New Showbox digital video recorder puts programs at the mercy of the viewer
CAIRO: “It will change the way each of you watch TV forever. You now decide what to watch, when to watch it and where to watch it, says Steve MacDiarmid, vice president for regional operations and customer management for Showtime.
What he is talking about is, of course, none other than the new ShowBox digital video recorder (DVR), the newest development in TV viewing in the region, which has finally arrived in Egypt.
The ShowBox DVR is a device that enables two members of a household to watch different programs at the same time on different TVs using one decoder. You can also pause the TV when you need to step away, just like a video or DVD.
It is also able to record all your favorite shows, so you can watch them later. The Showbox is capable of recording up to 40 hours of programming.
So how does this work? The hard disk inside the Showbox records the digital signals from the satellite dish. It automatically records the last two hours, enabling you to press “pause whenever you want to answer a phone call or at other crucial moments. When you return and play it again, it will suspend the live programming to exactly where you left off.
Recording the last two hours also means that if you switch on the TV in the middle of a movie you like, you can simply rewind to the beginning of the film.
An Electronic Program Guide (EPG) will be available on the ShowBox so you can set your device to record all the shows, movies or sports you want at the beginning of your busy week, and watch them on the weekend.
The easy recording system needs no tapes or CDs. It uses a hard drive, like a computer, which is under your control. Unfortunately, due to copyright laws, you cannot save all the shows on the ShowBox, so after every 40 hours you have to erase programs to make space for more.
Although the ShowBox is part of the Showtime family, it enables you to record anything off the Nile Satellite.
The ShowBox DVR will be available throughout Egypt within the next few weeks.
