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A PVR lets you rewind live TV – perfect if you miss a scene

The hard-disk recording system inside a PVR lets you perform several tricks that can be very useful.

Pause live TV 

When a PVR is switched on, it's constantly recording the channel it's set to. This means that you can pause a programme whenever you like. 

If, for example, the phone rings or you fancy a cup of tea, you can press pause on the remote control. The picture will freeze but the PVR will go on recording the programme while you take the call or make a brew. 

Once you’ve finished, you simply press pause again and the PVR will begin playing back the programme from where you left off. Cleverly, it will continue to record the live programme so you don’t miss anything. 

Rewind live TV 

A typical PVR will store the last 30 minutes of the channel that you've been watching – a process known as buffering. This means that you can 'rewind' a section of live TV if, for example, you miss a section of dialogue or a crucial scene. 

The PVR will have continued to record the live programme so you won’t miss anything – you’ll simply be watching it a few seconds behind the live broadcast.

Chase play 

One useful PVR feature allows you to start watching a recorded programme before it has finished recording. Apart from added convenience, this also allows you to perform a trick known as ‘chase play’. 

If you set a programme to record and deliberately start watching it a few minutes after it has started you can chase the live programme, skipping over ad breaks when they come, as you catch up with the live broadcast. This is very useful if your programme is on a commercial channel and you find the ads irritating.

Find out more about PVR features and options in our PVR reviews.