As we grow in our video offerings, the PVR (Personal Video Recorder or DVR as those coming from the satellite world know it) has been one of our most popular services. In this installment of Tech Talk, I want to go through some of the features that you can use with the PVR, and hopefully, help you will some things that will make using it a more enjoyable experience.

First, for those who do not know, the PVR is a Set Top Box with a built-in hard drive that enables you to record any channel at any time. It creates a digital recording on the STB and will enable you to pause, fast forward, and rewind very quickly much like a DVD or on a computer. The PVR is available to all who have Mulberry TV. We are also turning on our HD local channels package free of charge with the Set Top Box. This includes all eight of the local off air HD channels such as WLFI, WISH, WTHR, and WRTV. As a disclaimer, the HD is subject to the bandwidth to each customer's house.

Now, let's talk about using the PVR and how to program your recordings. There are 3 basic ways to record to the PVR. The first is what we call .on the fly. recordings. In other words, if you see something you want to record as you are watching it, you can simply push the RED record button on your remote. This is just like a VCR or a recording DVD player and will begin to record the channel the right after you hit button on the remote.

The second is to record out of the Electronic Program Guide or EPG. Most of our customers are aware and commonly use our EPG in their normal TV viewing experience. You simply push the GUIDE button on your remote to access it. Once it is up, you can scroll through using your NAVIGATION KEYS (up, down, left, right, OK) and view the program listings for any channel and at any time during the next 4 days. By pushing the OK button on the remote, you can select PROGRAM RECORDING for a single recording of that program. You can also select PROGRAM SERIES to begin recording every episode of that series. Once you make your selection, a colored clock will appear on the episode(s) in the Program Guide.

On a side note, if you would like to edit these recordings, simply hit your OK button on the episode in the EPG and navigate to EDIT. One of the biggest reasons to edit is because of the time sync issue with the EPG and the Networks themselves. In other words, if the News is supposed to start at noon on channel 18, and you set the PVR to record starting at noon, CBS may begin the broadcast 30 seconds before or after the noon hour. With the EDIT feature, you can add a PAD IN and/or a PAD OUT using 1, 5, 30, or 60 minutes. If you select 5 minutes, this will add 5 minutes before and 5 minutes after the scheduled time of the show. This will keep you from missing any of the show. Another reason to edit the series is to change the type of recording from recording every episode to recording just the new episodes. This is done in the same menu.

The third way is to SCHEDULE AN EVENT. To access this, you must to your MENU and select PVR. Once the PVR menu loads, you will see Schedule an Event as an option in the list. Here, you can select from a list of fields to customize the recording you would like to do. Use your NAVIGATION KEYS to maneuver through the fields and set it up exactly as you would like it. Select the field using the OK button and move up and down to change the options in the field.

Personally, I prefer using option 2 as my method to record. It seems to be the most flexible and extensive way, but each will work just fine. I would suggest trying all three and using the one that works best for you.