Apart from the iPod, the digital video recorder (DVR) is arguably the single most useful and convenient piece of entertainment gadgetry to appear in the last several decades. By letting you digitally store your selections on a hard drive (no more tapes!) and play them back easily at your convenience, a DVR is a great new way to watch TV on your own schedule. Indeed, having put the long-awaited final nail in the VCR's coffin, DVR is proliferating like mad.

Whether you use a model made by TiVo or a unit provided by your cable company, you've probably already forgotten what life was like when you had to watch a show when it actually aired. For the television fanatic, a DVR's on-screen guides, one-button recording for a single show or an entire series, and vast storage space (up to 300 couch-potato hours, in the case of TiVo's most expensive model) is a kind of TV nirvana. There are lots of reasons to own a DVR, but what factors come into play when you're purchasing one? Here are some things to think about.

Power workout: recording your favorite shows takes energy
A videocassette recorder, with its timer and little green digital clock, constantly draws standby power. But DVRs are worse-up to 10 times worse. As Noah Horowitz, a senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council puts it in a podcast sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): "DVRs use 30 watts of power all day long. There's no way for you to turn them off or to have them go into a low-power mode in the middle of the night. They're starting to look like computers. They have a hard drive and a modem in there." The testing lab at the technology website CNET backs up Horowitz, reporting that one common TiVo-based DVR box provided by DirecTV to its subscribers draws a constant 33 watts. TiVo's website doesn't discuss power consumption, but according to CNET-which has tested TiVo boxes and other DVRs-all TiVo-style boxes and DVRs perform similarly when it comes to power consumption.

Many DVR users may not care, figuring that the numerous benefits of the device far outweigh the liabilities of its always-on design. And hey, we agree that the benefits are great. You can even argue that it's a good thing to do away with plastic-encased tapes. But the power waste is costing you dollars, anywhere from $20 to $50 per year, depending on your local electricity rates.

In addition, while DVRs from your cable company get their data from the same cable that feeds your TV, TiVo requires a phone-line connection or a hookup to your home's broadband Internet access-that's one more piece of gear that must always remain on. In general, it's more energy-efficient (and therefore cost-efficient) to use a DVR supplied by your cable company, since it means only one set-top device, rather than two. You may also save a few bucks on the monthly fee. Cable companies charge about $8 per month for DVR; TiVo charges around $14 per month, and the box itself costs from $100 to $600, depending on the model.

Of course, TiVo has many more features than a typical cable-company DVR, most notably excellent schedule-search features and the ability to automatically predict and program what you might want to watch based on your earlier selections. So TiVo fans would probably never consider "downgrading" to any other DVR model.

Since DVR devices aren't designed to save recordings permanently the way a VCR tape does, some TV addicts have added a DVD recorder to preserve their favorites for posterity. The additional gadget means yet another plug, and one more electronic device that's always in standby mode, constantly drawing power. (A better idea is to recycle your first-generation DVD player and buy a combo device that can both play and record onto DVDs.)

It's one of those statistics that elicits a head shake and a heavy sigh: "Americans spend more money to power DVD players when turned off than when actually in use. If all DVD [players sold] carried Energy Star certification, it would mean 6 billion pounds less air pollution-the same as taking 75,000 cars off the road," according to Energy Star. When it comes to DVRs, however, you have little opportunity to do comparison shopping. TiVo owns the vast majority of the market, and although its functionality has been licensed into devices from other manufacturers, none of them have improved on its always-on design. Meanwhile, your cable company gives its own choice of cable box/DVR options.

Energy Star doesn't yet test DVRs for energy efficiency. It's waiting for early 2009, when all broadcasters are required to convert to digital transmission, forcing people who don't subscribe to cable or satellite TV to aquire a special digital-to-analog converter to continue using their current TV sets. (If you already have cable or satellite, it's a non-issue.) At that point, it will come out with new rules for all sorts of DVRs, cable set-top boxes, and HDTV converters. For now, we're stuck with that 30-watt power draw and its associated cost. So what else can you do to save energy and money?

Sharing the workload: power down elsewhere
The sad truth about TiVo boxes and DVRs is that powering them down all the way renders them useless. As the trusty scouts of your TV schedule, they need to be ever-vigilant, grabbing every desired episode as it is broadcast. Given that fact, you can compensate by remembering to power down anything and everything else you can. CNET published this comparison to show where DVRs sit on the scale of power-hungry consumer electronic devices:

Sony PlayStation 3: 197 watts

Microsoft Xbox360: 187 watts

Typical PC: 78 watts

Typical DVR: 33 watts

Nintendo Wii: 19 watts

Slingbox: 9 watts

Typical wireless router: 7 watts

For example, putting your PC in standby mode when it's not in use will more than compensate for your greedy DVR. For more tips on saving energy with your PC, click here.

Tale of the tape: donate or recycle your old VCR
It's outmoded and has no place in the high-definition home theaters of today and tomorrow. Consider selling, donating, or giving away your VHS movies. And as for all those blank tapes you used to record on, well-known green-lifestyle guru Danny Seo recommends popping them open and using the tape to make shiny and festive ribbons for gifts. Why not? Hire a service to transfer valuable family memories from VHS to DVD format. DVD is a far less fragile format and will last well into the future. If you just can't let go of your tape collection, then get an inexpensive VCR/DVD recorder combo device that lets you enjoy both formats with a single device.

Related Resources

Related Articles Green Considerations in Buying a Computer Green Issues for Home Audio Speakers Environmental Issues with Dishwashers See All Related Articles

Related Eco Categories Science & Technology Top 10s Transportation & Travel How to Guides

Topics Food Home Business Alternative Energy Saving Money

Tip of the Day Light the Night with a Hand-Crank Flashlight Catch the Rain See All Tips

Glossary Organic gardening Plastic Solar collector Low impact dye Biomass Full Glossary

Site Resources Directory Answers Quizzes