6. Live pause and recording

This is a very handy feature of digital television if you have the right equipment.

Live pause allows you to press 'Pause' on the remote if you have do something else for a bit. The program continues to record on an internal hard disk within the equipment. When you come back to the program, you press 'Play' and playback starts from the point you left it.

Advanced, easy-to-use recording is also an excellent feature that attracts people to digital tv services.

 

The impact of live pause and recording on viewers, broadcasters and TV companies:

Viewer
Viewer can leave a program to do something else and not lose any of the program
You need a 'PVR' (Personal Video Recorder) or a dedicated set-top box with an internal hard disk
May need to pay extra for this service
Can view one program while the other one is being recorded
'Series Link' from the EPG allows a whole series to be recorded without having to remember to record each episode
Some broadcasters offer an online 'remote recording' feature if you have forgotten to set a recording . You log in to their web site and select the program you want to record. The dedicated set top box then records it for you automatically.
No longer tied to the schedules set out by the broadcasters or tv companies.

 

Broadcaster
Has to make available a set-top box that can provide this feature
Broadcaster can record already-broadcast programs on to the hard disk and then offer them as an additional free service. For example a 'Have you seen these' kind of service. This is a good way to promote new channels that the viewer may not be aware of.
Increased revenue as advanced recording features may attract customers to their services.

 

Television company
May lose revenue as people tend to skip the adverts on recorded programs
May actually increase viewing audience as people keep a program to view at a later date.

 

challenge see if you can find out one extra fact on this topic that we haven't already told you

Click on this link: live pause and recording