Remember those days when you had to dust off an old VHS tape, hope that the ‘video player’ was working, press a bunch of weird and wonderful buttons and then spend the rest of the day panicking. All that so you could watch your favourite show in two halves - one before dinner and the other after.
Well thankfully, those days are long over.
The idea of ‘pausing’ live TV was made a reality in our homes in the early 2000s with the DVR (Digital Video Recorder). In its simplest form, a DVR lets you record what’s on your telly onto a hard drive (same as what’s on your computer but a bit smaller) nestled in your set top box.
Depending on the quality and speed of your box (we’re proud of our T3-R being super fast and delightfully simple to use - and even prouder that Pocket Lint said: it’s “as good as a Freeview Play box can get), you should be able to record what you want at the touch of a button. Then, when the kids are in bed, or the dishes are done, kick back and watch your favourite telly when you want.
But what about pausing? Well it’s exactly the same process, hit the pause button, your box starts recording the show you are watching and the moment you hit play, it starts playing what’s recorded until you catch-up.
But not all live TV pausing is equal.
Our T3-R and T2-R boxes are different to other boxes because they’re constantly recording what you’re watching – up to the last 2 hours.
Why? Because that lets you rewind!
Other boxes only start recording what you’re watching when you hit pause. That’s fine if you are quick enough (or remember) to hit pause, answer the door, sign for that package you forgot you ordered and return back to the ‘judges decision’ on Strictly Come Dancing.
But if you don’t hit that button, you’ve missed it.
By constantly recording what you’re watching, you can always be sure to catch that perfect 10, or plot twist or new romantic introduction. And not only that, if you decide half way through you’ll want to watch this again and hit the record button, the T3-R will capture everything from the moment you started watching - so you never miss out on a second of great TV.
There’s no doubt, pausing live TV has been amazing for telly addicts.
Just make sure that the box you’ve got is making sure you never miss a moment.