New Technology TV

The latest advancement in the recording technology has transcended all boundaries and has brought convenience to your doorstep. The top American channels can be accessed and viewed at your leisure with the TIVO or the Digital Video Recorder.

A common term that is synonymous with TIVO is “personal video recorder” (PVR). The latter is a consumer video device which has the ability to capture television programming and store it on an internal hard drive to be viewed at anytime in the future.

No longer do you have to schedule your plans around your favorite television program. Let your favorite shows and programs be watched anytime and watched over and over again.

Having a TIVO gives you the option to select your preferred programs to record either by time, specific program title, or by amalgamation of genre, actors and directors etc. All programs will remain intact until it is manually deleted to give room for newly recorded items.

The capacity of the internal storage is enormous and can accommodate most of your favorite shows. The database of programs available is determined by the customer’s location and their cable/satellite services and is updated daily over the phone or network connection to TIVO control center. The TIVO system is comprised of a non-removable hard drive as well as sophisticated software that allows users to easily program and record their selected shows. The software can even be set to record shows it thinks the viewer may be interested in based on their viewing habits!

You can even pause, rewind, and fast forward the recorded programs just as if you were viewing them on a VCR or DVD player, but there are no messy tapes or discs to keep track of. If you are recording a program, you can still watch it in real-time as well.


TIVO guarantees that the digitally recorded images are received, stored, and played without any weakening in the quality of the image. Videos that are digitally stored will retain the same quality as the day the image was recorded.

TIVO also offers a user rating system where viewers can score the television shows they watch on a scale which ranges from three "thumbs up" or three "thumbs down". These ratings are then used to further determine the user’s preferences and recommendations are suggested based in part on these ratings.

"Season passes" instruct TiVo to record a show each time it is aired on television regardless of when the show begins, with the option of ignoring reruns. Award-winning features such as “Wish List” searches and TIVO “Online Scheduling” have made TIVO a necessity for every household. The home entertainment innovations provided by TIVO surpasses features of a television possessing digital music, snapshot, and picture in picture features. The inlcusion of ‘TIVO To Go’ allows for the transfer of shows to your laptop or DVD.

You can always be up to date with the current programming on your television as your
TIVO routinely will keep you updated with the daily programming. The sophisticated technology combined with the user-friendly navigation allows you to search for programs just by using the remote.

The only drawback of the TIVO system is a minor one. It requires a land-based phone line to ensure successful activation and full functionality of the DVR service. This may be a problem for some customers as more and more people are canceling their land-line phone service and relying solely on their cell phone.

Your television set up is not an issue for you to make a TIVO acceptable to every household. It can be traditional cable, digital cable, satellite, or even combinations of these. TIVO is proving itself as a viable and efficient companion to your home theater system that pledges to be useful and economical.

DirecTV Inc. is currently the United States leading digital satellite service provider, delivering more than 225 channels of digital entertainment and informational programming to approximately 13 million homes and businesses in the United States with its headquarters in El Segundo, California, launched in the summer of 1994, Dtv has now 7 satellites in service; providing 500 satellite channels to 13 million customers.

Digital compression made it possible for the first time for several digital television channels to be squeezed onto a single satellite transponder. Previous to this, only one channel could be carried per each transponder, which meant a maximum channel barrier of 24-32 channels per satellite. Clearly this was not a feasible option for a service that was to compete head on with long established cable vision companies.

In December, 1993, a long realized dream came to realization with the successful launch of the United States first DBS class commercial satellite. This satellite, would be known as DBS-1 was located at Directv's allocated orbital slot of 101 degrees W.L. This satellite was a high powered commercial satellite carrying a payload of 16 circularly polarized DBS Ku band transponders, each broadcasting at 120 watts per transponder. The summer of 1994 brought the introduction of the digital DirecTV system, the first of its kind, an all digital, direct to home satellite service, delivering crystal clear digital channels on a small 18" satellite dish and set top receiver. The Direct system was actually comprised of 2 distinct satellite services, DirecTV, which delivered most of the cable vision favorite channels and network feeds, and also USSB (United States Satellite Broadcasting Co.), which delivered premium services such as premium movie channels (HBO, Showtime) as well as pay per view sporting events, such as boxing and wrestling

The DirecTV/USSB partnership came in 1991, as Directv's parent company, Hughes Electronics was attempting to raise financing for the DirecTV venture. USSB, which had previously been part of a failed DBS project in the 1980's, saw an opportunity to finally capitalize on their dream of launching a successful DBS service to the American marketplace. USSB agreed to purchase 5 transponders aboard the future DBS-1 satellite, which they would use to broadcast their premium movie and pay per view offerings.

The new DirecTV system quickly became one of the hottest selling consumer electronics products of the year in 1994. At the time, the complete 8 bit RCA DSS system was selling for $699, not including installation. RCA also released an advanced DSS system, offering more features, universal remote control and re-in forced satellite dish for $899. The fall of 1994, brought another significant milestone as the second DirecTV satellite, DBS-2 launched and began operations in September of 1994. This offered DirecTV a further 16 high powered transponders, which allowed them to expand their programming offerings to nearly 150 channels. In comparison to cable vision systems of the day, which offered an average of 30 analog channels, this brought serious heat to the broadcasting industry.

The core Directv operations center is located in Castle Rock, Colorado and consists of a 55 00 square foot facility and broadcasting center. A second center was constructed later and is located in Los Angeles, California. Together, they receive, process, and re-broadcast over 200 digital channels to their current 8 satellites, orbiting 22 300 miles above the Earth is various core orbital slots, including 101, 110 and 119 degrees.

Directv currently has a total of 8 of their own DBS class satellites in various orbital locations:

‚Ä¢ 72.5¬? W.L. - Directv 5 (Locals)
‚Ä¢ 91¬? W.L. - Directv 3/Nimiq 3(Standby)
‚Ä¢ 101¬? W.L. - Directv 2, 8, 4-S, 1-R (Core programming, Locals)
‚Ä¢ 110¬? W.L. - Directv 1, 6 (Core programming, Locals, HDTV)
‚Ä¢ 119¬? W.L. - Directv 7-S (Locals, HDTV)

DIRECTV is continuing to redefine the world of television entertainment. Advances in technology are enabling viewers to have greater control over their viewing and experience new services on their television, such as digital video recording (DVR), high-definition TV, expanded multicultural programming, interactive programming and more.