While DVD formats slug it out, the next big thing in electronics, personal video recorders, can store hundreds of hours of programming, writes Jamie Smyth, Technology Reporter.

I knew I had to finally trade in the dusty old video recorder sitting under my television when I couldn't find a decent video to rent at my local Xtravision shop.

And, for once, I couldn't blame the glut of Hollywood pap for the lack of a decent movie; rather it was the ever-expanding wall of DVDs that has crowded out the humble video tape in my store.

Electronics retailers have also noticed the general public's waning appetite for video and Dixons announced just before Christmas that it would cease selling video recorders in Britain. The firm, which has several stores in the Republic (which are still selling videos), said it was selling 40 DVD players for every video recorder it sold.

So, like some sort of ageing dinosaur, I recently sought salvation at an electronics retailer to check out the new DVD players and recorders, and the new kids on the block: hard disc players and personal video recorders.

DVDs (digital versatile disc) have been around since the mid- 1990s and evolved from audio compact discs. In a similar manner to CDs, they store information in a digital format rather than the analogue format used in normal video cassette recording.

Digital information is encoded as a series of microscopic bits onto a 12-centimetre plastic disc, which can then be read by a laser beam inside a DVD player. The move from analogue to digital technology, and the use of compression technology, enables far higher quality images, video and sound recordings to be stored.

At Dixons Jervis Street store, several varieties of DVD player are currently on sale at prices from as low as €69.99. DVD recorders start from €199.99 but can go as high as several hundred euros for a model that incorporates a hard disc that can store hours of recorded programming.

But as the sales assistant highlighted, buying a DVD recorder is still fraught with "format frustration" for the average punter. In much the same way as Betamax and VHS slugged it out through the 1980s in the video cassette war, two rival formats, DVD+ and DVD, are being promoted by competing manufacturers.

Both formats use different types of DVD recordable discs that can store several hours of television programming. But unlike the Betamax/VHS war in the 1980s, both types of recorders can play standard rental discs or those sold on the high street.

Even so, getting caught on the wrong side of a standards war can be a painful experience, as those people stuck with useless Betamax players know only too well. So perhaps jumping a technology generation, and in the process avoiding a bewildering array of DVD jargon, may be the answer to my video conundrum.

A quick scan of the consumer electronics press is enough to pinpoint personal video recorders (PVRs) as the next big thing. The new generation of recorders incorporates hard discs, similar to the one on your PC, that can store hundreds of hours of programming and even learn a user's preferences to record certain television shows automatically.

At the US's biggest consumer electronics show in Las Vegas last week a wide range of PVRs were on display, including industry leader TiVo, which has about 2.3 million subscriptions to its US service. US research group Forrester believes this is only the tip of the iceberg and is forecasting that 41 per cent of Americans will own a PVR by 2010.

But to test drive a PVR in Ireland, the satellite group Sky is the only show in town as most models require a digital receiver to give full functionality. So I called in to its Dublin headquarters on Stephen's Green to get a guided tour of its Sky+ system.

The biggest "wow factor" for a sports fanatic such as myself is undoubtedly the ability to freeze and rewind live television on demand when using Sky+. So when some pesky door-to-door salesman rings the doorbell or the telephone starts ringing you don't end up missing the vital goal, try or boundary that your favourite player has just scored.

The latest Sky+ system, the Sky+ 160, consists of a single powerful digital set-top box that can store an average of 80 hours of programming. Its freeze function works because the system automatically records a television programme as it is being watched, enabling a user to return to the moment that it froze the screen.

The system also has a dual tuner, which enables users to record two channels at the same time while watching a previously recorded programme - a feature that could help stop family fights over who gets control of the TV.

But one of the more revolutionary aspects of Sky's move into hard disk recording is the potential threat it could pose to the advertising industry. The firm has patented new technology that allows television viewers to record programmes without any advertising breaks.

Sky+ currently allows viewers to skip through advertisements quickly at up to 30 times normal speed; however, the commercials can still be seen. But patents licensed to Sky last year by the British Patent Office mean it could introduce technology that will enable viewers to "interrupt the recording of programmes so as not to record adverts".

Unfortunately, Sky+ does not come cheap. The Sky+ 160 set-top box costs about €599 to buy and then a further €15 per month for its monthly subscription service.

However, if you receive more than one of Sky's premium sports or movies packages (Sky Sports 1 & 2 and Sky Movies 1 & 2) then you don't have to pay the Sky+ €15 monthly subscription fee, according to the Sky website.

My current digital television provider, NTL, is planning to launch a similar PVR product in late 2005 in Britain, but it remains unclear whether this will be immediately extended to Ireland.

So, in the meantime, I've taken the ostrich approach to electronics: buy a cheap DVD player and keep the dusty video recorder for at least another year.

In the meantime, I can console myself with the knowledge that I will not become a complete slave to television during 2005 and at last start a long-awaited PEP (personal exercise programme).