Time-Shifting Technology Puts the Viewer Back in Control

By Julio Ojeda-Zapata, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

Mar. 11–Rob Marx didn’t TiVo until a year ago. The Maple Grove man admits he’s “not what you’d call an ‘early adopter.’ “

So, it took him a while to grasp the concept of “time-shifting” — digitally recording and storing entire seasons of “E.R.” on a TiVo contraption for watching on his schedule, not a network’s schedule.

But now, Marx can’t imagine life without his digital video recorder. It grabs new episodes of “Grey’s Anatomy,” saves them on a hard drive and displays them while he’s on his treadmill. Commercials are history; he blasts through ‘em.

Now, “it’s almost a pain to watch real TV,” the accounting-firm sales manager says.

Marx is part of a TV-time-shifting revolution that had transformed regular folks into veritable gods who can bend time to their will — and even stop it dead in its tracks.

When TiVo fans want to impress their DVR-less pals, they click “pause” during a live broadcast. Presto! TV seems to pause (while quietly recording for time-delayed viewing with another remote click). No old-style VCR can do that.

“For anyone even moderately interested in TV, the pleasures of time-shifting are truly transcendent,” says Gary Baker, a New York City resident who gets his DVR service from his Time Warner cable provider. DVRs have become standard offerings from cable and satellite providers, including Comcast cable in the Twin Cities.

“Need to take a break? No problem,” Baker says. “Whether it’s a bowl of ice cream or a trip to the bathroom, the show isn’t going anywhere. Just pause it. Did you fall asleep during the program again? Back it up.”

Home computers are also part of the time-shifting craze. With the right add-on gear, PCs and Macs can duplicate most of TiVo’s trickery. Simply plug those computers into cable-TV feeds, and they’re off.

DVRs don’t have time-shifting cornered. Comcast and other cable providers have an enticing alternative in their “on demand” programs. Such shows are viewable with a few clicks, and many cost nothing.

This has meant salvation for Jennifer Hancock, a Florida mother, who always has something to pull up for her son.

In another twist, the TV networks have begun Web-streaming the likes of “Ugly Betty” and “Jericho” for anytime viewing at no cost.

Netflix, meanwhile, is a treasure trove of old shows on rent-by-mail DVDs. This is how Rob Bennett of Purcellville, Va., introduced his two sons to the wonders of “The Honeymooners,”"Alfred Hitchcock Presents” and “The Twilight Zone.” It’s how he time-shifts TV that “was, in some cases, recorded nearly 50 years ago.”

New and classic TV shows are increasingly downloadable, as well, from such services as Apple’s iTunes Store and Amazon’s Unbox. In fact, Amazon has teamed up with TiVo so users can see their Unbox downloads on their DVRs.

Apple customers, meanwhile, can transfer their “24″ and “Battlestar Galactica” episodes to their iPods. This is yet another kind of time-shifting. It’s also “place-shifting” because shows can be watched anywhere.

Place-shifting has other flavors. Link a device called Slingbox to your home-TV setup, and your TiVo recordings can be accessed online. They become viewable on your handheld device across town or on a laptop in Buenos Aires.

Other services, such MobiTV and Verizon’s new V Cast Mobile TV, transform cell phones into self-contained TVs with dozens of Net-streamed shows that are viewable anywhere — but not anytime, since they’re on a schedule.

For Marx of Maple Grove, TiVo isn’t total bliss. He recently mulled the purchase of a high-definition television but discovered, to his dismay, his TiVo box doesn’t record in high definition. He’d have to dish out $800 or so for a more-advanced recorder.

Nah, he says. He’ll wait a while. He’s no early adopter, after all.

Julio Ojeda-Zapata can be reached at jojeda@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5467.

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Copyright (c) 2007, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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