Freeview+).
Freeview+ have been around in the UK since the late 2000s, although the platform's first DVR, the Pace Twin, dates to 2002. British Sky Broadcasting marketed a popular combined receiver and DVR as Sky+, now replaced by the
Sky Q box.
TiVo launched a UK model in 2000, and is no longer supported, except for third party services, and the continuation of TiVo through
Virgin Media in 2010. South African based Africa Satellite TV beamer Multichoice recently launched their DVR which is available on their DStv platform. In addition to ReplayTV and TiVo, there are a number of other suppliers of digital terrestrial (
DTT) DVRs, including
Technicolor SA,
Topfield, Fusion,
Commscope,
Humax, VBox Communications,
AC Ryan Playon and
Advanced Digital Broadcast (ADB). Many satellite, cable and
IPTV companies are incorporating digital video recording functions into their set-top box, such as with
DirecTiVo, DISHPlayer/DishDVR, Scientific Atlanta
Explorer 8xxx from Time Warner, Total Home DVR from AT&T
U-verse,
Motorola DCT6412 from Comcast and others,
Moxi Media Center by Digeo (available through Charter, Adelphia, Sunflower, Bend Broadband, and soon Comcast and other cable companies), or Sky+.
Astro introduced their DVR system, called
Astro MAX, which was the first PVR in Malaysia but was phased out two years after its introduction. In the case of digital television, there is no
encoding necessary in the DVR since the signal is already a digitally encoded MPEG stream. The digital video recorder simply stores the digital stream directly to disk. Having the broadcaster involved with, and sometimes subsidizing, the design of the DVR can lead to features such as the ability to use interactive TV on recorded shows, pre-loading of programs, or directly recording encrypted digital streams. It can, however, also force the manufacturer to implement non-skippable advertisements and automatically expiring recordings. In the United States, the FCC has ruled that starting on July 1, 2007, consumers will be able to purchase a set-top box from a third-party company, rather than being forced to purchase or rent the set-top box from their cable company. This ruling only applies to "navigation devices", otherwise known as a cable television set-top box, and not to the security functions that control the user's access to the content of the cable operator. The overall net effect on digital video recorders and related technology is unlikely to be substantial as standalone DVRs are currently readily available on the open market. In Europe
Free-To-Air and
Pay TV TV gateways with multiple tuners have whole house recording capabilities allowing recording of TV programs to
Network Attached Storage or attached USB storage, recorded programs are then shared across the home network to
tablet, smartphone, PC, Mac, Smart TV.
Introduction of dual tuners In 2003 many Satellite and Cable providers introduced dual-tuner digital video recorders. In the UK,
BSkyB introduced their first PVR
Sky+ with dual tuner support in 2001. These machines have two independent tuners within the same receiver. The main use for this feature is the capability to record a live program while watching another live program simultaneously or to record two programs at the same time, possibly while watching a previously recorded one.
Kogan.com introduced a dual-tuner PVR in the Australian market allowing free-to-air television to be recorded on a removable hard drive. Some dual-tuner DVRs also have the ability to output to two separate television sets at the same time. The PVR manufactured by UEC (
Durban, South Africa) and used by
Multichoice and
Scientific Atlanta 8300DVB PVR have the ability to view two programs while recording a third using a triple tuner. Where several
digital subchannels are transmitted on a single RF channel, some PVRs can record two channels and view a third, so long as all three subchannels are on two channels (or one). In the United States, DVRs were used by 32 percent of all TV households in 2009, and 38 percent by 2010, with viewership among 18- to 40-year-olds 40 percent higher in homes that have them. ==Types==